At A Glance
Author	Abbie Rolf
Contact	aerolf@ilstu.edu
IAM	aerleo
When	A month ago
Artist	Leon Battiste
Studio	Artkore Tattoo & Body Piercing
Location	Normal, IL

So I've wanted my nipples pierced since I was probably 13. The first time I saw pierced nipples I was completely enthralled! I loved the aesthetic of it and I love the idea of metal through an already sensitive part of my body. I've always had the view that the human body is a canvas ever in-progress to becoming a magnificent work of art. When I was little I used to draw on myself in marker, in junior high/high school I would doodle on myself in class...why use notepaper when I, myself am a canvas! Now a senior in college I still toy with drawing on myself, but my main focus is metal. Surgical grade stainless steel in particular! Yes, I already have 7 ear piercings and a retired navel piercing, but there's so much more to be done! I have so many piercings planned and no beginning or end on the list...I just want a ton of things...I know they'll all be beautiful...but which to do next?

Fast forward to October 4, 2006

Day 1:
I decided it was finally time to get my nipples pierced. I had the money and the balls. So I drove to Artkore but they were closed so I went and bought some flowers for myself and wasted some time before I decided it was time to go back. So back I went, filled out the consent form, talked to Leon about it (he's the absolute best), paid, and went back to his room. We talked about different stuff for a few minutes then got down to business. He talked me through what he was going to do (which was kind of redundant especially since he knows I knew what he was going to say), showed me the sealed packages of sterilized tools and needles and started in. He started with my left nip. First he cleaned it with Techni-Care, then he used some genetian violet and a toothpick to mark it. He clamped and we went through the breathing. On the third deep breath he told me to exhale and boy did it feel like I was exhaling forever because at the same time I felt the terrible friction of the needle and the inside of my nipple. I think the friction is the only part that bothers me in the actual piercing process, even though Leon uses Surgi-Lube. He then threaded a 14 gauge ½ inch curved barbell through. He repeated the same procedure exactly through for my right nipple. (The best part is that despite I was topless, Leon was incredibly professional, even though we talk outside of the piercer-client relationship outside the shop.) So we talked a bit, he gave me some sea salt (even though I have an entire container) and agreed that if I had any concerns that I'd myspace him that night. I had some initial concern about the length of the barbell because when my nipples are completely soft they go nearly flat and I know I'm prone to swelling but it was my choice to have a curved barbell. So a few hours later my concerns were realized with the balls were pressing into not only my nipples but my areolas as well. The pressure wasn't just what you'd expect with normal swelling, the balls were actually leaving dents in my areolas and the skin was beginning to come up around the balls. BIG OUCH. These were the 9th and 10th times I was pierced and this pain wasn't right. So I myspaced Leon about my problem and agreed to go in the next day to have him take a look at them.

Day 2:
I went to classes as usual and did a speakers bureau for PRIDE then went down to Artkore. Unfortunately Leon wasn't there yet so I went and got my hair cut to waste some time. When I went back he was there and we went back to his room again. Showed him what was going on and got down to fixing the issue. We decided that it would at least alleviate the pressure on my nipples to put in a straight barbell with smaller balls. Well my left nipple was not happy with this decision at all. It swelled right up and he had to put in even longer barbells. My right nipple was far more cooperative, but for symmetry sake and just in case it swelled later he put in the same length barbell with smaller balls. If I had any problems with this Leon & I decided that he'd bend the barbells so the balls wouldn't put pressure downward and wouldn't even touch my areolas. This seemed to work well to relieve pressure on my nipples but I was still having pressure put on my areolas. So, once again I myspaced Leon that I'd come in the next day...yet again.

Day 3:
Leon wasn't at Artkore, he was at The Abyss in Kankakee for the weekend. So Jamie, another piercer took a look at what was going on. I told her about how Leon & I had talked about bending the barbells, but it seemed that bending the left barbell wouldn't do any good, that it would be too short with a bend. So we decided to try bending 1" barbells. At this point my nipples are really sore and Jamie used Techni-care to clean my nipples again before she changed the jewelry and OH MY HEAVENS did that burn like the dickens! But she bent the barbells, inserted them, and that was about it. We figured this would only be temporary for the weekend, long enough to keep them pierced so I could go in to see Leon on Monday.

