This is a story of my angry, angry nipple piercings and how I may have solved their problem. This is not intended to help diagnose or treat anyone else's nipple problems. It is for entertainment purposes only.
At A Glance Author LovleAnjel Contact LovleAnjel@bme.anon IAM LovleAnjel When A year ago Artist Olivia Studio Chicago Piercing Company Location Clark and Belmont area, Chicago I had my nipples pierced a little over a year ago (August 2005), with 14G CBRs. The healing went pretty well the first few months. I washed the outside of the piercings with the recommended soap, and did sea salt soaks thrice a day, then twice a day, than once a day, then thrice a week (as per instructions). The healing time went without any problems, aside from the occasional accidental turning of the rings (and being hit in the boob with a football, but that's a different story). In December, my right nipple started to develop a small pimple-like protrusion next to the inner hole. It kept getting bigger and bigger, and then burst. What came out was white goo, kind of like the discharge younger piercings produce. There were no funky colors, odors, itching burning or pain that one would expect with an infection. Two days later, the area started to swell again. I tried increasing the number of soaks to twice a day, but that didn't help. I turned to chamomile tea soaks, to no effect.
After the second pimple burst, I flipped the ring up so the metal was pressing against the area the pimple erupted from. I wore it up constantly, including while asleep. The first week my nipple was very very sore. By the second week the pain had tapered off. The third week I let the ring hang down again. Perfect skin, no pimple. In late February, the problem reared its ugly head again. After this one burst, I wore the ring up, but I decided to try only wearing it up during the day. Flipping the ring up and down could be agony. The pimple sort of resolved for a few weeks, then came back.
In June I moved to a research station across the country, and was separated from my fiancée for six weeks there. I also began wearing clothing to bed, since we lived in a dorm and the rooms did not have locking doors. After the first week, the pimple resolved and did not come back. Two weeks after returning home (mid-August), it reappeared. I sat down and thought through the situation.
When that particular nipple had been pierced, there seemed to be a little difficulty getting the needle through. My fiancée described it as if the needle "got stuck" and had to be reoriented. Possibly, it created a blind fistula on the first push. The blind fistula was connected to the final fistula the jewelry sat in, leaving a small space for discharge and buildup to accumulate. I believe this accumulation pushed through the weakest point in the blind fistula, which was where it was nearest the outside of my nipple. The buildup would continue until the skin failed and "popped" the pimple. The blind fistula was enlarged and the skin thinned with each successive event.
Why did this stop over the summer? I have some hypotheses: I was away from a person who liked to suck, lick, and tug on the rings, and I was wearing clothing to bed which kept the rings from turning and moving around at night. The movement of the rings is what was causing the piercings to produce material from irritation. After I returned home and things started up again, I decided to test out my hypothesis. I started wearing shirts to bed (I normally sleep completely naked). The amount of buildup seemed to lessen, but was still there. Next, I purchased a pair of ½" barbells to replace the rings.
The switch did not go easily. I started out by taking a hot shower—I keep reading about how that helps "loosen" things up. I decided to start with the irritated piercing, thinking that if it took too long or was too painful, I'd have at least switched out the one that really bothered me. I first tried using special tools made for changing body jewelry—essentially pliers with a pair of cylinders for grasping the metal without damaging it. I could not for the life of me get a good hold on the ring with these—it kept slipping out. In my opinion, the special pliers were a waste of twelve bucks.
I then took two pairs of needle-nose pliers that are very small (they have spring handles and I use them for jewelry-making), and lined them with tissue to prevent damage to the jewelry. I got a much better grip with these and got the ring open. This was extremely painful (total process up to this point was twenty minutes). I pulled the ring carefully out. I then took the new jewelry out of its sterile packaging, and inserted it. I started by putting it through the hole on the undamaged side. It became difficult to push through—I had to twist it a bit (OW). As it went through, I actually saw it poking around in the "pimple" THROUGH THE SKIN. So it seems my conjecture about a blind fistula was correct. I pulled the jewelry back a little and consciously aimed it for the "real" opening. The end of the bar pushed out a wad of whitish goo ahead of it (which I assume was from the blind fistula). It took a minute to get the ball screwed on, but it was done.
It had taken a half-hour total, and I was tired and annoyed. I took a break, had a drink, looked in the mirror and decided having a ring in one side and balls in the other looked ridiculous. I switched out the jewelry on the other side. This only took ten minutes and caused a lot less pain. Both nipples were very soar. I did a soak that night, and continued soaking twice a day for a week, and washed the outside of the piercings in the shower as well.
At a month later, and other than occasional dry skin or material on the "damaged" nipple, they looked just fine. I'm sure the blind fistula is still there, but because the barbells can't move around as much, the piercing is not being irritated and producing goo to fill it up
In September, I noticed a lot of crusty discharge on the sensitive nipple while I was showering one morning. After cleaning it off with a Q-tip, I found that the ball on that side had become partially unscrewed, and there was a minor inflammation at the entrance hole. I screwed the ball back on and knew that I now had to check it to make sure that doesn't come loose again. I think the threading rubbed into the piercing and irritated it again.
In November, all looked well. I started to sleep naked again, and there's no sign of irritation from the nipple, although occasionally it still gets sensitive on me. The piercings managed to survive my wedding and honeymoon without going crazy, so I'm counting that as a plus. I don't like the look of barbells quite as much as CBRs, but if I have to trade that for repeated irritation and potential infection, I'll keep the new jewelry, thanks.
I did have some recent, seemingly random swelling—on the hole that swelled before, of course. For some reason that nipple's jewelry tends to get caught in clothing, bath poofies and things like that. I'll have to keep a close eye on it in the future. For now, it seems to have pretty much settled in for the long haul. Hopefully I won't have to do another update next year about the further things that have gone wrong with my nipple piercings.