Ok so I got this crazy idea about a year ago, while traveling around the archives of BME, that I would like to have a frenum ladder. I already have my tongue stretched to 4 gauge and my labret pierced, anyway I tossed around this idea of getting a frenum ladder done with preferably 6 rungs. My girlfriend at the time was totally put off by the idea and gave me strong reason to believe that our relationship would end if I went through with it (well the relationship failed anyway so in hindsight I should have gone through with it, just going to show body mods usually outlast relationships).
At A Glance Author windupdevl Contact windupdevl@netscape.net When Six months ago Artist me Studio my living room Location california I guess this was around July of 2002, so for about four months I just sat the idea on the back burner and went on with my life, got new tattoos, new girlfriend, moved to another city, etc. But as is usually the case, the idea of some new mod that takes getting used to and is fun to show off making people think "What in the world !?!" took over and the idea of a frenum ladder came back as a real desire of mine.
I went to a few local piercing shops and asked general knowledge questions, and of course read tons of stories here on BME, coming to the conclusion that paying someone in the price range of 130 bucks for just two of the piercings was not something I wanted to do. Being adventurous, some would say foolish, I decided to order some piercing needles off the net and see if I could muster up the courage to do it myself. I ordered 14, 12, and 10 gauge needles not knowing what size I was going to use for the piercing. I admit, the idea of a 10 gauge needle going through an area notorious for sensitivity scared me a bit, but in the end I did indeed go with the 10 gauge. I heard that the larger gauge helped keep the piercing from ripping when tugged on, i.e. masturbation or any sort of sexual intercourse, and the word ripping scares me more than the word piercing. I also decided to only do one piercing for now to see what it's like, 6 was kind of jumping in for me, I wanted to ea se myself into the water so to speak, and that's that.
It was the night of my birthday, November 13th, that I decided to do it. I found an old pair of stainless steel medical clamps ( I feel like an idiot not remembering what they are called, but I don't, so I guess I have to live with it) that my family uses for pulling fish hooks out when we go fishing. Yeah, I know sounds dirty and like a bad idea, well for most people the whole thing is a bad idea. Anyway, I boiled the crap out of everything, the clamps, the needle, the 5/8" barbell, everything got a good soaking, and then a dip in some rubbing alcohol. I took a bath to soften up the skin and relax my nerves and then washed the entire genital area as good as possible afterwards with rubbing alcohol and cotton balls. I used a Sharpie brand marker to place the dots where the needle was to be going and for the most part just eyed where I thought they should be. After getting everything satisfactory, I put on the clamps, carefully aligning the black dots on either side of the pulled flap of skin (here's a tip: use a flashlight, the skin gets pulled relatively thin and the light shines through enough to be able to see when the dots are aligned, oh yeah, and if you use clamps like I did, bend them apart a little so they don't pinch so tight when locked together), and then I started shoving the needle through. Now for me, I can't handle adrenaline rushes, I pass out, so sorry to say, I pushed the needle through and just barely got the tip out the other side and began to feel myself fading. Knowing it was coming I just layed back and since I was in my living room on my couch at the time (it was like 2:30am, everyone was asleep) laying back was comfortable and no big deal. I came to about 30 seconds later, feeling totally fine, pushed the needle the rest of the way through using the barbell and bam it was done, I screwed the other ball on the barbell and wiped it all down with a cotton ball and rubbing alcohol.
Now I know I didn't mention the pain or anything and there is a reason for that, there was none. I swear I've had papercuts that make my eyes water and this did nothing what-so-ever. It didn't bleed anything more than one tiny little drop where the needle entered and there was no pain, none, nothing. It was great. After this I went to bed with a smile on my face and looking forward to telling my friends about it the next day. The next morning there was a tiny bit of crusted blood around the balls of the barbell but not much and a warm shower easily washed it all away.
One thing though, I started looking and something wasn't even. The balls lined up perfectly with the base of my penis, it wasn't crooked or anything like that. But it was a little bit off to one side. Not much but enough that it looked wrong. This caused me to realize something. When erect the skin on the penis gets pulled in strange ways, and I had put the marks on when I was limp, not realizing that perfectly aligned when limp is not so perfect when erect. Well, out it came only two short days later, I decided that it was worth doing again and doing right.
I waited a few weeks for the old hole to close up and heal a bit, I read that was a good idea. Then Christmas Eve 2002 I went through it all again. This time making sure the dots were where they needed to be. Still absolutely painless and hey, this time I didn't pass out. It's been about 9 months now and things are still great. No infection, discomfort, nothing. I forget its down there for the most part, well, until my new girlfriend gets ahold of it that is. I like it, she likes it, all is good.
Though I am glad I decided on only one for now, I think for practicality purposes, 6 would be too much (though I still dig the look). My cleaning habits mainly consist of washing the crusties off in the shower each morning and that's about it, so far it has been pretty maintenance free. So yeah, I had a good experience, but that doesn't mean you will, for all I know I may have just gotten lucky, twice. I say, if you are thinking about it, do research, lots of research, and be very very clean about it. I mean, come on that's the last thing you want infected. Oh yeah, and make sure your marks are good, otherwise you might have to do it twice. Happy trails.