THE PA PLAN
At A Glance Author blvent Contact bryan20miles@yahoo.com When A month ago Artist Myself Studio Home Location NW IN Self piercing is not for everyone. If you don't think you could, do not; visit your local professional piercing shop instead.
I'll try to be to the point.
Being the way I am...
1) I like to do things myself if I think I can,
2) I try not to do things that could possibly harm me, unless I've done a comfortable amount of research about it, and
3) I try to make as thorough a plan as I can think up.
So, when the PA pierce bug bit me again (the idea's been in my head for nearly 15 years), it didn't take me too long to decide that I'd be the one piercing myself, that I needed to find information from those who have already pierced themselves, and that I needed to make a plan.
In doing my 'research' (item #2 in my list above), I compiled as much detail about the PA piercing experience from forty of the stories (related to self-piercing) at the BMEZine website. I determined from this compilation that each of the stories contained varying amounts of information (detail), and varied in the type of info (some specific about equipment, while others were specific about method, etc.). Ultimately, I chose what seemed to be the most intelligent, most sensible information from this compilation (which is in MSExcel spreadsheet form, and can be made available). The information and level of detail included in THIS story then, although not meant to be a 'PA self-piercing' guide, IS meant to include all of the info/details gleaned from these forty stories, as interpreted and utilized by myself, to accomplish my PA piercing.
Some of the information that did NOT get considered as necessarily intelligent or sensible things to utilize were things like: piercing with a nail set struck by a hammer, piercing with a piece of copper wire, poor or non-existent pre-pierce cleaning and aftercare practices, and the use of unsterilized equipment (of any kind) or unsterilized jewelry.
Common sense told me that a piercing is a wound, and could get infected, so sterilized equipment was an absolute must. In fact, in my mind, 'sterilizing' everything could not hurt (I'll explain this later). To start then, I bought a sterilized 8-gauge 7/8" SS circular barbell, and an 8-gauge taper from Tribalectic, along with their 'Aftercare' kit containing aftercare instructions, Sea Salt and Antimicrobial Cleanser. I bought a sterilized 8-gauge needle and a 4-gauge receiving tube from LABodyJewelry (not available at Tribalectic).
I bought 2"x2" and 3"x3" gauze pads, cloth medical tape, liquid antibacterial soap, Ambesol, antibacterial waterless hand sanitizer, gloves and Neosporin from the local Walgreens/Wal-Mart.
Once all of the supplies were at hand, I tried to make sure I was familiar with the use of them by reading any included instructions. This included especially the Ambesol (that I intended to use as a anesthetic) and the aftercare items (sea salt, antimicrobial cleanser).
Next I made some crucial decisions about my PA pierce:
When to pierce - I picked a Thursday evening after work, when Friday was a day off, giving me three entire days to heal, before having to go back to work.
Where - I picked my home, my bedroom, my computer chair, all places I feel comfortable.
Documenting - I decided to attempt to take digital photos during the piercing process, as well as trying to make a webcam video.
The Spot - where exactly the new hole in my body was going to be; this was probably the most difficult decision to make, since I wanted it to be as centered as possible, and the research was not definitive about a PA pierce location for a circumcised penis.
When Thursday evening arrived, I got prepared to perform my pierce (I was so excited!). I turned off my telephones and locked the doors.
Then I placed a garbage can near my 'piercing chair', so used items had a place to go.
Remember earlier in this story, I said I thought sterilizing everything could not hurt, so... I sanitized my chair, a towel I used to put all my equipment and supplies on, and a towel I placed on the seat of my chair with a spray disinfectant. During the course of the entire piercing procedure, I also 'sanitized' everything that I would touch, that was not already sterile (including the packaging of all items) with the waterless hand sanitizer.
