At A Glance
Author	Hannah
Contact	Hannah@bme.anon
IAM	Ice_Pick_Abortions
When	Three months ago
Artist	Can't remember!
Studio	Eclipse
Location	Camden, London

Background
I have a bit of a love affair with my breasts. Even though I have qualms about almost every other part of my body I've always loved them, so to me it made sense to have something done to accentuate them. I had recently had my nipples pierced but they weren't bringing the satisfaction that they had seemingly promised so I had begun to look at surface piercings around the chest area. I came across many pictures of regular cleavage piercings and while I thought they were really pretty, the double angled ones really caught my eye. I soon realised though that they probably wouldn't be for me. I was regularly doing Tae Kwon Do and I decided that there would be too much movement and possibly impact in the area for me to feasibly heal them, so I turned back to the cleavage piercing in the middle. It still looked great and it would be slightly more "protected". The next challenge would be to find a piercer.

My regular piercer at that obviously had no clue about surface piercings. He had done a friend's nape piercing with practically straight bars and never admitted his mistake, even when called on it. There were also big issues brought up when I asked about getting my nipples pierced at 2.4mm instead of the standard 1.6mm, so he was ruled out. Other local studios didn't do surface piercings at all so it looked like I would have to travel. I knew my birthday was coming up soon and that I'd be taking a trip to Camden in London, and since that was like an alternative paradise I was pretty certain that I'd find a good studio there. Cue rigorous searching of the BME archives for studios in Camden. I eventually settled on Eclipse studio. Experiences from people who had been pierced there all seemed to give the thumbs up for their services. I also remembered seeing the head piercer there being interviewed for a special segment on body modification on a UK music channel. I remembered being impressed with her answers, so Eclipse it was. All I had to do now was wait for about a month and read all the experiences I could.

The month of May came and my then partner and I arrived in London and travelled the 2 hours to Camden, got to where we were staying, dumped our luggage and got out onto the streets of Camden as soon as possible to scope out potential studios. I figured I might as well check out other studios just in case I saw one that suited me better than Eclipse did. We spent a good few hours meandering up and down the streets and checking out various shops and studios. When we got to Eclipse I instantly liked it, I've no idea why. As soon as we walked down the flight of stairs into the shop we were greeted and asked if there was anything we could be helped with. I took this opportunity to ask the questions that I thought would be the best to ask, such as what shape is the bar used, do they have an autoclave, etc. My questions were answered in depth and I was pleased that the answers matched up to my research. I decided to leave getting the piercing until the next day as I was tired and my partner and I wanted to enjoy some the time alone. I didn't want a fresh piercing messing that up!

Procedure
The next day I woke up pretty excited and made sure I forced myself to eat a good breakfast. This would be my first surface piercing and I was kind of scared that I would pass out. We headed back down to Eclipse and were remembered. There was a moment of panic when I was asked for ID and I realised I'd left my driving license at the hotel room. Luckily I had my university student card and they took that. Once I'd filled in all the forms and my ID was photocopied I took a seat and waited to be called in. I was the most nervous I'd ever been. I think it was just because of the air of difficulty that seems to surround surface piercings. Eventually I was called in and apparently I went white as a sheet..

Once I got into the room I was told to take off my jumper. I'd anticipated having to show off my chest area and had put on a dress that had a plunge neckline. It meant I didn't really have to worry about taking shirts on and off. I stood up to be marked and got really paranoid that my breathing would throw the markings off. It's stupid I know but like I said before I was so scared of this being messed up! My nerves got worse when I was told anaesthetic wouldn't be used. I'd only ever had one other set of piercings done sans numbing and that was my vertical labrets. Since then I've had others done without it and actually prefer not having anaesthetic, but as this was my only my second time I was quietly panicking in my head..

