I had debated on having my cleavage pierced for awhile, but what stopped me was the possibility of it leaving bad scars if I decided to take it out in the future. Up until this point, my piercings were all hidden, so scarring was never an issue. However, I already had a decent number of piercings, and was running out of things I wanted to get pierced. I talked to Sarah, a girl that worked at the counter, about hers and how the actual piercing process and healing went for her. Finally, I decided to get it done, and hope everything worked out for the best.
At A Glance Author Jaclyn Contact Jaclyn@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Dustin Studio Blue Lotus/Piercing Lounge Location Madison, WI I went to Blue Lotus and talked to Dustin, my piercer, about placement. I wanted it slightly lower, so I could choose if I wanted it visible or not, but not too low or else my bra would hit it. He was going to do the standard 14g surface barbell. I don't know if it has another technical name or not, but that's what I refer to it as.
After I paid, Dustin and I went into his room and he had me remove my top so he could clean the area and mark me with ink. He had me check it out to see if I liked the placement, and it seemed fine to me. However, I did have one piercing (by another piercer) turn out slightly crooked, so I asked Dustin if Sarah could come back and give another opinion. We all agreed it looked fine, so then I lay down on the table. After pinching the area, Dustin decided not to clamp. Every piercer is different on clamping—At Blue Lotus, they try to avoid it because the area is more likely to swell and will only do it if there is a lot of skin they need to hold in place.
I wasn't really nervous, because I had three other surface piercings (Christina and two napes) and they hadn't really hurt at all. Dustin, always considerate, asked if I was ready, and I said yes. He had me take a deep breath and he pierced on my exhale. It hurt more than I expected, and more than my other surface ones, but it wasn't terrible. It felt like what it was—a needle going slowly through an inch or so of tender skin. This may sound stupid and obvious, but my napes didn't hurt and my Christina didn't even feel like a needle, so it just depends on the piercing. It was slightly uncomfortable as Dustin screwed on the ball, but then it was all over with.
Now it's a week later and I had to go back in today because I was pretty sure it was infected. I knew it wasn't anything Dustin had done, since everything had worked out beautifully with all my other piercings. I'm still not sure what happened—he asked me some questions and we decided it could be a combination of a few things. I had been laying out on a dock and someone did a cannonball and had splashed me (the lake is pretty gross and probably full of bacteria), and I had worn a strapless bra one night that kept bumping it and I was also dancing and sweating a lot.
Within a few days after the piercing, I noticed the skin around the top ball was slightly swollen and red, but I figured it was just normal healing and continued to soak it with sea salt and take Tylenol. Then I wondered if the puffiness was because it was rejecting, which I really hoped it wasn't. When it didn't really go away, I decided to go in to see Dustin. He agreed that it "looked angry" and said that switching the jewelry to a longer barbell would help because it would give it more room and stop putting pressure on the swollen area.
I've had a decent amount of piercings in a variety of areas, but this was probably worse than all of them. This was my first infected piercing (I had had one, a fourchette, reject), and I hope it's my last. Because of the shape of the jewelry, it took some time and effort to put in the new, longer barbell. And the area was already sore, so...it was not a fun 10 minutes. Dustin told me to take Ibprofen or whatever to help with swelling and to continue to soak once a day. I'm probably going to wash my hands with anti-bacterial soap many times a day just to be on the safe side.
It's about an hour or so after, and the skin around the piercing is a lot more swollen and red than it was before, but after all of the poking around with the new jewelry, I'm not surprised. I'm hoping it will look at least a little better by tomorrow. If it's not noticeably better in a couple days, I'll probably stop in again. I really hope everything works out because I really like this piercing.
In summary, it wasn't the best experience in the world, but I figured since I was lucky with all my other ones, something was bound to happen sometime. I'm still happy I got the piercing and still very happy with Dustin and Blue Lotus, and will probably be in again soon.