Deciding to get a new piercing is always a challenge for me. I spend days pouring over pictures and reading experiences on BME whenever I finally get an idea of what I would like to get next and then whenever I finally decide on what I want, I can't wait to jump at the chance to get it done. About two months ago, I decided that I wanted a Christina piercing. I had previously gotten my vertical hood piercing last summer and I loved it and I thought that additional genital piercings would be as easy to care for and heal just as well as my VCH. I was definitely correct.
At A Glance Author Pierced in Latrobe Contact Pierced in Latrobe@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Paco Studio Mantis Tattoo Location Jeanette, PA I came across Paco and Mantis Tattoo in Jeanette, Pennsylvania whenever I was looking to get my conch and nostril piercing. It was really a spur of the moment decision to get something pierced at that time and I only went to him because he was open later than anyone else. I know that that's a bad way to decide on a new piercer, but I hadn't heard anything bad about the studio, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I was instantly impressed with the studio and Paco was exceptional and did a very good job at making me feel at ease and did an even better job at listening to me scream my head off. (I'm such a big baby sometimes.)
I made the decision on a Saturday night to get my Christina piercing. I was hanging out with some of my best friends, including some guys, and we all piled into our cars and drove to Jeanette. When we got there, only my female friend came downstairs into the piercing area with me. The first time I had been into the piercing area was right after it had been finished being remodeled and the paint still smelled new. It's very clean and the bright green walls are the same color as grass. He's got a dentist-like chair set up in the middle of the room with his little table for putting supplies on for some piercings and then a long wide bench along the entire back wall for things that are better done lying down. For my Christina piercing, a week or so in advance I had emailed him with the questions that I had about it, like if he did it at all, pricing, aftercare, and such. One of the greatest things about this piercer is that when I asked him if there were any piercings that he didn't do, he says "I do them all." The only time he's said that he doesn't do piercings if the person's physical anatomy doesn't suit it.
So down into the piercing basement which was equipped with it's own little sitting area and into the room and on the bench I go after taking off my pants. I had lost nearly all my decency about nudity in front of strangers after breaking my back 2 years ago and having male nurses care for me, so this was the easy part. He got everything ready and then cleaned the area. As he does everything, he walks me through it. He tells you when he's cleaning the area and when he's done and when he's marking the area and then that's when I pop out the ipod to use the back as a mirror to check the markings (I really should buy him a hand mirror for people to check on markings. He never seems to have one and it's a pain to get back up and go to the wall covered in mirrors to check).
Then he told me to breathe and if I tried to look, he hid the needle so I couldn't see it. I guess a lot of people freak out about that. I'm weird, I like to see how big the needle is going to be, this time it was 14 guage. He then asked me if I was ready and I told him that from what I had read online, I was told that it would be about 15 seconds of suckiness and then it would be over, so I told him whenever he was ready. At that point, I felt like my whole vagina was being ripped from my body and I screamed so loud, I heard later from the people upstairs getting tattoos done that it sounded like I was being murdered brutally. That is some VERY thick skin and it definitely wasn't just a tickle. It HURT A LOT. It hurt worse than ANY of the other piercings I had ever gotten and I wanted to kick him pretty good for my conch piercing.
After he was through with the needle, he told me that the worse was done and then he started feeding through the curved barbell. (I love the metal that he uses. It's the most shiniest body jewelry I've ever seen and I've never had any stick or get caught on things. And it cleans up so much nicer than anything I've ever gotten before.) This part wasn't as bad, just a little uncomfortable going from the straight needle to the curved shape of the ring. In a few seconds he had it in and the ball on and told me I could get up and go look in the mirror since it was an easy piercing to see. When I got to the mirror, it took some meanuvering to crouch and bend in a way to see it, but it looked PERFECT! It was only a little red and it felt tight when I walked, but other than that, it wasn't painful, just a little uncomfortable.
When I had recovered enough to regain normal thought processes and realized that I was going to need pants before going outside into the rain, I put my underwear and jeans back on and then had the fun task of figuring out how the hell I'm going to tie my shoes. I found that instead of crouching down to do it, it was easier to just bend straight over (exactly what my physical therapists had told me not to do 2 years ago, but I'm healed so it's all good). After going back upstairs and paying him, I think it was $80, I was on my way out.