I lay down on the table and the piercer (who's name I can't remember.. sorry!) complemented my vertical labrets and made general chit chat, which really helped. Once she'd shown me everything was new and sterile I started the deep breaths in and out. The piercing was done freehand, on the third exhale and was a very sharp pain but wasn't as bad as I expected. The part I was really dreading was to come after: inserting the u-shaped jewellery. The insertion of that was more akin to a slow burning, but it was over in a matter of seconds and the results were really worth it. I stayed laying down for a bit as I felt light headed but once I felt ready I stood up and went straight to the mirror.. and fell in love with my chest all over again. After admiring my new addition a sterile gauze was put over it and it was quite funny seeing other people's faces in the waiting area looking at the dressing on my chest and obviously trying to think what I could have possibly had done. I carefully put on my jumper, bought some plugs and went on my way to do some serious shopping!

Aftermath
As I frittered away my money on things I probably didn't really need but really wanted, the piercing went from burning to a dull ache. It wasn't anything too bad and popping some Ibuprofen took it away. The real fun came later on when I went to take off my bra. I hadn't really thought about the fact that with my bra being absent my breasts had no support, and no support equals a lot of downward weight put on the fresh piercing and boy did I feel it. Stupid gravity.. The only way I would describe it is it was as if someone had decided to hang a huge weight off the flesh between my breasts. It was very uncomfortable and meant I had to sleep wearing a bra, which I normally try to avoid. Even with the bra on it was quite uncomfortable to sleep on my side, which is unfortunate as that's how I usually sleep. Aftercare for the remaining 48 hours of the trip was quite minimal, as I didn't have access to all the appropriate materials. It probably wasn't the best start but no damage was done.

1 - 2 Weeks
I continued to sleep with my bra on for the majority of the first week. I would test how strong and painful the pulling sensation was every night. After around 4 or 5 days I decided that the support of a proper bra was no longer necessary and I invested in some pyjamas that had inbuilt support in the top. It was still uncomfortable to sleep on my side but I did it anyway. Whether that's a good idea or not is debatable. I attempted to do a salt soak like I normally would, with the aid of a shot glass but since the area where the piercing is isn't entirely flat it was a big flood of watery disaster. After that I stuck to hot compresses and cleaning off the crusties with a damp q-tip.

2 - 3 Weeks
I discovered that some bras are more cleavage piercing friendly than others. In some bras the middle part comes up quite high and would rub against the bottom of the piercing when I was sitting or lying down. I'd strongly recommend anyone considering this piercing to invest in a few pairs of plunge style bras. I found them to be the most comfortable. Sports bras were alright although they seemed to push my breasts together so that they were covering the piercing, which could get uncomfortable after a period of time. I also had to lay off TKD training as the movement of my breasts, even with a sports bra, was just too much to take. Aftercare remained the same as the first week.

3 - 4 Weeks
This is the point where I stop messing with my piercing in terms of aftercare. I've found through trial and a lot of error that my body heals best following the "Leave It The Hell Alone" method. You disregard your piercers healing advice at your own risk. What works for me may not work for others. From here on in I would just clean it gently in the shower, with a sea salt compress done once a week. The weighty sensation was pretty much gone now and I could wear pyjamas without support and could go without a bra if it took my fancy.

4 - 5 Weeks
During this week I had sex for the first time since getting it pierced. I was too scared to before, much to my partner's annoyance ha ha. I found that sometimes the added weight of someone on top of me could really irritate the piercing and would cause a burning sensation around where it was pierced. It would look red and angry afterwards. If this happened a hot compress would sort it right out. Positions away from missionary variants were all fine though..

Conclusion
I've now had this piercing for almost 4 months and have had little trouble with it. It does go through periods where it develops some hyper-trophic scarring, but with some babying and camomile compresses it clears up quite rapidly. There's also been some scary incidents in the shower with those puffy net things becoming caught and it feels like my heart is being ripped out of my chest.. Ok that's a bit melodramatic but it does really hurt..

I really enjoy having this piercing. It looks impressive and has been one of my least troublesome piercings. I've yet to meet anyone else where I live whom also has one. It really does give an added kick if I'm wearing clothes that have a plunging neckline and I've had a lot of compliments from people about it. It does tend to gross some people out though and confuse a couple occasionally when they can't quite figure out how it works. It's a conversation starter if nothing else!