When I first started my genital project I really only had plans for a triangle and V C H. Along the way my interest and courage began to build towards other genital piercings and I started to seriously consider adding more to the project. I always liked the look of the Christina/pubic mound piercing. But I never felt quite ready to have such a large chunk of skin pierced (not to mention with such a large needle!) so I shy'd away from it though I asked my piercer, Elayne Angel what she thought about it and did she even do them. She was slightly reluctant about getting involved with it. After all Christinas are not known for their success rate. But she was kind enough to give me a consolation and sit down and ask me why I wanted such a difficult piercing to heal. However this consultation took place almost a year ago.
At A Glance Author Elizabeth Contact Elizabeth@bme.anon IAM purrtykitty4m When A month ago Artist Elayne Angel Studio Rings of Desire Location New Orleans, Louisiana
I went on to get two lower outer labia piercings which Angel and I had decided to heal up first and then we'd talk Christinas if I was still interested. However after having the outer labia piercings for almost 8 months and one still not being healed I was getting impatient. When my boyfriend Michael asked me to make an appointment with Angel so he could add a frenum to his genital project, thoughts of Christinas filled my head once again. Damn it I wanted to get pierced too! So I emailed Angel and explained my situation with the outer labia piercing and the granuloma from hell. She was very understanding to my situation and agreed to work something out with me. So after a few more emails back and forth, we came to the conclusion, something would be pierced during my visit!
So the big day arrived (1-22-05) I was my usual nervous self, though I was hiding it well like always. I filled out the obligatory paper work, decided on jewelry for both the Christina and my triangle which was/is going to be repierced (that story is saved for another day!) that day if we didn't go for the Christina or if I felt up to both. Angel told us there were 4 spots accidentally booked for the same time with Angel, but she'd take us first. Once everything was said and done we headed into the first piercing room. Michael was up first to get his PA stretched and a frenum so I sat to the side and chatted with Angel about everything from Johnny Depp (what can I say she has good taste!), the weather, to upcoming projects (which is very exciting!) Once Michael was done Angel asked if we were in a hurry and would mind letting the other two girls go next since this would be their first piercings. VCHs at that! I happy obliged, and we retreated to the waiting area. A little while later and after one waddling girl followed by one skipping girl left the studio Angel was now ready for me.
We headed back to the piercing room where I knew the drill and put my purse and other belongings on the coat rack and then stripped from the waist down and hopped up on the table and then assumed the position, knees bent, feet on the table and scooched down to the end. Angel grabbed a pair of gloves and first checked the scar tissue of the retired triangle, I got good marks and the go ahead for repiercing the triangle, she then began to inspect the pinchability factor of the pubic mound. A standard length Christina was not doable because the tissue wouldn't have been able to hold it well, but a deep Christina, just like I had hoped for, was doable. She pointed out that my mound isn't exactly symmetrical and is raised a tiny bit higher on one side so we placed accordingly. After we decided it was piercable she began to wipe down the area with iodine and then cleaned it up so that she could place the marks. First Angel marked the bottom hole and then marked the top. Feeling a little brave I asked if we could move the dot just a tad bit higher, making the piercing a little longer then 1 inch in length. Once the depth was settled on I was given a mirror to check the placement one last time. I gave Angel the go ahead so she began to finish setting everything up. The hardest or at least most time consuming part of the prep had to have been the jewelry. She suggested we use Tygon, a flexible medical grade tubing for the piercing since it'd probably be much more comfortable during healing (which is very true!). She took a 2" length of Tygon out of an autoclave pack which she fit into in the end of the needle to check the size as she explained that Tygon doesn't necessarily come in the exact gauges we commonly use. Usually I can't watch any process that involves prepping of the needle but I just starred at the needle this time. I'd never been pierced at 10ga before so it was safe to say I was very nervous. Angel then removed the Tygon from the needle and threaded a 14ga ball into one end of the Tygon and tugged a bit to "\Ãw€ë make sure that the ball would hold tightly. Passing its little inspection she put it to the side and finished setting everything up. Once she was done she explained her next step which was going to be tissue manipulation in order to loosen and relax the skin. Once she was done she did one more check of the placement and grabbed the Foerster clamps and carefully placed them and lined up everything. She didn't clamp down hard just good enough to hold the skin in place. Which wasn't painful, but defiantly not comfortable. Next was the part I was dreading. I executed my "death grip" on the poor unsuspecting table, shut my eyes tight and turned my head to the left and then just waited. Angel instructed me to breath and when I least expected it, she drove the needle threw. And it was over! This horrible pain I was expecting was chalked up to having my inner conches pierced. As soon as the needle was threw there was no more pain. Angel grabbed the Tygon to thread threw and I shut my eyes again expecting pain while the jewelry was followed threw, but again nothing.
At this point I was just so happy it was over with, it hardly hurt and I was even psyching myself up to have the triangle repierced. Then it happen. Not but seconds after the Tygon was in and trimmed down I felt a warm dripping sensation running down my crotch and basically just going all over the place. I was bleeding like there was no tomorrow! Angel quickly grabbed some gauze and applied pressure to the bottom and top holes. After a few minutes Angel removed the gauze to try and clean things up, in hopes that the bleeding had stopped. She placed a disposable saline pad over the area to cool things down which is absolute heaven! Next she had to thread the bottom ball on, which did not seem like an easy task at all. She used something similar to needle drivers, though much smaller to grip the Tygon to keep it still as she threaded the ball in place. The bleeding seemed to stop so I dawned a pair of gloves and was given some saline wipes, gauze and tissue and attempted to clean up the blood on me while Angel ripped off the blood stained paper covering and then tackled the blood that seeped threw onto the table. Though she didn't seem to mind, as she grinned and said this was the bloodiest mess shes made in a few months! She offered me a panty liner, but I already had one so I grabbed that and put it into my underwear. She gave me some extra gauze to put down in case it started to bleed again. And I was set to head out and go pay, but not before tipping Angel 20 dollars.
So after paying we discussed a bit about the type of emu oil I'd been using since I got mine from a different place. She gave me a bottle of theirs to try out and see if its any different from the kind I'd been using. I started to head for the stairs to leave, once I hit to bottom of the long stair case and took a few steps out into the rain soaked streets I felt another warm sensation. I knew I was bleeding, so we hurried the 3 or so blocks till we got to the car. Not ready to go home yet and wanting to celebrate our new piercings we decided to go see a movie. But first things first, I needed a bathroom! So upon my first chance to check on the piercing I noticed I had bled quite a bit and couldn't help but thinking I should have gotten that extra panty liner from Angel, even more so after finding out the pad dispenser in the bathroom was broken! Thankfully I had a pair of black pants on so if I bled anymore it wouldn't be horribly visible.
Later that night I cleaned away the blood with some wound wash saline and several q-tips as was Angel's suggestion to just leave it alone for 24 hours aside from cleaning up the blood. I also applied a bit of emu oil to the surrounding area since it also works as an anti-inflammatory. I had no pain at all, which I was rather surprised about. Though I was pretty scared to go to sleep that night and awake to a very swollen piercing, but that never happen, and has yet to happen 5 days later.
Now just being a week shy from the piercing's 1 month birthday, things are still going great. Hopefully I will have a success story to share next!