My philosophy in life is to "never say never". Having sworn at the age of 16 when a few friends got their belly buttons pierced, never to do the same, I had mine done within a matter of months. Ditto with nipple and genital piercings. So, having decided on my philosophy, I listened to my flat-mate's stories about her friend with interest.
At A Glance Author Psylina Contact Psylina@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Mark Studio Marks piercing (markspiercing.com) Location Buckinghamshire - England My flat-mate had a friend who had a fair amount of surface piercings. While I'd heard of them, they'd never been something I had considered. The one she described that stuck in my mind the most, was her friend's 'cleavage bar'. I thought it sounded interesting, but wasn't really for me at all (I have fairly small breasts).
About a year later, Christmas break (2002) was coming up and I was getting excited as I'd booked a fairly big tattooing session with my 'home artist'. It was during the run-up to this that I found myself thinking back to my flat mate and her friend. Having few other places I'd like to pierce, I decided a cleavage piercing was the one for me. Using BME and a few other sites, I read up on it and began wondering who would do it for me? It was then that I stumbled on Mark's name.
Mark is based back in my home town (near my old school in fact) and so I hadn't heard of his practice until I found a link in the page of the tattooist I was going to see (it's a small world!). I checked out his website www.markspiercing.com and saw that he did do surface piercing, for what I thought was a reasonable price. I sent him an e-mail and told him I'd be in to see him on December 16th (my tattoo was the next day).
I arrived at the studio and was welcomed by Mark. The studio only does piercing and I was very impressed with the lay-out, cleanliness and over-all appearance if the shop (back in my days at school I don't remember what it was, but I'm sure it hadn't been anything of that ilk!). I told him who I was and we went through the pros and cons of my chosen piercing. He showed me the jewellery he planned to use (a curved titanium barbell) and after discussing the pros and cons of PTFE, I decided to go with the titanium. I was made fully aware that it could migrate, but my heart was now SET on this piercing, and I decided I could always get it re-done should the worst happen. The next question was when to have it done. I was going to a posh meal with my boyfriend on Saturday (and wanted to look nice for it), and generally both Mark and I were pushed for time during the Christmas break (obviously he would be closed certain days, I would be busy visiting family on others).
I decided to duck out and ring my boyfriend for his opinion. I often ring him when I have already made up my mind and want him to confirm my decision – I wanted it done now!
After having forced my boyfriend to agree, I went back into the studio and told Mark I was ready to go ahead now. I went into the piercing room, we shut the door and I took my top off. Mark proceeded to mark two dots on me to determine the entry and exit points. After a little while and a lot of checking in the mirror, we got them straight in an area that I loved. I then lay down; he swabbed the area with an alcohol wipe. He managed to clamp the area (just!) and then put some freezy spray on me. He told me to breathe in and stuck the needle through me, then told me to exhale. I had geared myself up for a lot of pain, but it was surprisingly painless. He threaded the jewellery through and screwed the second ball on (for those interested a 1.6mm diameter curved barbell of 14mm in length to be changed down to a 12mm length at a later date). I was then allowed to rest and recover for a bit before he asked if he could take some pictures for his website.
I was ecstatic! It looked gorgeous! I was obsessed with it and strained my eyes staring at it all the time! Mark popped a dressing on it then gave me a lollipop (yay!) of my choice of flavour and a bottle of antibacterial soap and explained the aftercare to me. After I said I was going to be dying my hair that night, he also gave me a waterproof dressing to pop on it in case any hair dye dribbled down my chest onto it.
Cleaning it was a relatively simple process – a good blast in the shower aiming the hot water onto it, cleaning it with the soap and soaking in saline (salt-water) solution whenever I had the chance. My cat managed to trample all over it (she did that with my nipples too) at the first opportunity, and I realised the bar marked the point that I hold something against my chest in order to open it, and the area I bash when I cough!
Still, it is an absolutely GORGEOUS piercing and has given me no trouble. It's been over a month now (I've been to see Mark twice since (buying some jewellery for my belly) and he has looked at it and checked it) and it shows no sign of migration I'm pleased to report, though if the worst does happen, I guarantee I will be going back to Marks.