Ok, just for some background, I am a really thin, white male. (I know how irritating it is to try to find a relevant demographic)
At A Glance Author Acheronrising Contact Acheronrising@bme.anon When A week ago Artist me! Studio Bedroom Location Flagstaff Arizona A while ago, I was sitting alone in my room, as per usual. Looking up at myself in my irritatingly-slanted mirror, it struck me, "Hmm. Chest. Surface. Good." Then I believe I stood up and thumped my chest.
I wandered off into the bathroom, trying to decide where to put my new piece. After a quick shower (to get generally clean), my eyes settled upon my nipple. Grabbing the only relevant jewelry I had, which turned out to be a surface barbell, I held it up to my nipple.
At this moment I realized that it wasn't going to happen. Moving the barbell about half an inch up my pec, my eyes fell upon my reflection.
What a novel idea! A horizontal surface bar, a little above my nipple. (Pretty much where my hand would go when we would all say the pledge of allegiance.)
After a bit of cleaning with bactine, and heavy scrubbing, I thought it was about as good as it was going to get.
Holding the barbell, I ran through the motions a few times. Where my arms would go, where I'd need to hold the skin (clampless), and where I should mark the enter/exit points.
Once this was all mapped out, I retired to my bed. Although this is about as far from sterile as you can get, I've found that I can better handle myself when I'm not standing. This may not be true for all people, but I've noticed I have a tendency to twitch, or to become literally weak in the knees.
Propping myself up with a stack of pillows, I sprawled out on the bed. I put all my supplies on my stripped mattress next to me, and put a tall glass of ice water on my nightstand next to me. I like to drink cold water whenever I pierce myself, as it has a great soothing effect, is good for you, and won't thin your blood stream like some relaxants. The only down side to this is the sweat from the glass. Keep that in mind, as you don't want to have to dry out your hands. Towels can be very dirty.
Placing my index and middle finger on the bottom of my pec, and my thumb on the top, I pulled my skin tight. I don't personally think this is appropriate to do throughout the entire piercing, but it works fine for initial entry.
Opening the 12 gauge needle from it's sterile packaging (courtesy of BME), I lined it up with the entry mark. Oddly enough, I had a very difficult time with the initial insertion. I didn't want to use brute force to cram it in, because I was afraid of going too deep, too far, or just messing up.
After quite a bit of wiggling, I managed to get the bevel under the flesh. It hurt quite a bit, especially since I did it so slowly. But with a bit of effort, I was able to mostly transcend it, so it didn't matter.
Letting my skin loose, I slid the needle about an inch sideways. Going against my expectations, I felt very little pain during this process. Due to some creative needle handling, and a lot of luck, I avoided going down into the muscle. Ok, my muscle isn't exactly what you'd call "ripped", but it's there!
This is about where everything got difficult.
Lifting the edge of the needle to come out the marked hole, I started to shove it through. OW! DAMN! Ok... that really really hurt. I double checked how everything was, hoping to find something obvious. What, I have no idea. It all looked normal. Standard pec, with a needle sticking out above and to the right of the nipple.
Throwing back some water, I re-centered myself, and tried again. It wasn't getting any better. Every time I tried to break any skin, this incredible stabbing pain would shoot through the immediate area.
So, placing my left index finger on the left side of the exit point, and my middle finger on the right, I started to gently guide the needle with my thumb.
Trying to speed up the process, I started to apply pressure on the exit point. Gradually, the pain subsided. I have no idea why, but the more I pushed, I realized the pain was almost gone! I'm almost certain I didn't sever a nerve, as I still have feeling seemingly everywhere.
With one hard shove, the tip of the needle popped its happy little head out. With the end in sight, it all became easier. Once again, as seems to happen with almost every piercing I've done, I snagged on the bevel. With a bit more shoving, and a rather odd popping feeling, I got it through.
The jewelry insertion I really should've thought out before hand. I was using a 12 gauge needle, with a 14 gauge barbell. Inserting the end of the barbell into the end of the needle, I shoved. My flesh slid effortlessly down the needle, but the end of the needle didn't actually go under the skin!
With a lot of pushing, pulling, and a bit of cursing, I got the butt end, with the jewelry still inserted, into the hole. Then it almost went very very wrong. The needle started to pull away, but the jewelry wasn't going anywhere fast. By some grace of god, it didn't become separated. WATCH FOR THIS! I could only imagine what would have happened if the barbell came out of the needle... it more than likely wouldn't have gone through the other side.
With a bit more pushing, the barbell came out the other side. This is an indescribably gratifying feeling, watching your skin fall down onto something smaller than the needle.
Within seconds I had the bead screwed on, and just let it settle in.
Standing up in front of my mirror, I opened some gauze, and dabbed what little blood there was away. Over the next few hours, it would continue to bleed slightly, but I just wiped it off as necessary.
Overall I am very happy with my new piercing, even though it is still quite fresh. It makes an almost perfect equilateral triangle with my nipple, and is slightly reminiscent of a military award.
But, if you are considering doing this, take care to watch your clothes, as they love to rub it and irritate the hell out of it. And, remember to tell your friends. I've had about three people back-hand my chest, and then was forced to strangle them. If you're considering doing your own chest, planning is essential! If you know where everything is going, it will turn out much better. And take good care to keep it from getting irritated, it can be quite painful.