I had wanted a PA since I was about sixteen and learnt about them on this site as I was getting into piercing and body modification in general. However, despite getting my nipples pierced for the first time on my eighteenth birthday (at Metal Morphosis in Soho, London) and liking them my partner was less than enthusiastic about the idea and took some time to come around to it.
At A Glance Author Chris Contact Chris@bme.anon When Two years ago Artist Can't remember the name Studio Manchester Piercing Studio Location Oldham St., Northern Quarter, Manchester, UK Those first nipple piercings were taken out and repierced (again at Metal Morphosis) a couple of years later and stretched to 8ga (3.2mm) before I finally took the plundge and got the PA I had been planning for so long. I did go to Metal Morphosis to see about the PA and despite them advertising that they do PAs was told by one person that I had too many blood vessels in the area so they wouldn't do it and another that my ureter was too small which given I could use a size 12 hagar sound with no problem I thought was a bit ridiculous. Suffice to say that they didn't have a whole lot of credibility left as far as PAs were concerned at that point.
By this time I had moved to Manchester in the North West of the United Kingdom. I had great difficulty initially in finding a piercing studio with which I was happy. Whilst Metal Morphosis was a bit of a souless piercing factory it was nonetheless clean and sterile and staffed with people who had plenty of practise. Walking around Manchester did not provide many apparent options. There were piercing back rooms to tattoo studios which didn't float my boat on the one hand and seemed scared by the notion of a PA on the other.
A web search led me to Afflecks Palace, a Northern Quarter bohemian institution but frankly I wasn't convinced by the cleanliness or professionalism of the piercing studios therein. I felt stumped.
I had read references to the Manchester Piercing Studio online but was having difficulty finding it. Their website didn't work properly and I found numerous addresses for them which didn't bear fruit. But, as luck would have it, I left Afflecks Palace through a different door which led me out onto Oldham Street and as luck would have it, whilst feeling a little depressed about the potential for a decent PA in Manchester, I spotted Manchester Piercing Studio accross the street.
I popped in and the place was a revelation. There were a group of staff there all of whom were heavily modified and clearly passionate. The studio was like a page out of the Ikea catalogue and flawlessly clean. I took a leaflet and vowed to return.
The leaflet only sought to reaffirm my good feelings about the place. Not only were they fully licensed by the local health authority but were also the first piercing studio in the UK to have become accredited in this manner. On top of that they advertised their willingness to use topical anasthetics. This was important to me since at that time I was still a complete wimp about pain and both sets of nipple piercings previous had been done using an anasthetic.
The leaflet said that appointments were required 24-hours in advance for genital work so I obliged by telephoning ahead and making an appointment. My partner went with me for moral support but wouldn't go into the room. My piercer was the most heavily modified woman there who seemed to be the lady in charge which put me at ease.
I was shown the jewellery and equipment laid out, had the procedure explained to me and the necessary after care regimen and was then asked to remove my trousers and underwear. I remember purposely wearing black underwear in case of a bleed.
The lady then got me to lay back and pull my foreskin back and she inspected my penis for an apropriate piercing site. She then took the anasthetic spray and sprayed it into the top of my urethra. This burned like hell for a few seconds until the anasthetic kicked in and was honestly the worst part of the whole experience.
After this the receiving tube was inserted. I know many people say this is the worst bit of the whole experience but to be quite honest I couldn't even feel it. I was used to sounding play anyway so the sensation wouldn't have been entirely odd to me and this coupled with the anasthetic and the relatively small size of the receiving tube compared to what I was used to meant it was no issue at all.
Then came the obligatory, "Take three deep breaths in and out." On the exhale of the third breath the needle went through and just as quickly was followed back through my new hole with the jewellery. I got to have a rest for a minute and have a peak at my new addition before I was bandaged up and sent on my way. My partner was waiting for me outside the piercing room with a bottle of Coca-Cola which at that point was much needed sugar.
Within an hour I was at an impromptu business lunch and continued my day uneventfully. That evening I needed to pee for the first time which did sting like hell. I also couldn't resist my first wank that evening which again stung like hell. Over the coming days I found it best to keep some salt and a glass next to the basin next to my toilet so that I could follow each piss with a salt soak which helped soothe things enormously when they were stinging.
I was pierced with quite a large diameter 2mm ring which was to allow for swelling. Unfortunately I have a very average sized penis and whilst the healing was very quick indeed actually found myself suffering from what I describe as 'the Cheese-Wire effect' within a week. I also noticed the jewellery starting to stretch the piercing naturally already. I went back to Manchester Piercing Studio to go to a smaller diameter ring at a larger guage to be more comfortable but was advised against the larger guage and so just went down with the diameter initially.
This helped a lot but was not the solution I ultimately needed. I subsequently went on holiday to New England in the USA. We started out in Boston and then drove down to Provincetown, MA right at the tip of Cape Cod. Still getting a little cheese wire effect from the smaller ring and seeing a large gap opening around the ring large enough for a bigger guage easily I was relieved to find the Bearded Lady Piercing Studio. She took me out back and we played around with some tapers and I ended up getting a 10ga (2.4mm) straight in with no hassle but some definite pain with the 8ga (3.2mm) taper so I went with the 10ga. This was perfect and the piercing settled right down and fully healed within days. Job done. I also bought some jewellery from the Bearded Lady to guage up my nipples again.
When I got home I went online to Tribalectic and ordered some more jewellery in progressive guages. I have consistently been impressed by their range, prices and quality and would gladly recommend them. The site is a bit amateurish, perhaps, but this shouldn't put you off dealing with a great company. By the time the jewellery arrived I was ready to go to 8ga (3.2mm) which was a curved barbell in 5/8" diameter. Since then I have always gone with this diameter curved barbell. I find this jewellery the most comfortable since I can place one ball against the piercing and pull my foreskin over the ball and into the ring without my foreskin causing too much pressure on the ring by pulling on the whole ring itself.
I very quickly proceeded to 6ga (4mm)without issue but found the subsequent stretch to 4ga (5mm) more difficult. I ended up going back to 6ga for a couple of months and trying again whereupon this stretch was a complete success. A few months after that the stretch to 2ga (6.25mm) was completed without complication and a few months after that I went to 0ga (c. 8mm).
0ga again never really settled and I would wake up with my penis feeling bruised. I ended up going back down to 2ga and then taking out the ring altogether for a while. When I came back to it I found it had remained at 2ga and I went between 2ga, 0ga and no jewellery for some time up until about a month ago.
About a month ago I put my 2ga back in and kept it in permanently until it had stretched back to 0ga and then put the 0ga back in. I have made an effort to wear supportive underwear both under clothes and in bed and this has made a big difference. If I play with it too much it will still get sore but other than that this strategy seems to be working for me and I do so love the look of the big rings.
All in all I have been absolutely thrilled with my PA. I love the look of it and the sensations I get from it but I also love the shock value when people see it and the pleasure on their faces when they experience it.
Having subsequently had piercings done without anasthetic I can quite honestly say that if I was to have it pierced again I wouldn't bother with the anasthetic. Otherwise I hope that above is useful and informative to someone and that some of the tips above prove helpful.
If you are considering a PA I thoroughly recommend you go ahead with it. You won't regret it.
If you are in Manchester, UK or the North West of the United Kingdom, Manchester Piercing Studio has now become Holier Than Thou and has moved up Oldham Street in the Northern Quarter to number 105a. I thoroughly recommend them, especially Marcus who just re-did my nipples for me (experience in the large guage nipples section).