First off, let me just state for the record that no, I am not a doctor, and yes I am an idiot to even consider doing this piercing on my own. I know for a fact that my apartment isn't nearly as sterile as a piercing studio and that I am not nearly as skilled as someone who makes their living preventing people like me from doing it themselves and causing serious injury and/or death. Unfortunately, because I have a very high pain threshold, ample experience with play piercing, and since I have yet to get an infection or have any sort of negative side effects from piercing myself or needle play I decided I could do it myself. I was lucky and want to thank BME for providing such excellent resources that allowed me to at least be aware of just how lucky I am.
At A Glance Author Slowpoke Contact Slowpoke@bme.anon IAM Slowpoke05 When A year ago Artist Me Location Washington, DC Note that people are significantly more likely to write about good/successful piercing and near death experiences. Thus by being self reported stories BME is biased towards the extreme positive or negative experiences and misses out on what may be a vast majority of middle of the road okay or failed/rejected experiences. It would be interesting to survey contributors 6 months later to see if they are still happy with the piercing they described. One story mentioned that 50% or more of male genital piercings are rejected and from my own experiences I could easily see this being true even though in 90% of the experiences appeared to go well but seemed to be written almost immediately after the fact.
Moving on, about a month and a half ago I gave myself a vertical Shaft Apadravyas. Unfortunately, the 1 and 1/4 inch barbell was about too short and after a week the piercing had become very irritated and started to not just ooze, but noticeably drip blood which freaked me out and caused me to take it out the day before the 1 and ½ barbell arrived. Needless to say I was very bummed and disappointed since I'd wanted a Shaft Apadravyas very badly, but I did learn a lot from the experience and one of my strongest insights is that the shaft was never meant to be pierced, especially vertically. Not only do the dorsal arteries and vein run along the top of the shaft (think lots of bleeding and prolonged recovery) but I pride myself on having an extremely high pain threshold and this piercing literally pushed me to my limits. Erections were almost unbearable at first and still throbbed and ached enough to wake me up after a week of heeling.
That said, after removing the jewelry everything seemed to heal fine, there weren't any infections or other noticeable side effects other than gaining a deeper appreciating for the normal multiple shades of red, pale pink, and purple the head of the penis transitions through during the course of the day as you get hot and cold (trust me, if you're going to pierce your dick be intimately familiar with what is a "normal" color and what means you should get your ass to a hospital before it falls off). Regardless of the traumatic first attempt, I was still set on getting a Apadravyas but decided against a deep piercing behind the head and instead studied up on the optimal placement for piecing the glans themselves (glans is a the technical term for the head).
At first, studying pictures I couldn't figure why a vast majority seemed to be situated about half way between the very tip and the crown of the glans. Then I started feeling around and reading anatomy texts and learned that the glans actually wrap around the end of the shaft and that if you squeeze/pinch the glans you can actually feel where the shaft really ends and it's just a soft spongy tip. This spongy tip has a lot of tiny vessels but I couldn't find a text that indicated there were any major veins or arteries to avoid so I anticipated lots of oozing but not the gushing a vertical shaft piercing would cause. Additionally, I ordered a new 1 and 1/4 in 10ga barbell from unimaxsupply.com (I've found Unimax to have some very high quality jewelry, competitive prices, and fast shipping. If you place an order over the phone they will check their inventory while you wait and the items should arrive within 3 days).
For me, about 50% of the glans wrap around the end of the shaft and as such while I'd love to pierce closer to the crown I'll have to satisfy myself with piercing the midway point between crown and tip. As I am doing this piercing for personal and aesthetic reasons, not because I love pain, after using about 5ccs of 2% Xylocaine to numb everything (look up penile dorsal nerve block if you're so inclined), I clamped it down, and pierced it. This piercing seemed to take about twice the force to get the needle through as piercing the shaft (this makes sense as I am circumcised, which causes the mucus membrane that would otherwise cover the glans to be exposed to air, dry out, and turn into scare tissue). Luckily, I used piercing "Finger Pads" this time and unlike when I pierced the shaft didn't take a core sample of my finger at the same time. Yes the piercing did drip for probably 15 minutes but it wasn't anywhere near the total volume that piercing the shaft caused. In my personal opinion, the discomfort cause by swelling more than outweighs the possibility of a slightly extended healing time cause by taking Ibuprofen. Thus I took 4 200mg tablets, called it a job well done and went to bed.
