After a lot of thought and research (thanks to BME) I decided to make an appointment to have a Prince Albert installed. I had two weeks leave and thought that would provide plenty of recovery time. I work in a very conservative and competitive industry and didn't want my colleagues to notice anything. Not that I was planning to whip it out and wave it around the office. Tattoos are sort-of OK as long as they are not visible, earrings no and genital piercing forget about it!
At A Glance Author mbzn Contact mbzn@bme.anon IAM mbzn When Three months ago Artist Heather Studio Streetwise Location Auckland, New Zealand I drove to Newmarket and walked up the stairs to the studio feeling pretty nervous. Heather introduced herself and started to discuss the piercing with me, showing diagrams and jewelry that would be suitable. Heather said that they usually use a 12 gauge CBR. I would have liked a 10 gauge CBR but they didn't have one with a suitable internal diameter and Heather felt that an 8 gauge would be a bit extreme. She answered all my questions about the piercing, the studio, the sterilization of the jewelry and the after effects. I filled out the form and paid (not the most painful part). Heather asked me to take a set and went to prep the room.
She came back, apologising for keeping me waiting (less than 5 minutes) and we went in to a clean bright white room with a "bed" in the middle. I was told I could just drop my pants, rather than take off shoes, sox, jocks etc., and hop on the bed. Heather then explained what she was going to do and how the piercing would be installed. She then asked me to breathe deeply and started prepping my dick. The actual piercing was fairly standard. Heather cleaned the area about to be violated by the needle with some liquid solution. It looked like Betadine, but I was not really concerned about it at that time and point. She then measured the distance between the tip and the Frenulum using calipers and decided that a 17.5 mm diameter CBR would be the best option. She then opened the sterile bags, changed gloves again and asked if I was ready. The receiving tube was inserted into my urethra. She marked the entry point and told me to take a deep breath in and release. On the release of breath she did the deed and I was able to see metal protruding from my dick. The ring went with no problems and Heather put the ball on and started to clean up. My thoughts were yes the receiving tube in the urethra feels strange, but doesn't hurt and being stuck with a needle is painful, but the pain didn't last long and I've had worse. There was no blood but Heather put a covering over the head of my dick and said that there would be, I sat up and the blood began to flow (but not badly).
Heather made sure that I was OK, talked to me about aftercare again and gave me the strips showing that the bags she used had been autoclaved and asked me to take them to the counter; initial and give them to Jane behind the counter. They would be added to my file so that Streetwise would always know what they had installed on me. I talked to Jane who made sure that I was OK and talked about aftercare again and gave another aftercare sheet, as I had managed to loose my original one. I said my goodbyes and walked down the stairs and joined the throngs of Sunday shoppers. It didn't hurt, but the weight was noticeable and intriguing.
Instead of going straight home I of course went to the chemist, the Café and had a coffee (which Heather recommended against as it can thin the blood like aspirin does), the petrol station and the supermarket. At the supermarket I noticed a reddish brown substance leaking on the front of my jeans. I finished the shopping using the shopping basket to obscure the stain. I shot home, had a look, and sure enough the covering had come off. I got into the shower and cleaned up; there is something disturbing about pulling a large blood clot out of your dick. I spent the rest of Sunday with sterile paper towels stuck down my jocks. There was still no pain, the only time I hurt myself was when I flicked to towel across the ring when I got out of the shower.
Going to a concert the next night was very interesting; the vibrations produced a strange yet pleasurable and arousing sensation. Blood clots aside the aftercare was fairly straight forward, no major problems. I bled for the first 12 hours then just the odd spot of blood for then next 24 hours. I do fully endorse the salt water soak thing! The piercing did not stop me doing anything, but I was aware of it and did get some pain if I bumped it or did anything blatantly stupid (like catch the ring in a zip). I found that jocks (briefs) were better than boxers (think lift and support) and that jeans were not a good choice for the first week or two.
I did have a problem with the diameter of the CBR being too tight when erect, I went back to Streetwise and Shane provided a 12 gauge 19mm CBR. This took the pressure off the wound and made things much more comfortable during the initial healing. After 4 weeks I went back to the smaller CBR as this fits better and is much better for sex. The main problems were sleeping, I like to sleep on my stomach and body weight on a fresh piercing is not great, and going to the "boys' room". The shower-head effect is interesting (yes, PA can stand for Piss All-over) but manageable. It's been in for 2.5 months now and I am looking at going up to a 9 gauge ring.
I would like to complement Heather and Shane from Streetwise when I went back they were prepared to do whatever was necessary to make sure that I was happy with the piercing. I will be going back to them for my second piercing (and third...?).