I was at school and I had just broken up with my boyfriend (or rather, he broke up with me) whom I had been going out with for several months. I had loved this guy very much, and was extremely beyond crushed. I was shell-shocked. It was totally unexpected, and I guess you could say my world had just been turned upside-down.
At A Glance Author saturnia Contact saturnia@bme.anon When Two years ago Artist Me Studio Algebra 2 classroom Just ten or so minutes later, I was sitting in algebra class and feeling numb (both mentally and physically). Unable to focus on the lesson, I started playing with the (incredibly un-sterile) safety pins on a bracelet I was wearing, and just kind of randomly poking them at my skin. I'm not sure how it happened, but in one poke the pin just slid in completely through the skin. It was weird. Perhaps I didn't realize how much pressure I was applying, or maybe I had hit the skin at just the right angle. But it went in, near my wrist and just above my watch band. I was fascinated by this thing now under my skin, and how easy and painless it was to get it there. And then I wondered, could I poke it back out through my skin?
Although it was the end result, creating a surface piercing really wasn't my original intent. I was thinking nothing at all when I did it, my mind was completely blank. I just stuck the pin through the skin of my arm, in and under the skin in one place and out through another! I didn't even feel it, and I mean that literally. I was about to remove the pin and perhaps try it again, because I was amazed at what I was able to do, but then changed my mind and closed the pin instead. After staring at my new piercing for a good 15 minutes or so, I started to think it looked pretty neat. Because I couldn't even feel it, I almost forgot it was there a couple times. But then I would see it and think, "Aw it's so pretty."
Pleased with my piercing, I kept in the safety pin. VERY BAD IDEA. I was a little worried about infection and whatnot, but even though I thought it was likely I just couldn't bring myself to take out the pin. I don't know why... It just looked so pretty, floating there on my arm like that. I put some disinfectant stuff on the holes and put a band-aid on it just in case. The next morning though, it was all red and puffy and incredibly painful. I wrapped my arm in gauze to protect it from my sleeve and went to school quite scared that I now had an infection to deal with.
Once at school I got up the courage to remove the bandage and show the piercing to my now ex-boyfriend, because I still trusted his advice. He removed the safety-pin (which left a black spot where it had exited and it didn't go away for another year) and told me to go to the clinic. Again I had to work up all my courage, but I finally went to the clinic and the clinic lady confirmed for me that my piercing was indeed infected. The clinic lady called my mother and she came and picked me up to take me to the doctor's. My mother reminded me how stupid that was, as if I didn't know. I was put on antibiotics and it healed just fine, but it was still pretty painful for the next couple of days. The black dot, which I was afraid would leave a lasting scar, fortunately has now completely gone away.
I honestly did think this piercing looked rather nifty, and I do want to get it done again sometime, but DEFINITELY done by a professional and also definitely while I'm in a more stable mindset. Don't get piercings (self-done or otherwise) if you're in a state of emotional trauma! And don't do them yourself with an unclean safety-pin!!! Or at least if you're determined to do it yourself, put some effort into sterilizing whatever you use. I was lucky enough to get away without a scar, but infections are definitely not fun! I've gotten paranoid about piercings and infections since then, so in a way it was a good experience. I now fully know the risks of a do-it-yourself, unplanned, and unintended even, piercing. I did EVERYTHING wrong. I wasn't fit for any kind of piercing mentally, used un-sterile tools, didn't clean it afterward until hours later, and didn't get it checked for infection until after it had gotten bad.
I advice you all to learn from my many mistakes!!
And so there you have it, my experience of a failed self-done surface piercing attempt.