Note: the play-by-play of my recovery got to be excessively long and I didn't want it to detract from my post so I moved it to after the conclusion.
-= What I've learned =-
Realize that aligning the "dots" for this piercing is extremely difficult and, even after spending a good 5 minutes trying to align everything, I still managed to pull the bottom skin out of position. I think this would be an extremely difficult piercing to do without clamps but be prepared to have to re-pierce the bottom hole and I would recommend having a discussion with your piercer before hand on what to do if pee starts dripping from the bottom hole. If it drips a few drops every now and then that seems to be normal, but if it drips every time you pee then the bottom ball is probably in the wrong place. To check, after it's healed try unscrewing the bottom ball and backing the barbell out until it's in the urethra and just see where it naturally wants to poke through. If it doesn't line up very near your current bottom hole, talk to your piercer.
For the first week or so I recommend wearing darker colored pants and keep a non-lubricated condom in your wallet just in case the piercing starts oozing. I find it interesting that about 3-4 days after both times I pierced the bottom hole it started to ooze/drip for about 3 hours or so and then really started to heal. Maybe my experience is an abnormality but I seem to recall reading similar tails in other Apadravyas stories where after the swelling went down it bled a bit more. Also, note that I was fine going to work the next day and walking around after the oozing stopped.
Healing tip: I found walking around during the first few weeks with pants on to be much more comfortable if I folded a facial tissue in half, wrapped it around the shaft, tapped it to itself, and anchored it to the skin of the shaft with medical tape (do not seal the end near the tip as there should enough overhang and closing the tip puts unnecessary pressure on the piercing). Usually there wasn't any/much spotting but for peace of mind I liked having the tissue there just in case and it did seem to "shield" the piercing from accidental bumping.
Mild salt water soaks were very useful in removing lymph secretions and reducing the itchy feeling. However, dried blood seems to act like a scab and removing this type of crusty may cause it to start bleeding again, especially in the first few days.
During the first few days, or until you no longer have blood crusties, I highly recommend that you sit down to pee as the flow can go almost anywhere in the first few seconds before it fully breaks through and removes any buildup inside the urethra.
While we're talking about peeing, due to the rather impressive surface tension of water, no mater how hard you shake or squeeze there will probably be at least a couple drops hanging around the barbell inside the urethra. To avoid embarrassing situations (ex. making out with your significant other immediately afterwards) you may need to blot the tip to remove any drops that are just waiting to leak out later.
This may not be a good winter piercing as wearing multiple layers and winter coats seem to bump into the piercing just enough to be annoying and I seem to have more shorts than pants that fit loose and still look good. Also, keep in mind that metal cools very fast, dress slacks are usually thin with little insulation and, while extremely unlikely, you could actually get frostbite from walking outside in extremely cold and windy weather.
-= Conclusion =-
Getting an apadravyas is a very big commitment that effects both you and your partner. Aside from the daily cleaning and learning how to have sex again (see my other post appropriately titled "Apadravyas Sex"), I now worry about the top ball noticeably poking through my slicks when I sit down and have chosen to avoid the public showers at work.
However, I've had this piercing for over a year and a half now; I like having something that's completely unexpected, very few people know about, and makes me feel unique. With the smaller jewelry my girlfriend rarely feels much of a difference, which is what she wanted, but there is no doubt that sex and masturbation are better for me with my app. It's not an earth shattering change, but if I think about it I can feel the weight of the barbell and love the extra stimulation the bottom ball provides.
While it took some getting used to at first, if you have very good hygiene and a supportive partner I highly recommend this piercing.
