Does there have to be a reason?

At A Glance Author Chas - UK Contact Chas - UK@bme.anon Artist several Location Bedfordshire - UK

Surely most readers with piercings have tried to analyse why they have them, and so I'm no exception in that. Where I differ from some, or even many, readers is that I can't give a logical answer to the question "why?" The only answer is the simplistic one "because I needed to". So this submission is a history of my experiences, rather than a justification or rationalisation.

Like many people, my first encounter with body modifications was when I was a teenager at school and saw photos in National Geographic magazine. They were the 'usual' photos showing tribesmen with stretched lips, ear lobes and necks.

Many years passed, I'd been married for over twenty years, had three children and a professional job in the south of the UK, when I had my first literary encounter with body modification in the form of genital piercing. It was a description of piercings accompanied by rather poor quality line drawings. We were staying with friends and I was browsing a 'bedside' book that was in their guest-room. The book described ampallang and apadravya piercings and said they originated in the islands off South East Asia, being made to increase the pleasure of sexual intercourse. I thought my pleasure level was pretty good already and was surprised by a claim that it could be better. My next encounter was in a 'top shelf' magazine that had an article about genital piercing. For men, it described amongst others the PA, guiche, ampallang, apadravya and dydo, all of which it said were used to heighten sensitivity and pleasure. It also described and illustrated the frenum piercing, but said this was essentially a piercing for visual pleasure, rather than one that improved sensitivity.

As time passed my thoughts kept returning to the two articles I'd read. My work and social environment mean that visible piercings are absolutely not an option and, frankly, I don't find they have any appeal for me as a piercing. But there was an attraction that I can't explain about genital piercing. Finally, about six years after I'd first read about piercing, I decided to get a PA. As so many people have written, some time, measured in weeks rather than days, passed between making the decision and getting the deed done ­ but in due course I stepped over the threshold into our local tattoo shop, since they also advertised the services of a body piercer.

My anxiety had no time to overcome my bravado, as the PA could be done immediately. After a fairly brief discussion of the piercing and its care and maintenance, it was time to drop the trousers and underwear and make the final mental preparation ­ it will hurt, but not a lot. I had been circumsized as an infant, but I still had a substantial web to the frenulum running back from the V on the underside of the glans to the main shaft. On seeing this, the piercer explained he would have to offset the pierce and asked me which side I dressed ­ "left" I replied. He said he would therefore offset the pierce to the left to minimise irritation or discomfort from friction against my clothing. Next came the marking, followed by a squirt of local anaesthetic, wait a minute or two and in goes the needle. This was followed by a 2 mm wire diameter ball closure ring of about 13 mm diameter and that's it. There was a minor amount of bleeding, so a wad of paper towels into the underwear and I'm done.

I'd calculated that having as long a time as possible between the piercing and going to bed would be best, so I'd had it done in the morning. Initially I changed the paper towels every couple of hours. But by the early evening this was unnecessary and I put a small bandage around my glans. With this in place I soon found that while I'd fixed the spotting problem, I still needed to be careful positioning my penis inside my boxers so as not to catch the seams nor to squeeze anything unduly. One thing I did not experience was any stinging when urinating. By bedtime the bleeding had stopped and, though the glans was tender, I was able to get to sleep without much trouble. All went well until I woke with a nocturnal erection. The pain was terrible, worse even than at the moment of piercing, and the tightness of the ring through the urethra seemed to sustain the erection, which in turn maintained the pain. After what seemed like hours trying to think of asexual distractions the erection subsided and I went back to sleep.

However nocturnal erections are not once-in-a-lifetime, or even once-in-a-night-time, events and every one was equally painful. So on about the fourth night, when I was woken by yet another one, I took the ring out. In the morning I tried to put the ring back in, but the hole had healed enough that I couldn't do it myself, so I went back to the piercer. Then I discovered that he only works Friday and Saturday, and this was early in the week!

