My story starts out like any of my piercing experiences go. They are always a spur of the moment-type thing.
At A Glance Author paganpurge Contact paganpurge@yahoo.com When A month ago Artist Kyle Studio Penetrations Location Eau Claire, WI Now, I have had a complex love affair with the Madison piercing. Our relationship goes back almost 2 years. I was a curious 21 year old with many piercings, wanting another but not up to getting the usual lip and navel piercings I have seen run rampant around my area so I decide to search online. Many sites, pages and hours later I find BME (yeah, I know -what took me so long, right?). I look through the lip, nose, navel, ect. Then I come upon a section for surface piercings. Yes, I have heard of surface piercings but I never had expressed any interest in them...until I saw it....my next piercing, the Madison.
So, with money in hand I go to body shop. Not the one I listed on top, mind you, but a not so great one. They decide to pierce me with a CBR. Fine, great...so they did. No clamps, nor marks, *she* just grabbed skin and shoved the needle in. Then came the CBR, which I admit was more painful than the piercing itself. *She* wiped up the blood and gave me a mirror. Ok, it was a tad crooked and it wasn't laying flat..it was sort of sticking out in an unflattering way but I was naive and just happy to have it. Paid the *lady* and left.
Fast forward two weeks: What can I say? It started rejecting, for obvious reasons. It was also more crooked than it appeared initially, also very red and ugly looking. Instead of getting looks of curiosity, I was now getting looks of disgust or sympathy. At that point I was grateful to get rid of it. But it left a void. I kid you not, I really loved it. But I figured it was a lost cause.
So, about a year later I decide to go into a (different)shop to buy a new septum ring. I looked through portfolios and low and behold, surface piercings! This time with surface bars. YAY! I enquired about getting my Madison done again. Told him about my previous attempt at the piercing and showed him my scars. Oh, yeah..I had 2 lovely scars from the prior horrible job. He sympathized with me. Told me how crooked they were and how stupid the other piercer was. I didn't disagree. He was nice and experienced in surface piercings and he offered me a great price. So I waited for him to clean things up, you know, the usual jive and then we were ready to go. He showed me the 12 gauge surface bar he was going to use and I approved. Cleaned the area and marked it. I looked in the mirror and it was perfect placement, so we marched on. He took a while to clamp the area and to get it just so. Now, we were ready to do this. 1-2-3 breathe.....Ouch. Hurt a little more than last time but not much. It was swift and looked very nice. I waited a while for the bleeding to stop then paid the nice man (left a generous tip) and left. Proud of my new addition.
Boy, did I get comments. "Wow, that looks neat!" or the ever popular "Did that hurt?". Yes, I was loving it. But tragedy struck, yet again. I was following aftercare procedure to a T but one side was starting to migrate downward. No big deal, I thought. A week later, it was red and I could start to see the bar through my skin. Ok, well, it is not too bad, I thought...still in denial about what was obviously happening. Roughly a week later, it looked horrible. Not the cute little piercing it once was. It had morphed into a red, crooked, ugly looking *thing*. Choking back tears....I remove it once again.
Tax return time, this year: Damn, I want my madison back, I exclaimed. So, I do what any person would do. I go to this wonderful shop and ask about it. They said, yes, we do surface piercings...a Madison? Sure. They give me options on the jewelery-Tygon or a surface bar. Hmmmm...thinking long and hard. Surface bar, I say. Ok. So he makes me fill out paper work and sets everything up. It did take a while but it was rather busy and it seems like alot of prep work for a surface. Finally he calls me back. Ok, this is it. So, I sit on the table-thingy and he cleans and marks the area. Now, mind you, I have extensive scaring and it was a chore to find correct placement but being the wonderful piercer he is...he found it. I looked in the mirror and said, OK. Now this is were it is tricky. Getting enough skin to clamp seemed to be a challenge this time around. Tried massaging the area...tried pinching it...nothing. So, around 10 minutes later he tells me to hang my head backwards over the edge of the table. Ok. He messes around a little more and finally gets it clamped. YAY! Now, this is a larger gauge then I was pierced at before and he told me so. I said, Ok...I am pretty agreeable. Same old schtick, 1-2-3 breathe.....HOLY HELL! It was not as swift, nor as semi-pain free as prior attempts but I breathed my was through it. I could feel the needle every inch of the way. Now, this was in no way terrible, it was even kind of enjoyable. Now, he was going to put the surface bar in....EHHHHHHH, ouch. Slowly I could feel every inch of it coming out. Finally, he exclaims, it is done. He instructs me to not sit up for a while for I am bleeding like mad. He attempts to absorb all the blood but it just keeps coming. About 5 minutes later I am allowed to sit up. Still, bleeding. I wait another 5 minutes. Yep, still bleeding but not nearly as much. So he runs and gets some gauze to give me just incase. Ok, I am ready to go now. It stopped bleeding. Turn my head...blood dripping down the fron "\Ãw€ë t of my shirt...I shove some gauze in there and pay the nice man. Also, leaving a nice tip.
Now, it is about 1 month later and it seems to be healing. It does have it's up and downs but no signs of rejection (crosses fingers). It has semi-migrated on one side but I don't mind. It is not that noticeable.
Asked the question. "Would you do it again?" Yes. "Even after all you went through?". In a heartbeat.