Okay then, a few words about my first and still only ring...
At A Glance Author Elromanozo Contact Elromanozo@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Loïc Studio Abraxas Location Paris, France For about two years now, i've thought of about getting pierced. Living with my parents and knowing them like I do, I was esitant to do an obvious pirecing, though the thought of pissing them off was tempting... But hardly a motivation for such an act!
A year ago I started seriously considering getting a genital piercing, probably a PA, having been cursed with a face that's just horrible with any kind fo rings... As the modification itself is quite extreme (and yes, it is, even if everyone will tell you it's the most popular male genital piercing, and everyone just loooves it, and it so enhances this and that, and blah blah blah... If you've read other's experiences, you get the picture !)I didn't go through it immediately.
I searched the web for months to find every possible data, collecting stories of experiences alll around, good and bad, trying to determine what went wrong in the horror stories and what was common to the others... I searched for photos to get an idea of what i wanted, I browsed through about each and every piercing studio website of my country and also a lot of US sites (including BME) before finally settling down and even thinking about choosing a piercing studio... And then again, don't always trust the website, this is my advice: go and see for yourself if it is clean ! You'll have a good idea what to look for in a studio perusing through BME (autoclave, no piercing guns, disposable tools, gloves, private piercing rooms in the back, generally pro and clean stuff...).
After finding a piercer that was to my liking (that is, professionally) who didn't push me and was amicable (that's important too, if you want to be reassured. If he or she treats you like dirt or like a newbie, what makes you think he or she won't be negligent when it comes to the handling of your tender parts ?) it took me longer still to really get my ego up and go for it.
I send e-mails to the piercing studio asking questions, I went there twice... Again, I may have overdone it, but it's just me. I think no one should go about getting a PA without at least some reflexion about the consequences, both long term (wow, a metal ring through my dick !... Or, an infection.) and short term (hey, is that, like, a liter of blood on my sheets ?).
Anyway, I did whatever it took to make me feel safe about it, and you should too. if it takes less, good for you, but there's still a LOT of things that can go wrong with any piercing, let alone a genital one.
The piercing itself was done quite professionally, the guy who did it was nice and not pushy, the whole thing was on a weekday and quite discreet (no one congratulating me apart from the friend i brought with me, cause I don't brag or show it to anyone !)... It barely even hurt and barely even bled. By the way, the pain and the amount you bleed for a piercing depends most of all on the stress you experience, again, be sure of what you are doing ! That is to say, don't go there carelessly getting an ampallang or something for your first piercing either, chances are you didn't quite think about how definitive this might be, even if it goes well.
Anyway, Mine is doing fine. I don't know the gauge, but it's 2.5 millimeters for those with metric system out there... Not as big as I wanted but I can always stretch later on, and the thicker you pierce, the longer it takes to heal (and frankly, I don't fancy cleaning it twice a day everyday till easter...). It's been less than 24 hours and after bleeding a bit it almost stopped. Now it's like a few drops everytime I clean it, so nothing like the amount I expected, which is nice when you live with your parents and you don't want them worrying sickfor stains in your shorts... I don't idolize my parents, they can be a hassle and sometimes not as open minded as I'd like, but they've been good to me so I don't make a fuss...).
As the swelling is going down, I watch my newly pierced dick and thank whatever higher power for everything going on well, and it looking so cool with a big ring attached under my foreskin ! I don't know about the other benefits you surely heard about, but this alone justifies it to me. Some men don't experience any gain in their sexual prowess or sensitivity, just so you know, but I don't really care... It would be nice, of course !
I hope it's useful to someone thinking about mods...