PA experience, first piercing experience

At A Glance Author Nihil Contact nihil@athlonoc.com Artist i forget Studio Sach's Location Albuquerque, NM

"I will never ever get a PA, that's just too radical for me." That was me a few months ago. I just didn't like the idea of a ring going down my urethra, it doesn't sound comfortable at all.

After a few weeks of looking through BME and reading some experiences, I kinda warmed up to the idea, though by no means was I actually planning on getting one. I'd ordered a 12ga barbell and needle on the net a few days earlier, and had planned on piercing my frenum soon. Now I'm not sure if I'll go with the frenum as well, I'm not certain how much metal I want to have dangling off of my penis. There's a point when the penis with jewelry becomes a lot of jewelry with a penis. A subtle difference, I guess, but deffinately worth thought.

Anyway, on Monday (Labor Day), I went out to some local tattoo/piercing parlours to check out tattoo portfolios for my girlfriend. When I got to the first shop, I figured I'd ask what the price for a PA was, just for future reference, I thought. The guy there said he didn't do genital piercings, but the shop down the street did. I paged through the photo albums there, then ran down the street to Sachs and found myself filling out the release forms a few minutes later.

The parlour was clean and a bit trendy, and smacked a little of "eliteness," but I figured I'd give them the benefit of the doubt.

The piercer was professional and businesslike, he showed me the ultrasonic equipment and autoclave, then we went in back and got ready. He explained that the PA was a relatively mild piercing and there wouldn't be very much pain, but a decent amount of blood. I was ready and I said so. The insertion tube really sucked. It had to accomodate the 10ga needle. Ouch. He asked me to take a deep breath in, and let it out slowly. There was a brief but intense flash of pain and it was over. He put in the jewelry and went over the aftercare sheet with me. He then put some bandages on me and a rubber glove and rubber banded it (not too tight!) on to catch the blood. I picked up some Satin antibacterial soap on the way out, and some sterile saline solution and a box of latex gloves at Walgreens on the way home.

Imagine my girlfriend's surprise when I told her what I'd done. She was shocked but quite impressed. She was, however, upset that it would be about 2-4 weeks before we could have sex again. We hung out for a few hours, watched some tv, and I decided I'd better take a look at it and evaluate the damage. My penis was a bit green around the gills and looking quite shocked.

I was not looking forward to going to the bathroom, but it turned out that it wasn't very uncomfortable at all. The cleaning that night stung a little. I think my urethra was a bit irritated from the insertion tube. The next morning there was only a little blood, I was relieved. I cleaned the jewelry as per the aftercare instructions, and wrapped everything up with tissue and put a fresh rubber glove on it. The rest of the day wasn't too eventful, I used the saline solution with a qtip to clean off buildup that... uh.. built up over the day.

Over the next few days, I woke up bleeding and sore. I talked to my piercer today and he said that it's not uncommon for a person to bleed for up to two weeks (!) so I shouldn't worry. I hope the morning bleedings stop soon, I'm running out of blood.

That's it. As far as the general experience goes, I was happy with the technical skill of the piercer, but I would have more time to talk with him about his job, the parlour, etc. but he was very busy and not too chatty. I guess I don't like how the tattoo/piercing industry is just that, and industry. There's no piercer/piercee relationship besides the money exchange. I guess I want to feel something more than a business relationship with my piercer, but I digress.

I like my new piercing a lot, I really like the look of it, and I can't wait to try it out. The healing has been a bit of a pain, but if what I've heard of this piercing is true, it'll all be worth it. The people at Sachs were polite and businesslike, and I'm happy with the experience on the whole. I don't think I'll go back there, unless I can connect with a piercer there and develop a better relationship.