A couple of months ago now I got the back of my neck pierced, un-similar to most other people whose experiences involved a familiar piercing studio and artist, I didn't have such a personal experience with this piercing. I had been interested in getting this surface piercing done, I hadn't planned on getting it done, until I walked past a piercing studio one day (It looked pretty empty), and thought it would be easier to just walk in and get it done so I don't think about it, the hassle with appointments and waiting around I think would have deterred me longer from getting it done.
At A Glance Author axo Contact axo@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist ? Studio Local beauty place Location Adelaide, South Australia, Australia I pretty much just walked in, told the girl what I wanted, and she put me in a room where I waited for the piercer. Before hand I had read a couple of experiences with this type of piercing, I was familiar with the possibilities of rejection, but wasn't too informed on the sizes and the type of jewellery that would be associated. When the lady came in she was pretty brash, she didn't introduce herself, she pretty much just walked over to my neck and started drawing on it. I asked her what the procedure was and she said she's just marking the placement on my neck. I checked if it was centred and stuff and its position was cool. The piercer still hadn't spoken to me apart from this. She told me to lie on my stomach where within 10 seconds she had inserted the needle (I personally didn't find this too painful, its just the feeling of resistance from the skin that I think may be the part that tells your brain 'this is going to be painful'), then she put the jewellery through and said I can go out the front to pay.
It wasn't until after my piercing had been done when I got to ask the lady at the counter what exactly went on...she pretty much told me what I just had done, how to care for it, and how long it would take to heal. At this stage I was pretty confused, a) I felt like I had just been used for another dollar (which is pretty much true) b) I wasn't really told anything before the procedure (I was under the impression that I was getting a barbell in my neck, but it I was introduced to the staple piercing), however now that I think about it, it gave me less of a chance to back out. But if I think that something could have gone arsed-up then what the hell would have happened? c) The whole procedure, I felt, was unprofessional (I should have just asked heaps of questions but I found when I was there I just wanted it over with).
I got to my car and looked a little pale, and because I had gone by myself, no one was around to drive me home, so I drove feeling a little faint. This was probably my fault, but no one told me sit down for a while, just in case there is a bit of shock, and let your body get accustomed to this foreign object. None of my other piercings had made me feel this way. I think the fact that I was lying down to get the piercing done, then suddenly getting up caused my blood to rush, and the piercing didn't help. I decided to look up some after care info on the net. I read then that I probably shouldn't have driven home alone in case I passed out. I wasn't offered any aftercare ointments at the studio so after looking into some aftercare guides I figured out that I'd get some hydrogen peroxide and an anti-bacterial wash to clean it.
So far the piercing is doing well, I guess time will tell. To start off I cleaned it three times a day, and it didn't seem to look like it was healing very well, it was very dry and weeping for a couple of weeks (it got worse before it got better). It was probably a month into healing I decided to take some vitamin supplements, I got some vitamin B supplement, I'm not sure if the vitamins was the reason, but it pretty much started healing really well when I started taking the vitamins. Fingers crossed that it heals well, and if there's any advice I can give, its just ask a shit load of questions when your there, and even though spare of the moment decisions are sometimes best when getting a piercing, having someone else there with you is probably a good precaution. Do a bit of research before and after, don't really play with the piercing while its healing and taking vitamins or just making sure you get those green vegies in your system really helped the process.