In spite of this experience of failure I wasn't totally put off the idea of a piercing and in due course decided that I'd get a frenum piercing. As I have said, I had a substantial web to the frenulum running back from the V on the underside of the glans to the main shaft of my penis. The frenum piercing was placed in the web and was done at the same establishment, but by a different piercer. It seems that my PA had been done by a not very experienced locum, while the principle piercer had been away. The locum had fitted a ring that was too small in diameter ­ I of course knew this. The frenum was done with topical anaesthetic and fitted with a 2 mm wire, 15 mm diameter ring. As with the abandoned PA, I went through the paper towel and bandage routine and the piercing started to heal. No problems with nocturnal erections, but the ring would often get twisted around in all sorts of uncomfortable ways. So a week or two later it was replaced by a 28 mm diameter ring that would fit round the shaft, in the groove (sulcus) behind the corona. That looked and felt much better and once the hole was healed ­ about six weeks ­ I started stretching it. A couple of visits to the piercer over the course of several weeks got it stretched first to 3.3 mm and then to 5 mm. At this size I was able to wear either a short barbell or a 5 mm ring of 17 mm diameter. A ring of these proportions is not the sort to open with your fingers, unaided, so I bought a pair of circlip pliers and these did the trick, just.

The frenum was going well, living up to expectations in that it looked good but had very little effect on sensations, and so I decided to add a guiche. The piercing was done with a small diameter 2 mm ball closure ring and cared for as before, but it was never comfortable as most of my work is done seated. I also found that it certainly did not provide "added pleasure when gently tugged at the moment of orgasm", instead it was either distracting or painful. Consequently after about 9 months, which I thought was an adequate trial period, the guiche went.

Then to my surprise and dismay the frenum hole broke out. The piercer was most surprised at this ­ this was a not problem with a frenum piercing that he'd ever encountered before and he was unable to explain why it had happened. As we talked our conversation turned to the question of what next? After some discussion I decided to try a PA, again. When the frenum hole had broken it had left the V behind the underside of the glans unobstructed by any web, so he was able to pierce the PA centrally. This time it worked well with the correct diameter ring. As with the others he used topical anaesthetic and I used the paper towels followed by the small bandage and there wasn't any trouble with bleeding. During healing, I did not experience any stinging when urinating. Then once it was healed ­ which took about 6 weeks ­ I went back to the piercer a couple of times for stretching using a taper and got it up to 3.3 mm and then after a few more weeks to 5mm. This meant I could even wear the 5 mm by 17 mm diameter ring I'd had in my frenum ­ waste not, want not.

Then again the 'what next?' question arose, to be answered with a Reverse PA, initially using a 2mm barbell 28 mm long. This was done from the underside of the glans through the hole of the existing PA.

I should perhaps point out that all the piercings I've had have used a needle with a plastic sheath. The needle makes the hole, the sheath is then slid through the hole, the needle is withdrawn, and then the sheath is used to draw the ring or barbell back through the freshly pierced hole. And the piercer has never used clamps, so the alignment of the needle with the exit point has always been free-hand. On reflection, I'm not convinced that this is a good thing with regard to the positioning, but it avoids the discomfort of the clamping.

This time local anaesthetic was applied both inside the urethra and on the top of the glans and allowed to take effect for 30 minutes. Then the exit point was marked, the needle was unwrapped, and the piercing made. Because of the anaesthetic the sensation of the needle and sheath going through the glans was somewhere between uncomfortable and painful. But the attempt to draw the sheath back with the barbell was a disaster. The sheath would not draw back with the barbell, and then the barbell slipped out of the end of the sheath. In this state the only way the sheath would move was out and the piercer's efforts to complete the piercing were really painful ­ which is not something that gives me any pleasure. So I was sitting there without a barbell and with an impressive, or I could say copious, flow of blood from the empty needle hole. It didn't take much in the way of fraught discussion for us to decide to give up this particular attempt and let the damage heal. The analysis of the cause of the problem was that he had used a needle from a 'cheap' batch with sheaths that lacked the necessary rigidity. So, when he tried to slide the sheath through the hole made by the needle, the sheath wall rippled. This had made the sheath especially difficult to withdraw smoothly.

