In a previous post I wrote about my experience getting a reverse PA (Reverse PA @ Camden Chameleon). I had that done in November, and since then I have stretched up from 12 ga. to 6 ga. Here's how it went:A couple months after I got my RPA I ordered some 10 ga. jewelry from a company I came across on-line. I ordered two pieces: a curved barbell, and a circular barbell. They were 'externally threaded.' What that means is the wire stock is threaded, and a threaded hole is drilled in the bead. Do not get jewelry like this. If you compare it to 'internally threaded' jewelry, you'll find that the threads are much coarser, there's fewer of them, and it's harder to get the bead onto it. Not to mention that it's tougher to push through a piercing. Put it this way: it may be ribbed, but it's definitely NOT for your pleasure. Anyway, when the jewelry came I cleaned my hands and the jewelry with antibacterial soap, soaked the jewelry and my fingertips in Betadine, then washed off and put some KY jelly on the barbell. It took some doing to push it through. I found I had more luck coming up from the urethra and out the top. It hurt. It's no fun, and there wasn't anything I could do about the pain except press on. It finally got in, and it still hurt for a minute or so. It feels like someone's tugging on your piercing a lot harder than they should be, with constant pull. That's basically what's happening when you stretch up anyway. Everything turned out okay, but I started aftercare for a while just in case I happened to tear through the almost healed piercing. About a month after that, I stopped at a local shop and ordered an 8 ga. steel CBR. The lady that owns the joint has her CBR's made by a buy about 20 minutes up the highway. This costs less than other suppliers, and she can order in lots that she needs. Not to mention a custom order like mine (she was out of stock) only takes a day and it's hand delivered to her. I took that home, and prepared to go through the ordeal again. Same procedure: soap, Betadine, KY. Yes it hurt again, yes it was no fun again, yes it kept going for a minute. Everything turned out okay again this time, too. It was actually less traumatic for my piercing though, since the ring kind of comes to a point where it pinches into the bead, so it had a taper of it's own. I continued aftercare and everything was okay. Then I went back and ordered my current piece which is a stainless CBR in 6 ga. Same procedure. This time it hurt considerably more than the last two. When you start getting up in gauges, the diameter gets pretty stout. It hurt more sharply and longer, even when I got it through. My fianc‚ was watching this time, and she got this worried look when my face went white and I started twitching from the pain and endorphins. It went away again in about a minute or so. Every time I stretched up, the piercing would (obviously) get a bit inflamed and sore for a week or so. This time however, it stayed really sore for a few days. A ring of pus developed under the skin all around the piercing. I put some pressure on it, and the pus came out. I'd developed a lower level infection. Great. I stepped up my "aftercare" routine. Hot water soaks as many times a day as I could, plus I ran Betadine through the piercing every time, then rinsed again. You shouldn't leave chemicals in a piercing. The infection went away in about two days, and I kept a close eye so it wouldn't return. And here I am!
Some general notes: I don't know how much less it would've hurt if I went to my piercer and had her run an insertion taper through me each time I tried to stretch up. I don't endorse my method as the preferred one. You have to take responsibility for yourself and do what you think is comfortable. I'd say that no matter what it is you're doing, unless you're a professional in your own right, it would probably be better and safer to have your certified piercer do it for/to you. When you stretch up, don't buy fancy jewelry unless you're sure it's the last time your gonna stretch. I spent a heck of a lot of money on those fancy niobium barbells, and I used them for maybe a month. Not to mention they're threaded externally, which means I won't ever use them again for anything. The CBR's were much cheaper, and easier to insert anyway because of the slight taper and no threading. One thing, though. When you get up into the thicker gauges, those rings get pretty burly. It's kind of tough to seat a little bead on a ring that won't flex, when you're still in pain and your piercing's still sensitive. Lotsa luck.
I got a septum piercing about a month ago in 12 ga. and when I stretch it (which will be soon) I'm gonna go to the shop and have it done. I don't think I could hack cramming an oversize ring into a piercing that I can't even see. Plus I'm going to use a retainer since a CBR can't be tucked up inside. I'll write about the septum experience in a different post.