Initially I'm going to admit that I did not do my research on the proper procedure before I went and got this piercing done. It seemed like a really good idea at the time, but that is something that really came back to bite me in the ass in the long run. I can't entirely say I regret it because it was a definite learning experience, but It's something I wanted a lot and with what I know now I have quite a bit of faith that it would have worked out had it actually been done properly. If you are going to get a piercing, any piercing, make sure you find out from someone who's done it many times how it should be done. I recommend going to a piercer who has done the piercing many times, or who will do it with the assistance of someone who has.
At A Glance Author Jenn Contact Jenn@bme.anon When A year ago Artist Britt Studio Eye of the Lotus Location Edmonton, Alberta, Canada At first I'd wanted two inverted navel piercings on angles to make a triangle with my existing regular navel piercing. My piercer told me they'd probably reject and that I could get the same triangular effect with a horizontal surface piercing directly below my navel. I thought about it for a while, and the more I thought, the more I wanted it. Until eventually it got to the "i need to have that" point and I went for it. It was a Saturday afternoon and i dragged my roommate along, put off as she was by the whole situation. When we got there, everything for my piercing was in the autoclave, so we left and went shopping for a bit. I was nervous, but my excitement outweighed it. I hadn't been pierced in several months and I was itching for it again.
We came back to the shop and Britt set everything up. My roommate sat on the floor and looked kind of sick. We went through the process of marking, standing up, lying down, measuring, making sure everything was right. Then she had my lay down and clamped the area, which didn't really hurt, but it sure felt awkward. I'm pretty thin, and I don't have a lot of flab in that area, but it was an odd sensation to have everything I do have pinched up in a clamp.
She pierced me with a 10g needle and used 12g jewelery. I must admit that this was the most painful piercing I've ever had. Normally I jump a bit or flinch while being pierced, but I was rendered completely still. I didn't move at all. It hurt in ways I cannot describe. However it was quickly over, and it looked good, although it bled everywhere. I paid, and left, bleeding all over myself.
The first day, it just sort of hurt a bit. The second day it seemed fine, but the third day I was in so much pain that I had to walk around with waterbottle full of hot water on my belly.
There were little marks on each side from the clamp. It took over a week for them to heal. But the biggest problem, which was not initially apparent, was that the holes were not circular, but elliptical. After about a week I gave up soaking it because this process seemed only to be removing the scabbing of those areas on a daily basis and stopping them from healing.
I thought with time it would get better, but it only got worse. It got infected. It absessed in the hollow places created by the surface bar going through a straight hole. I'd wake up in the morning with half the bar sticking out of one side. Eventually it got a definite downward angle to it, but sometimes it would somehow get flipped up while I slept, which hurt. I really should have taken it out sooner, but I had far too much faith in it and far too much hope for the thing. I loved the way it looked, or would have if it had healed properly.
One day I looked at it and saw that a third hole had eaten its way through my skin, although very close to the right side, but this really drove home the fact that it was rejecting, so I got out my pliers and unscrewed the beads and took the thing out. I was sad, and even hesitant about it, but then I was free of it and could not have been happier.
I have a nasty scar on my belly now, which is slowly fading. Every day it reminds me that you should never put your body in harms way without being educated on it first. I don't regret it, because I learned a lot from it. But if I could do it again, I'd have definitely done it differently.