Some readers may be surprised that I went back for a second attempt at the Reverse PA, but two weeks later I did. This time it was achieved without drama, though the exit point was a little bit off centre. I think the needle was deflected slightly by a small piece of scar tissue resulting from the abortive first attempt. But there was no charge apart for the cost of the barbell, for the abortive and this second pierce, and I came out with the straight 2 mm by 28 mm barbell in place. It goes without saying that I used the paper towels and bandage routine, and once again there was no stinging when urinating. After a day or so I replaced the bandage with two plasters, one on top, one beneath. Though the plasters were intended to stop spotting damage to clothing and bedding I found they had a much more important advantage. They stopped the ends of the barbell protruding and catching on clothing during the day, and bedding at night. Consequently I used plasters for a week to ten days.

Now, although I had discussed this piercing with the piercer as a Reverse PA, I feel that what I have got is an apadravya. In due course I went back and had it stretched so I could wear an internally threaded 3.3 mm barbell. As others have said this is far superior to externally threaded jewellery as there is no chance of the screw thread causing damage to the hole. As an alternative to the barbell I was also able to wear two 3.3 mm rings together, one as a PA and one as a Reverse PA. I found the only care to take with this arrangement was to ensure that they were not inter-linked in the urethra as the twist could be rather uncomfortable. For a time, though I could wear the 5 mm in the PA, I wore the two 3.3 rings so I could remove one or both of them without recourse to the circlip pliers.

About a year after the Reverse PA (second attempt) everything in general was working well, apart from one occasional problem. From time to time a small sore developed in the hole that ended up producing a small amount of pus, that a short course of antiseptic cream on the barbell always cured fairly quickly. This problem did not happen often, but I am at a loss to know what caused it.

All this time I was in the habit of removing the rings or barbells just before intercourse and replacing them afterwards, until the fateful day that a love making session lasted longer than usual and all my attempts to replace the barbell failed, totally. It meant that I was left with a normal PA, but one that will take a 5 mm ring.

The 5mm ring I now wear in my PA has a horse shoe shape with a 7mm ball on each end and I don't remove it for intercourse as my partner finds that the balls 'hit the spot' in a very pleasurable way for her.

Anyway, with the benefit of hindsight what are the lessons I've learnt?

Lessons learnt

I wish I'd found BME years ago ­ then I'd have known what to expect in terms of positioning of the piercing, hygiene procedures, changes to sensation especially during sexual activity, and I'd have known what to check for in the piercer's experience. I'm sure that, compared to other writer's experiences, his hygiene is not ideal, and the experience of his 'locum' is still suspect, in my view.

I would have known how to mark and measure myself for the PA to ensure that I got the right size of ring in the right place, and I would have had the piercer confirm its accuracy.

To reduce the risk of breaking the hole I should have had the frenum piercing placed further down the shaft.

I have tried the nail varnish technique suggested in one submission. For those not familiar with this, you paint a barbell or ring with an increasing number of coats of nail varnish. Done using two or three extra coats every few days increases the diameter of the barbell or ring, so stretching the piercing. I can confirm that it worked well for me.

For the appearance of the piercing, I would have had the Reverse PA placed as a deep or shaft apadravya, with the top exit point in the shaft, just behind the glans in the sulcus.

It is definitely better to have the pierce early in the day, rather than later, to maximise the time before trying to sleep.

You can't be too scrupulous with cleaning the wound.

Whether urination causes stinging during the healing process for piercings passing through the urethra is a personal experience. I know others have experienced it, but I have not.

And what of the future?

Before the unfortunate closing up of the Reverse PA I was going to stretch it to 5 mm and get a pair of bent barbells to wear in the PA and Reverse PA. The bent barbells have been described elsewhere in the mail piercing string of experiences.

My plan now is to have a dolphin piercing 1.5 inches down the urethra, so I can wear a curved barbell with 6 mm balls. I know I can get a 6 mm ball down my urethra, just, so once the dolphin is healed I will be able to have the barbell threaded through the two holes. One ball will be located internally by the dolphin. The barbell will then come out through the dolphin, re-enter at the PA and be 'anchored' at the outer end of the urethra by the other ball. Unfortunately I can't have any piercings just now as I have to take anti-coagulant medication for a few months. But once the treatment is finished.....

Chas - UK