Ever since I was little, I always found body art and modifications of all sorts to be extremely fascinating, and I have loved BME since the day I found it over three years ago. I have done minor cuttings, piercings, and brandings (using forks and lighters) before, but have never done any piercings intended on being permanent. Prior to this, the longest time I ever kept a piercing in was a safety pin through the stretchy piece of skin over your elbow that I had in overnight as a joke! I thought I was overdue for something done correctly and intended to be permanent.
At A Glance Author sourbunions Contact sourbunions@bme.anon When A month ago Artist me Studio my bedroom Location Joppa, Maryland For about the last 5 months or so, I have pondered the thought of performing a self- pierced hafada on myself. I was apprehensive at first, due to my lack of knowledge on this piercing, and irrational fears of deadly scrotal infections ravaging my body. As I read on through BME about others being successful, and better ways to do it, my confidence was restored, and I was ready to go along with the plan.
My mother is a nurse, so I quite easily acquired a sterile 16 gauge needle and some alcohol pads. When I had set out all my supplies, I cleaned and marked the area on the left side of my scrotum, and there was no turning back! I pushed the needle lightly onto the mark, and found that it wasn't too painful. As I gradually increased pressure, the pain went up too, but by then I could see the tiny speck of where the point of the needle had passed through the exit point. I then used a cork to push the needle into, which stung a bit, but I was so psyched I had gotten it through that it just gave me more of a mild endorphin rush. I inserted the small gold ring I had into the piercing, which didn't hurt much at all, but caused some minor bleeding. After a shower, it seemed fine, and didn't cause me any problems that night sleeping, spare for some soreness and swelling that didn't bother me that much.
Fast forward a week, and things had taken a turn for the worse! The ring had caused some migration and tearing problems, and the swelling and pus had gone up. It was painful to touch, and I decided that it must've been too small a gauge ring, and headed out to find something suitable fast! I bought a 14 gauge titanium barbell, and headed home fast to solve this problem. I anticipated this to be messy and painful, what with the external threading on the barbell, but it slipped in very easily without problem or need for force, and there was still room left in the hole. Days went by with me obsessively following the two sea salt soaks a day and mild antibacterial soap cleaning in the shower, and things were looking up.
Around the three week mark, I still had some irritation around the holes, and switched out the barbell for a ten gauge barbell that was a little bit longer and didn't put too much pressure on the holes during erection. In hindsight, I shouldn't have skipped 12 gauge, because i ended up with a small blowout that I had to baby until the tissue reabsorbed.
This experience has been an incredibly great one for me, because I have learned so much in the past month that I can use in the future. As irritating as all these problems have been, I am thankful for them all, because they have taught me valuable things about myself. I have a newfound respect for how hard healing a piercing can be even though it appears easy, and I have learned my limits in terms of stretching. Since this first piercing, I have added another hafada on the other side, in which I have encountered NONE of these problems having learned from my own stupid mistakes! I have also learned that practicing patience in the long run is a much better way to handle piercings, and life in general.
This piercing means so much more to me than just a hole in my ballsack, it has made me a better person in learning that patience and perseverance will bring the ultimate joy in having earned something through hard work. I don't consider this a terribly hard to heal piercing at all, as long as you do it correctly, not like how I did. And as always, I don't advocate self piercing as a healthy alternative to getting it done by a trained professional, because what I did is dangerous, and should never be attempted just to save money or dodge the parental consent laws.
Thank all of you for reading my experience and I hope you found it helpful!