Day 4:
Wow...major soreness! The balls on the 1" barbells are really big so they're still putting pressure on my areolas and the left barbell isn't bend nearly as much as the right one. It seems that my left nipple is doing far worse than my right. The right is just mildly sore with a few twinges of pain but the left is almost constantly aching, I get stinging pains in it and the areola is actually bruised a bit from the trauma and the ball pressing into it. The whole time I've been cleaning with Dial Anti-Bacterial Soap in the shower and doing sea salt soaks (1/4 teaspoon sea salt to 8oz of water) twice a day. Even with the soaks, shower cleaning, and taking ibuprofen I'm still in abnormal pain. It doesn't feel like normal healing pain, it feels like my nipples are being irritated from the balls and are slightly visibly inflamed.

Day 5:
The crusties on my left nipple peeled off when I was cleaning it and it appears that the topmost layer of skin around the piercing was so irritated that it came off with the crusties. WOW this hurts!!! Lymph seems to be seeping out of the side that peeled. My right nipple seems to be healing fine so I may end up keeping it and taking the left one out soon. I'm going back to Artkore on Tuesday to see Leon. He thinks we should either put in a captive ring or circular barbell. I'm definitely more for the circular barbell because I'm sure the captive ring would put far too much pressure on my nipple and I think possibly the circular barbell might unless it's bent outward a bit.

Day 6:
Much more crusties, now it really hurts if it gets bumped because of the dried lymph irritating the healing tissue. I'm definitely going back to Artkore tomorrow. There is obvious redness and indention where the balls rest when my nipples are flaccid. I've stopped using the Dial and am just doing sea salt soaks twice a day in hopes that this helps relieve some of the dryness.

Day 7:
I went to Artkore and we decided to try just bending the left barbell a bit further. Leon bent the left barbell more and we decided to try that for the day. I wonder if the balls weren't smaller if that would make much of a difference. My left nipple is quite sore from this whole experience and I wonder how much damage it's done by changing in this many times in these few days.

Day 8:
Just the bending didn't help. I still have redness and indention at the site of the balls. Even now I don't know if changing the ball size would help too much. Yesterday, Leon mentioned perhaps using Tygon or needing custom jewelry. I'd really rather not have to do too much more with them because I'm afraid if I continue the way things are going they're going to be scarred and reject. I'm definitely going back in tomorrow to see what else can be done.

The huge problem is that when my nipples become hard they contract but don't protrude so I could have ½" curved barbells in each with a little extra room on the sides, but when my nipples become flaccid they go nearly flat. Even with 1" straight barbells in there was very little extra room on the sides and you couldn't really see that there was even a barbell below the surface aside from the balls sticking out. Where most people's nipples remain semi-erect after being pierced mine frequently return to a flaccid state.

Day 9:
Went into Artkore still in pain and talked to Jamie. She said she'd cut some Tygon and stick it in the autoclave and to come back in like 45 minutes. So off I went to Borders to spend money I shouldn't have. So I got back in 45 minutes like she said and she was no where to be found, but Leon was there this time. He led me back to the piercing room even though he was on the phone with Nextel (side note). So after he got off the phone we talked a bit then got down to business. He held up the Tygon...it was too short. Instead of being an inch it was down to 7/8, which is too short for my nipples when they go flaccid. So he asked if I could come back and he'd have Jamie cut some new. Off I went to my teaching assistantship. I got back about 2 hours later and it was Jamie and I again! So she measured the new Tygon before we got started and lo and behold it was 7/8 as well even though she measured it at an inch. The Tygon was shrinking and eighth of an inch when it was autoclaved. So she cut a piece at 1 ¼ since we'd originally talked about an inch and an eighth in case of swelling (I flash swell). I hung out, we talked, finally an hour later we got down to switching my jewelry. Tygon in, even though the balls took a while to get threaded, and I felt better already!

Fast forward to October 25, 2006

Day 23:
I've had my nipples pierced for just over 3 weeks now. I've had the Tygon in for just over 2 weeks and I'm healing excellently! I have some slight persistent dryness and I'm still draining lymph but I'm healing. I can see the tissue has already tightened a bit, but they still look great. I've noticed increased sensitivity but not so much that it's unbearable and I've noticed that wearing a bra makes the balls indent into my areolas slightly. This isn't a problem very frequently as I don't wear bras unless I really have to. My boyfriend is warming up to them despite some initial unhappiness. I showed them to my mother this past weekend and she cried, not out of joy though, mind you. She thinks that I'm desecrating my body every time I get a piercing, tattoo, or stretch my lobes further. But I'm happy! They look beautiful and I wouldn't want them any other way! Although I am concerned, after they're healed I'll likely have to have custom jewelry and the cost of that looms in the distance.

Happy modifying!