-= Healing play-by-play =-
{The following is a journal I wrote soon after I pierced my Apadravyas. I did some minor edits but tried to keep it as original as possible. Also, I strongly urge you to save you and your partner some unnecessary angst and read my "Apadravyas sex" post.}
It's been about 12 hours and surprisingly, this has been a painless piercing. Yes, it's still oozing, and probably will for the next 12 hours or so, but my morning erection was pain free. Peeing was on par with a light sounding session (slightly noticeable stinging but not too bad). Even though I don't see any noticeable swelling I've decided to keep taking 400mg of Ibuprofen just in case. I've also found wearing non-lubricated to be very useful in insuring that my bed and clothes do not end up all messy but am slightly worried that not letting it air out will cause it to ooze longer and thus am not wearing them continuously. I'm also washing the piercing with Satin soap in the mornings and am using mild warm salt water soaks to try and clean away some of the crusties. Note to self, the crusties on top and bottom are like scabs and while they look nasty, they serve a purpose and unless you want the piercing to start oozing again, leave them alone.
36 hours now and just like with the shaft piercing the oozing stopped after about 24 hours. There are still some crusties on the top and bottom but things look good, swelling is minimal, the bruising is starting to fade, and erections still don't hurt nor does it feel "painfully hard" (last time it felt like my dick had blue balls and was aching for release). It still amazes me just how little this piercing hurts. It'll still take a few weeks for it to heal before I can try out the real benefits but so far I really like how easy the healing is going.
Day 3: There were some crusties around the top and bottom hole this morning. I normally sleep on my back but this piercing cause me to be semi-hard most of the time and when you lie on you back an erection trying to lift the covers up with a freshly pierced dick is rather uncomfortable. Needless to say sleeping on my side is my more comfortable but less natural so I kept rolling from side to side and occasionally the piercing would get caught on something and pull hard enough to wake me up. It's still a very painless recovery (I only remember waking up twice and both times were more of a dull ache before adjusting things so my legs were together with my dick sticking relatively straight out resting on a thigh). I'm trying out some new boxers today; they are made out of a very stretchy material, are loose, and feel rather silky. The goal is for them to slide more easily over the piercing and cause it to get caught less often. So far they are very comfortable. Note: Just because it doesn't hurt does not mean you can stop taking ibuprofen; the reason it doesn't hurt is BECAUSE you're taking ibuprofen.
Day 4 AM: I went over to my girlfriends house and ended up doing too much walking and fooling around and of course the piercing got caught more than once which pissed it off and caused it to start oozing a couple drops and basically getting crusty again. While it did look more lymph secretions than dried blood this morning the piercing is still a little achy and definitely is tired of being bumped and pushed around. I've started caring a non-lubricated condom in my bag just in case I really manage to bump it and have found that folding a facial tissue in half and wrapping it around my dick to be an effective bandage. Plus it gives me peace of mind knowing that I'm much less likely to bleed through the bandage, my boxers, and slacks and embarrass myself at work (although, I'm still wearing black slacks just in case).
Day 4 PM: The reason the bottom hole is so achy is that the two piercings do not line up correctly. Since the bottom hole is significantly easier to pierce I've decided to relocate it to be more centered and slightly forward so that the piercing is more vertical. This seems to be what the top piercing is wanting as it is putting enough pressure on the bottom hole to cause a few drops of urine to drip out when I pee. Nothing major but I'd rather not develop a ton of scar tissue as the bottom hole slowly migrates to the correct position. My initial intuition was that I could just replace the 10ga barbell with a 10ga needle and then re-pierce the bottom hole. Yeah, no, that totally didn't work. Remember, the bottom hole was stretched and could easily accommodate the needle. The top hole on the other hand didn't line up right and wasn't going to let the transition from barbell to needle through without a fight and I have no intention of messing up the top hole as well.
On to plan B: pierced a PA in what I think is the proper place to line up better with the top hole and then try to thread the needle through. I have to admit this was the first penis piercing I'd done without numbing in a very long time. Getting the needle where I wanted was much more difficult than I thought and the stretching from going from just the tip of the needle to the whole 10ga stung like crazy. I swear I heard the skin tear when the pressure on the needle finally reached its critical force and broke through. Hard part over.. or so I thought. Somehow I thought I would be easy to line up the end of the needle with the end of the top barbell all within the urethra. Yeah, no. Totally didn't work, couldn't find the needle, couldn't find the new hole, kind of freaked out and just pulled the needle out and went fishing with the barbell. Blood started gushing but once the needle was out of the way I quickly found the hole, use the barbell to plug the leak, and life was good. It dripped for about 2 minutes, oozed a few drops over the next 15 minutes, and then pretty much felt like it did before, just in a different location. and has been remarkably easy. I think the new location is better as the adrenaline is wearing off and the piercing feels much more comfortable now, no more dull ache.
