I'll be honest, for a long time, I couldn't understand why someone would want a genital piercing. I didn't think of them negatively, I just didn't grasp the reasoning behind it. I had only heard of male genital piercing in passing, and (if memory serves me right) the only name I had heard was PA, or Prince Albert. Due to this, and my total ignorance of almost all things related to body modification, I never really though I'd get anything like that done. I did fall in love with tattoos, though, and as a result spent a lot of time in a tattoo shop. This quickly led to my views about body modification expanding, and I slowly started to embrace its many aspects.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist pokedbyeric Studio Skinquake Location Greenwood, IN One of these aspects hit me full force when I re-watched The Cell. I became enamored with the idea of suspending, and began to research it on the web. As a direct result of this searching, I found BME. Immediately I fell in love with the site, and began reading everything I had access to. Over the course of several days, I read the entire encyclopedia, every entry, and discovered the ampallang. The aesthetic of it astounded me. Where other male genital piercing looked odd, this one (to me) looked almost like it belonged. Still, I didn't want one for myself. I couldn't imagine the pain that would be involved in such a procedure, and it seemed like it would be too much of a hassle to heal. I did, however, tell myself (and a few close friends) that if I ever decided to get a genital piercing, the ampallang would be my choice. Some time later, I made the decision.
After some debate, I decided that I wanted to get an ampallang. Not only that, but after reading that larger piercing tend to heal faster in addition to looking more impressive (to me, anyway) I decided that I wanted to start off at 6g. After some debate (the piercer I had gone to in the past had dropped off my radar) I decided to talk to the shop's current piercer Eric. I had held conversations with him many times before, but this would be the first in direct relation to a mod I wanted. One of the biggest reasons for deciding on Eric instead of another option was that I had seen his work, and I knew he knew what he was doing. So, one day while I was in the shop to talk to my tattoo artist, I asked him if he would be willing to do a 6g ampallang. He already knew that I was relatively knowledgeable, so he agreed to it. I left, and a few days later I returned with a deposit and a measurement. We decided to do the piercing on Easter, since the shop would be empty and he would have plenty of time should any complications arise.
I walked in the shop feeling a combination of dread and excitement. I usually felt this before getting a piercing, but this was by far the most intense. As a matter of fact, I'm feeling it once again writing this. Eric greeted me, and disappeared into the piercing room to double check the setup. Once he was sure everything was in order, he called me back. I glanced at the table as I sat down and laying there was the largest needle I have ever seen. This intensified both the dread and excitement, and Eric joked "Oh yeah, don't' look at that". I laughed as I unzipped my pants to get read for the piercing. Eric marked the placement, had me check to verify it was where I wanted it, and then the piercing began in earnest. I stared at the ceiling as he put the forceps on (as a side note, I believe this is the only piercing I've seen him do that wasn't freehand) and braced myself for the inevitable. "Take a deep breathe in" the tip of the needle was put into place. "And exhale". The pain was without a doubt the most intense of my life, and then it was over. I'm not exactly sure what my comment was, but I know it involved both the words "God" and "fuck". Eric followed through with the jewelry, secured the ball, and wrapped everything in a surgical pad. I now had a 6g barbell through the head of my penis. I felt accomplished.
Eric went over aftercare once again as I left, and I thanked him for the wonderful work. I then climbed in my van and drove home. I was surprised when I got home that there had been very little bleeding (it's a 30 minute drive from the shop) and took that to be a good sign. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. I knew that there would probably increased bleeding from a larger gauge piercing, but I didn't take into account the fact that one of the medications I was on thinned my blood. The first two nights I woke up with my legs covered in blood. I've always been rather impulsive to begin with, and on the third day I decided to take out the piercing. Eventually, the bleeding stopped, and I went to bed. Immediately I knew that I was going to have the piercing done again.
That's been over 6 months ago, and I still haven't gotten my ampallang redone. Mostly this has been a money issue, though that may be taken care of soon. I do think that I'll start off a little smaller this time, though my goal is still 6g (if not higher). Once I have the funds, I'll be going to see Eric once again, though he is no longer at Skinquake.