Having piercings done is always something that I need to bring up a lot of courage - I'm afraid of needles and I hate pain.
At A Glance Author Sinmara Contact Sinmara@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist can't remember her name Studio Wizard Location South Wimbledon/UK Having my ears pierced was fairly ok for me. (Well, all with a piercing gun. I was young and I didn't know better - wouldn't do it again). Having my nose pierced 3 years ago took me a lot more courage. It did hurt like hell and I said to me: never ever again.
Well, time heals wounds and since I was always (and I mean for years and years...) been talking of having my nipples pierced the time was right one day. I had a day off work, stumbled over a piercing studio near me and I had enough money. Made my way to the studio with a wobbly tummy and racing heart - and to make it worse I had to wait 20 minutes until another customer was finished. I opted for only one nipple pierced first.
The studio looked very clean to me - small, but clean. The girl led me into the piercing room which was obviously only used for piercings. I sat down on the bench and got off my bra. She explained me what she was going to do - I had to stand up straight so she could put the dots on straight. I had a look in the mirror and it looked fine to me. She couldn't pierce the nipple itself because it is far too small, however she said she'll pierce behind them.
Then I had to lie down on the bench. I asked for some small anastethic and she sprayed some ice spray on it - which was cold, but probably didn't numb much. She clamped my nipple (contrary to other stories it didn't hurt a bit - but my nipples are pretty insensitive) anyway. She asked me to breathe in and out, and whilst breathing out she put the needle through. It stung a little bit, but not much more. Putting in the ring didn't hurt either. Then she cleaned off the little blood that came out and put a huge plaster on it and told me not to put it off for 4 hours.
She explained me at length how to clean it and that I can come back whenever I have problems. Then she gave me a blue cleaning solution for piercings.
I was on a huge adrenaline rush, but the pain of the piercing was getting quite bad over the next few hours - a constant sharp pain. When I got home I opened up the plaster to make a quick picture, and there was a little blood in it, but not much. Thankfully the pain subsided after 6 hours.
The next day I tried to clean the crust off with the blue solution, but that burnt like hell, so I used sea salt water to get the crust off. I soaked it every day twice, but because I had a big ring in it (2 cm/ 1 inch diametre) I knocked on it all the time. In the night I wore a bra. Most of the time at home I ran around topless to get as much air to it as possible.
A week after that I went to the same piercer again and had my second nipple done - same procedure, but this time I opted for a bar. It did hurt much more than the first time, and the pain afterwards was really bad - it bled more too. Fortunately it went away quicker than the first one. Unfortunately though the bar was not long enough and the balls cut into the holes - I couldn't see the bar at all, only a little bit with erected nipples.
Over the next weeks the one with the ring had a steady crust, but healed quite well. Only me (or my boyfriend) knocking on it all the time was very annoying and kept irritating it. There was no crust at all on the left one with the bar, which I found weird.
I bought some internally threaded bars 6 weeks later which were significantly longer than the bar and changed both piercings.
The ring was very fiddly to change, but it worked well - the bar was easy to change. Then finally the left one - the one where the balls cut in initially - started to form a crust.
I have both now for 2 1/2 months and they are healing fine. Still being a little bit crusty from time to time, but I expected that. I only clean them with antiseptic woundwash once a day.
My advise: have both pierced in one go, the cleaning procedure is easier and it's over within a few months. And don't use rings as the first jewellery, even if it looks better. You can always change later on.