This frenum piercing marks the second time I have plunged into the murky depths of genital piercing. The first one was a Prince Albert, which for reasons I'll detail in a bit, just didn't work out for me. In general, the frenum has been a much better experience, but not without its.. um.. moments.
At A Glance Author anonymous Artist Brian Studio Black Hole Location Portland, OR I've been pierced a total of 13 times now. I've retained 11 of those, and nearly all of them have been done at the Black Hole in Portland, Oregon. I can't explain how much I love this place by now, nor do I want to think of the amount of money I've blown there over the past few years. Anyway.. all the piercers there are pretty spiffy and know their stuff. The place is amazingly clean and always smells vaguely of disinfectant. For that matter it's always busy when I end up going there, so make an appointment and save yourself having to come back later.
As for the piercing itself... I wanted my frenum piercing as my 23rd birthday present. Approximately a year and a half before i had a brief and not entirely satisfying experience with a PA that ended in the removal of the ring and an unsatiated desire within me for genital adornment. As I didn't really feel like getting a piercing that takes up to a year to heal, an ampallang or apydravya were out, even though they look so nifty. I was also attempting to avoid the sprinkler thing that all those urethral piercing drag along as an unwelcome side-effect. This pretty much left the frenum as my best option, especially as I have more skin than most down there, left over from circumcision, I guess. The fact that my unpleasant, fresh puncture wound-induced period of celibacy would be brief was another big plus.
Anyway, it's busy, as usual, when we all arrive. Somehow my friends and I all get pierced together, so it was a big group of 5 of us or so. I watched a few of them get poked, and then dropped my pants and hopped up on the table. This really wasn't a big deal as they all saw my PA getting done before. Nor was I terribly nervous as I had read in countless places that frenums are not supposed to hurt much. The PA had been just a sharp poke and it was over. I regret to say the frenum was not. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't really that bad (my boyfriend freaked out, I just made what I'm sure was a horrible face), it just hurt more than I thought it would. Kind of slow too. And for some reason Brian had to mess around with the barbell (8 gauge) a bit after he pierced me. Still, there was no blood, and very little pain after a few minutes. I watched the rest of my friends get pierced, paid and tipped Brian, and we were on our way. I was very excited at this point (I'm sure the endorphin rush had something to do with this) and thought the worst was over and started thinking of the jewelry I would change it to after it was healed (I like the look of circular barbells better than the straight one Brian pierced me with, but he said it would heal better this way) and how it would work out when put to the test, so to speak. This would be the source of more trouble for me than I really care to remember.
So Brian had said no contact with other's bodily fluids for the entire initial healing period, that being around 6 weeks. Well... I made it to a little more than two weeks. It was healing so quickly and beautifully, and wasn't cranky or anything that my normal good after care sense flew out the window, I guess. I let my boyfriend go down on me. Nothing happened for days. We found a, um, "friend" and he went down on me. Still, nothing happened. This only strengthened my belief that my piercing was healed enough for this kind of treatment. Enter "friend" number 2, who also went down on me. Bad me. Very bad. Third time is not a charm, let me assure you. within two days my poor wayward member had swollen up and looked really nasty, although it didn't hurt at this point. The swelling went down after a day, and it almost seemed normal except for the fact it was secreting crusties again. But the next day I woke up and it was really cranky.. all inflamed and warm to the touch. So was my left nipple, which had never really healed properly even though I've had it a long time now, which had also fallen before the same individual's mouth, and my boyfriend's new inner helix piercing. I also found out the hard was that infected piercing are very sensitive, when I banged myself against the zipper of my pants after peeing and had to stifle a scream. As you can imagine, I was concerned. A few days later, I finally broke down and we went in to see a doctor. I hadn't gone in sooner because of the horrible reputation doctors have for telling you to just take it out and it will get better. Anyway, I guess I lucked out, because I got a doctor that actually prescribed me antibiotics, which I'm in the middle of taking now. They seem to be kicking my two infections nasty little asses quickly. My boyfriend's ear is doing much better, too.
That being said, I guess the lesson here is BE PATIENT! There's all sorts of nasty stuff in people's mouths and such that just don't mix well with fresh piercing. Time for fun later...
Oh, yeah, the fun part... even if it did lead to a nasty infection, my premature playing around with my frenum did reassure me that it was a good choice. Unlike my old PA, it didn't get in the way of everything and seemed less a risk to teeth and various other parts of a man's anatomy. Kind of tricky fitting a condom over it, but overall quite worth it, and I'd certainly recommend it.