Day 5: Rolled over and the barbell got caught on something enough to wake me up at 3am. It started to slowly ooze so I put a condom on and went back to sleep. I woke up around 5:30 to something pulling down there and realized I'd filled the condom and totally freaked out. I soaked my dick in warm salt water for about 15 minutes, clean him off and then just let him air dry. By this point he'd stopped oozing and seemed remarkably fine. In addition to getting tomorrow off, they let work out of work at 2 today for inauguration day so I only had to work a half day and figured if I was able to take the shuttle and really cut down on my total walking that I should be fine. Luckily he didn't start oozing again and in fact was almost spot free the rest of the day but it did sting when I peed but this was probably more due to the rough treatment trying to pierce and later find the new hole than because of the new piercing.
Day 6: Everything is really healing well, the piercing still doesn't like to be bumped but there wasn't any noticeable bleeding today. There has been some lymph secretions from the top hole but this was expected and it's all been white in color (yellow would signal a possible infection) and I've been diligently washing with Satin soap and soaking in mild salt water at least twice a day. So far, so good, the bottom hole looks much happier and while there is still a little stinging when peeing the bottom hole has yet to leak or cause any other problems.
Day 7: Just when things seemed to be going so well... I guess I forgot that the bottom piercing was still less than 2 days old and wore jeans all day. They were a little tighter than my slacks and seemed to bump into the top piercing more and made things a little uncomfortable. Then in order to give the top hole a break I tried to make sure it had plenty of room while watching a DVD and pulling up on the barbell put too much pressure on the bottom hole and caused it to start oozing all over again. Not gushing or spurting, just this annoying drip that kept going pretty much all night (I wore a condom and had to change it half way through the night). I keep reminding myself that as long as it's not doing this a week from now or when I need t go to work that I'm fine. I've read other stories where the piercing started to bleed again around day 6 and with the bottom hole being so fresh I'm really not too worried, it's just annoying and disappointing.
Day 8: Great, so the hot water is out in my building. Talk about a crapy way to start the day. The good news is that after soaking the night's crusties away things seem to be much better. Still seems more sensitive than a few days ago but the oozing has stopped. There were some crusties throughout the day and a few spots here and there but nothing too bad. I was able to go out and do a lot of walking without too much hassle. Stopped talking Ibuprofen; I figure a week is fine but there's no need to be dependant on medicine. True the piercing does seem a little achier if I bump it but nothing too bad.
Day 9: some crusties this morning but that was the only blood I saw all day. There is a noticeable increase in the amount of lymph secretions and the piercings are starting itch (good sign as itching indicates healing). So to state the obvious, it's been 9 days since I last got off. I'm not really sure if it's possible but my dick is starting to ache for release (looks exactly like blue balls actually as it will start turning purplish and everything). Surprisingly getting an erection and mild pulling doesn't hurt and it actually felt very good to nudge the bottom ball a little but I had to be careful as the top hole is rather annoyed with getting bumped by my clothes all the time. I cleaned him up with Satin soap just to be on the cautious side. I think all of the soaks and cleanings are drying the head out a little so I've been using a very light coat of Vaseline to help moisturize him (I didn't want the chemicals found in hand lotion to get anywhere near my fresh piercing).
I'm feeling guardedly optimistic that this piercing might actually work out. It's still going to be a rough couple more weeks of going without before I can test out the true benefits of this piercing but walking has gotten more comfortable and I'm starting to worry less.