My friends decided that they would like to go bowling so I trudged along with them. Getting in the car was a process all on it's own. Getting back out was even more difficult because I was walking like a stick. I didn't want to bend for fear of pulling on it or ripping it out. When we got to the bowling alley, I went to the bathroom to check on it because I felt like it was bleeding. It definitely wasn't bleeding. My body definitely sensed there was something new and I was wet. It was very odd. Peeing didn't burn it, which I didn't think it would because of it's high position. I hung around and even bowled three frames before we all split up, some of the people went home and the rest came over to my house. I'm surprised that living with my parents they didn't notice I was walking weird for the first couple of days. Sitting for long periods of time in jeans pulled on it and pushed the top ball into my skin so I moved around and stood as much as I could.
The first week it was a little swollen and uncomfortable to clean. I was told to clean it once a day with antibacterial soap (my choice is Dial) for two weeks and then for once a day after that, he gave me a huge bottle of sterile saline solution that you could definitely find in a hospital, it was very industralized looking. I was just to get a clean dixie cup and put some cotton balls in it, soak up the solution and just plop them down on top of either end of the piercing for 5 minutes or so. Doing this and just it getting wet in the shower softened any crusties that I got.
It didn't seep at all for the first week but the second week and even sometimes up until now it seeps. It's odd but all of my piercings have a tendency to have yellow crusties, even when I know they're fully healed and definitely not infected. It's just how my body is. If I'm really wet, it gets on the Christina barbell and it gets inside the whole, so it's wet inside there most of the day. I do what I can to wear airy shorts and cotton non-constricting underwear to help air it out whenever I can.
After the first two weeks, I noticed that I was going to have to start checking the tightness of the balls every day. Once the swelling went down and from the force of it being cleaned and moved around, the balls were coming loose. Being that the barbell is internally threaded, it's got a ways to go before it would fall off completely and only the bottom ball has ever become loose so I doubt it would fall out.
Sex was uncomfortable for the first few weeks but I haven't noticed any issue after that. If my boyfriend sweats a lot, the piercing still burns sometimes but other than that, I mostly shower afterward so it's okay. It was suggested that I should wait 6 weeks before having unprotected sex or any kind of oral sex. It would be a good idea to avoid any kind of fluid contact other than your own fluids for the first 6 weeks. But we didn't wait to have sex after I got it done and I had no problems because of jumping right back into it. I didn't wait to have sex after I got my VCH either. I had sex the next day and it was perfectly alright.
I haven't changed the jewelry yet because recently I've developed an allergy to all of my old jewelry that I never had a problem with before. Especially with my nipple rings, they swell up and get irritated for days and I eventually can't deal with the itchiness longer than an hour and I change it back to safe barbells. The surgical steel barbell that's in my Christina now is in wonderful condition. The metal hasn't had any adverse affects, which is good. It's a little long but it just makes it easier to rotate in the shower.
I would definitely recommend this piercing to anyone. It's so simple to clean - just once a day in the shower and then if you use saline soaks, I just do that after my shower when my pores are still open and it's been doing great. It never got infected and what little discharge it does get, I just pick off the bottom ball once a day or so between showering. And I think that the discharge just might be a dried accumulation of my own fluids sometimes. It is painful to get but pain is momentary. If you look at the outcome of how amazing this piercing looks and how it's so personal, it's definitely worth it. I was equipped for an actual Christina piercing, and some people might not be. Mine is NOT a pubic surface piercing like some are misnamed on BME. Definitely read up and research and know what you're doing before you get this done. It was piercing number 17 for me and I definitely plan on more genital piercings (probably 4 labia rings and maybe a triangle) and although the Christina piercing doesn't directly add to sexual pleasure, it's nice knowing that it's there and it'll definitely make you want sex more when you first get it done while you're getting used to the weight of the metal.
Another thing: talk this over with your partner first. I didn't, but mine is very cool with piercings and modifications of my body. He likes the surprise of seeing me show him a new one the next time we have sex. Make sure it's cool with your partner because my boyfriend finds it difficult sometimes to give oral around it. Other than that, good luck! Happy piercing!