I then took a shower, washing the pierce area with antibacterial soap. Using the waterless hand sanitizer, I sanitized my hands, then used cotton swabs to apply the Ambesol to the pierce location (inside and out). While I was 'numbing', I marked the pierce location and snapped a picture. Then I put on my first pair of gloves, sanitized, opened the 3"x3" gauze pads, and laid out two of them. I then sanitized all of my equipment packages (I'd been handling them right? Without sanitized hands!), opened all the packages, and laid the open equipment on the gauze pads). And of course, I took the circular barbell apart, to save time during the procedure.
Time to do it!
I changed gloves, sanitized, and put a dab of Neosporin on the back of one of the gloves (used as lubricant, handier than having to squeeze the tube when you need it). I lubricated the slanted end of the receiving tube, and inserted it into the end of my penis. A little discomfort, not near as much as the stories I'd read lead me to believe. However, what a challenge! I realized quickly that the tube did not want to stay in place, it was difficult to tell whether the end of the receiving tube was where I wanted it, and the arms of my chair kept getting in the way of my elbows. After what seemed like a very long time, I finally managed to get the receiving tube where I wanted it inside (across from my mark on the outside), and after lubing and lining up the needle and rechecking a few times, it was time to do it!
I pushed, the going was easy, then more difficult, a harder push and the needle was through. No pain, just a little pinch; no sound although the needle seemed to 'pop' through. Pushed it through enough so that I knew when I removed the receiving tube, the sharp pointy end would be out of my urethra. Removed the tube. Everything looked good, and no blood to speak of. That wasn't too bad, gotta get a picture.
Things changed a bit at this point... the camera decided to mutiny, the pierce decided to bleed, a lot. Never did get a picture of the needle stuck through my penis (good thing the video worked!).
Changed gloves again (touched the unsanitized camera), sanitized them, and grabbed the circular barbell. My first attempt to push the needle out while pushing the jewelry in resulted in me holding the needle in one hand, and the circular barbell in the other, with neither one in my piercing. Dang! And still bleeding, and the more I try to do, the messier it got. Made one unsuccessful attempt at putting in the jewelry from the outside-in. Went for an inside-out attempt; absolutely no difficulty in finding the hole and getting the jewelry in. Just one more task to do, fit the balls onto the ends of the circular barbell. This ended up being the other part of the procedure that seemed to take forever. Everything bloody (wet), gloves that aren't really all the way on (could not get my fingers all the way in), leaving little flaps of glove at the ends of my fingers, and trying to grab 5/16" balls, find the threads, line-up the threads with the end of the barbell, and then spin the ball on. I'm sure that viewers of the webcam video I made would find this activity most humorous ('cept maybe for all the blood).
Having accomplished the final task, I stopped momentarily to admire my new PA, revive the camera and take a few shots, and rest a bit. Getting myself cleaned up consisted of showering, washing my fresh PA pierce with the antimicrobial cleanser, followed by a sea salt soak.
Aftercare regimen:
General - wrapping with a gauze pad, wearing briefs instead of boxers (to limit movement), wearing looser, softer pants (to limit undue pressure on the piercing), drinking lots of water and urinating often (which for the first three days stung quite a bit, then subsided quickly after that)
Morning - shower (soap/antimicrobial cleanser), then sea salt soak
Evening - sea salt soak
(The antimicrobial cleanser, and the sea salt soaks make the pierce feel MUCH better.)
Some follow-up observations:
o The amount of bleeding that occurred over the course of the first few days was not unusual, nor massive.
o My pierce is not showing any signs of unusual healing (redness, pain, infection, etc.).
o My PA is now 16 days old, and is healing well. Any discomfort experienced early on is completely gone now, and I'm beginning to enjoy my new pierce.
o I changed from my 8-gauge circular barbell to an 8-gauge, 1-1/4" curved barbell on day 14; it has had a smaller tendancy to get twisted 'round in my shorts.
o I've already decided that I'll be going up a couple of gauges!
o I've posted a few pics to BMEZine and Tribalectic.
Credits:
Found supplies online: BMEZine, Tribalectic and LABodyJewelry.
Found information online: BMEZine - pictures and stories, Tribalectic - a nice PA video, and pictures.