Day 15: So things have pretty much become routine, I still washing with Satin soap in the morning and soak it at night but I think it's been 100% lymph secretions for the last few days. I've found that wrapping it in tissue to be very useful in reducing the rubbing and pressure from walking and have helped make the last week relatively pain free. I've started sleeping on my back again and while I can still feel the pressure of the blankets on top of me it feels more good than painful. After fooling around for a bit I decided to try sex again. Granted the tugging did hurt a little and getting the barbell in was a little difficult (only had troubles getting it past the opening which was most likely due to a combination of me not knowing how to angle it so that it slides in easier, the barbell being too long for sex [switched from 1 and 1/4 in. to 1 in.] and my girlfriend being nervous that it would hurt), but it also felt very good, there wasn't any blood, and I came faster than every before. I've never cum in a woman in less than 5 minutes before, that's just bad, but I'd warned my girlfriend before hand so it was ok with her and felt very good for me. While it was fun, I'm still torn between how long to let this piercing heal before I start playing with it as I'd prefer not to cause extra scar tissue to develop. With that in mind I plan to keep this piercing as happy as possible during the week and will hopefully wait till next weekend before trying sex again. Note: during sex I had to switch to a shorter barbell but even with the lack of swelling I don't think it would be comfortable to have a 1" barbell in all the time. I haven't had a chance to call my supplier yet but I hope to order a 10ga 1 and 1/8 inch internally threaded barbell, preferably titanium with interchangeable .25 and .5 inch balls (ideally ordering a 1 inch of the same just incase I need to continue swapping it out before sex).
Day 19: I've been reading a lot of other experiences trying to get a better idea of the "optimal" barbell size. Several stories mentioned wearing a 1 and 1/8 every day and switching down to a 1in for sex. I guess we'll see how switching down works for a while as I ordered a 1 and 1/8 in barbell but my supplier was out of stock so I'll have to wait a week or so. Although from other experiences it almost seems like I shouldn't be able to get off at all, let alone have sex after 2 weeks so I'm really going to try and cut back. By the way, switching out the barbell is easy, painless, and blood free. I noticed my current 1 and 1/4 in barbell smelled a little girly (perhaps musky would be more accurate?). Not good as the barbell of a clean piercing shouldn't smell. With this in mind, I put the 1in in, soaked the 1 and 1/4 in Listerine for about 15 minutes, washed it with satin soap, then rinsed it off and wiped it down with rubbing alcohol hoping the combo should kill any bacteria looking for a warm moist place to infect.
Day 25: Had sex again over the weekend. There was a noticeable increase in the amount of sensation caused by the bottom hole rubbing but the top hole was still a little tender. I was able to last a little bit longer (about 10 minutes) but didn't want to over do it. Extended foreplay and playing with a vibrator made it much easier to get the piercing in; even with a 1 inch barbell it seemed to catch right at the opening (perhaps on remnants of the hymen?) but according to my girlfriend was more of a rubbing or added pressure, not painful, feeling. Over all much more enjoyable than last time but there is still a good bit of healing that needs to happen before the friction and rubbing feels 100% pleasurable again. There are still crusties on the top and middle holes (inside the urethra) but nothing too bad and I haven't had to wrap him in tissues to make walking comfortable since about day 20.
Day 30: Sex is getting better but still takes some adjustment to keep it comfortable. I definitely notice extra sensation from the piercing but as it is still healing the extra feels good on the bottom but the friction can irritate the top hole. My girlfriend is very tight and in order to get the piercing in I've found it to be most comfortable to angle up, preferably with her on the edge of the bed and me bending my knees so that I have to angle it up to get it in (angling up helps reduce the pressure on the top hole and keeps things comfortable). Additionally, mid-depth strokes work best as if I go too deep stretches her out, which feels great for her put puts a significant amount of pressure on the head which can irritate the top hole. Obviously, this piercing is still healing but it was Valentines Day weekend so through a little creativity we were able to find positions and depths that worked best. Sex two days in a row so soon probably isn't such a good idea but aside from being tenderer the second time there wasn't any noticeable increase in crusties, absolutely no bleeding, and walking around afterwards was fine. Right now there's the potential for better sex, my girlfriend notices more rubbing and says it feels really good but that sex always feels really good and since we've had significantly less sex than usually it's too early to tell if the new piercing is the reason it feels so good (Note: it was only uncomfortable for her the first time we had sex ad we haven't had any problems since, especially as I've started to work on the entry angle to make things easier). I'm still waiting for the new custom titanium jewelry but it should arrive by the end of the week.
Day 36: For the time being, this will be the last entry on the healing process. The piercing is feeling much better. There are still some crusties but this is normal and the piercing itself is getting much less sensitive to being bumped around. I've been able to play with it more and overall I'm very happy with the results. The top hole is still a little sensitive but the friction around the bottom hole feels awesome! Due to a miss communication during the ordering process I'm still waiting on the new jewelry, which will include a set of 3/8 in balls to try out during sex, but the piercing feels like I can start testing out how it improves sex as opposed to trying to find positions that feel good for her but don't put too much pressure on the top hole (thus ruling out going too deep or pulling almost all the way out and doing long strokes). Later on I hope to add a section with specifics of how this has changed sex for both me and my girlfriend. At this point the healing is going well; I'm starting to enjoy the benefits and am about 97% confident that I will leave it in for a good while longer.
Week 8: The top hole still gets crusty and the causes the barbell to lock in place after a couple of hours. No unusual or odorous discharge so I'm really not worried about it especially since the bottom hole has recently stopped being crusty and I can easily move the barbell through the bottom hole. One would assume that with the added thickness of the top piercing that it would take longer to heal. The good news is that I haven't had any problems/pain this week from the piercing getting bumped or caught on anything.
Week 10: How annoying. I expect this piercing to be healed by now but this time I know it's my fault. First, I've been playing with this piercing too much (which feels great by the way, especially near the bottom piercing). Concurrently, I stupidly decided that the best way to encourage the barbell to stop sticking was to just rotate it more often, without soaking the crusties off the top hole first. Needless to say this actually increased the total amount of crusties and irritated the crap out of the top hole. Namely, the crusties stuck to the edge of the hole and twisting the jewelry actually tore some of the skin closest to the barbell. Nothing major (maybe a drop of blood) but actually noticeable enough for me to rethink the situation. My current, probably flawed, logic is that constantly soaking off the scab and having the top ball pressing on the wound can't be reducing the healing time. Additionally, there normally just below the bottom hole due to the magic of gravity pulling the barbell when I sit down and this may have contributed to the bottom holes faster healing time. More likely the bottom hole just had significantly less pierced skin to begin with but my current remedy for the top hole is to use a little bit of clear medical table to hold the bottom of the barbell up a little so that there is just a sliver of extra metal above the top hole to allow it more room to heal. Will keep you posted on the results.
Week 12: I don't think I'll ever understand the healing process for this piercing. So I stopped playing with it for a week and the crusties got worse. Although, soaking it and then resting it in such as way as there was some pressure on the bottom ball so that there was extra room on the barbell above the top piercing did help reduce the crusties. This week I decided to just not worry about it and play with it once a day to see what would happen. The first time there was a drop of blood from the top hole, the second time a drop from the bottom hole, the third and forth times it was fine. My theories are pretty much useless at this point but perhaps playing with it stretches out the holes a little which can be uncomfortable at first? Alternatively I've been extremely stressed these last few weeks but things have started to come together this week and I was able to relax a little. I know that my body reacts weirdly to consistent high stress (my finger tips start peeling) so maybe the piercing was just getting cranky because of how stressed I was. Who knows? It still gets a little cranky when I play with it but nothing too bad and no spotting afterwards so I'm happy, I was really worried that even after it healed sex might be uncomfortable but so far that worry seems to be ungrounded.
Week 15: A couple weeks ago there is some occasional spotting from the top hole after sex or if I played with it for too long. I work full time and go to school part time and in the last two weeks I've written two 10-page papers and have finals coming up to say I've been a little stressed would be putting it mildly. My girlfriend is also working full time and taking classes and it happened that our schedules were just too busy to do anything more than cuddle last weekend. We were able to get together last night and it was awesome! I think the break from sex really helped things heal as it was pain free and I did not notice any blood inside the condom. Additionally the total volume of crusties has noticeably decreased. Note: as I assume this piercing is still healing until the crusties stop completely I will be wearing a condom during sex and washing every day with Satin soap. I have yet to get an infection from any of my piercings and not wearing a condom or washing properly just isn't worth the risk. This especially true since the actual cost of supplies is so low (Since I'm not using condoms as my primary method of birth control I don't mind buying them online in bulk and even washing every day I've used less than two bottles of satin soap at a cost of only $4 a bottle) that I've probably spent less $20 on supplies in the last three months of care.
Week 21: Wow, hard to believe it's already been 5 months. There have been some noticeable improvements in the last few weeks. The crusties have significantly diminished and I can usually freely move the piercing on most days but still cause it to stick on days after having sex. Sex is awesome! I can now use just about any position with comfort. In the past, this piercing has forced me to be painfully aware or how deep and fast I thrust and at what angle. Because of this, I'm not sure this piercing makes sex better or the experience of healing this piercing has made me more aware during sex and thus get better at sex itself. Either way my once skeptical girlfriend admitted, "Yeah, I never thought I would, but I really like it [the piercing]." When asked why, she replied, "Some times it just seems to rub more and feel really good... it's cute... it's just so unexpected that you would have one... it makes you different." I have to agree that sometimes I even forget it's there during sex, but can definitely tell when I'm at just the right angel and depth. Like I said, this has made me more aware during sex so I can't be sure if it's me or the piercing but I seem to be much better at stimulating her g-spot now. The only position that doesn't work is her on top leaning back s that we are at 90 degree angles as this causes me to go too deep and put too much pressure right on the tip as I stretch her out. However, I'm confident that as I fully heal this position will get better as already it takes a few minutes before getting uncomfortable. The piercing can get a little tender if we have sex for too long (more than 40 minutes) or sex more than once a day but having sex two days in a row is fine. Still no infection, I've almost finished my second bottle of Satin soap but still have a third and won't stop using it till I never have crusties.
Week 56: Last night I decided to go bigger on my ap. Okay, so it wasn't exactly comfortable but two and a quarter hours, some triple antibiotic ointment, and a 10 to 8 gauge taper later I now have an 8 gauge Apadravyas. In all honestly it was more of a burning sensation (granted it was the head of my cock) but nothing to really flinch about. Though I don't see how you could get this done in a shop as any faster and it would have hurt like none other (even 2+ hours felt like I was rushing at times). There was a drop of blood right at the end and I think the top middle hole is a bit tender but aside from feeling "warm" I can't really tell a difference. While it didn't ooze over night I did notice a couple drops of blood flush out from inside when I peed this morning. Shout out to all you stretched PA people: The top hole was easy, it was the bottom hole that didn't want to be rushed. Even now the top slides around but the bottom hole is near stuck to the barbell.
Week 80: Time to eat my words. Even after a year, there are still the small amount of daily crusties on the top hole. I'm told this is due to the low oxygen environment caused by the top ball resting near the skin and may be fixed by using Satin soap on a daily basis. However, I've found that the soap is significantly more irritating than the crusties ever were. Instead make sure to soap it up in the shower every morning, keep an eye out for swelling (first sign of infection), and just assume the crusties are normal. I got an infection at one point in the last year and at first just thought I'd been too rough with it but it stayed red and was more tender than normal. Relatively freaking out, I put the old 1 and 1/4 inch barbell back in, made an appointment with my doctor (embarrassed I didn't make a scene and they made me wait a week for an appointment) and decided to keep a close eye on it. After several days of washing the piercing with Satin soap and salt water soaks, things went back to normal, and I put the smaller jewelry back in. The next day I switched back to regular soap and canceled my doctor's appointment. I'm still not sure what caused the infection or what caused it to go away but I haven't had any troubles since. The only "problem" I've had recently is I've noticed that after some rough play or sitting with the barbell in a weird position the bottom hole with drip a little when I pee. Nothing massive, usually just a few drops, but annoying. As a temporary fix I've found the dripping stops instantly if you put a slight pressure on the top ball to "stretch" out the bottom hole and create a tighter seal. I don't think it as anything to do with the placement of the bottom hole so for now I'm just keeping it on my "watch" list.