I waited a long time before posting this, mostly because I wanted to give more experience to the collection. Most of the experiences I'd read were documented shortly after the piercing. Mine, however, was desired to give a more extended approach, lending the reader some insight as to what to expect in the duration of the healing process, not solely the procedure, because following mine, I was a little bit left in the dark as to what "normal" would be.
At A Glance Author 065888 Contact 065888@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Aaron / Berni Studio Club Tattoo Location Mesa, AZ
I went to the studio after I'd finished work. I went with my mom, because I am younger than 18. We'd been on the phone with my piercer through the day, scheduling and coordinating. When we arrived, he was at the front desk waiting for me as well as the due documentation (birth certificate, my driver's license, and my mom's driver's license). After showing it to him, and him making copies, he explained to me in very blunt, but paraphrased terms, that this piercing would inevitably have to come out, and that it would not last like a usual piercing. He told me that if I ever wanted it out, that I'd have to come back in to have it removed, and that it was just very different altogether. He explained to me the dangers of infection and rejection, and what dedicated, regimented care it would require from me. He showed me what the eventual scars from the procedure would look like. He looked at my navel piercing, to make sure that I'd taken care of it, and then he surprised me a bit. He asked my mom questions about me. He asked if I was responsible, what grades I usually got, and lastly, he asked that considering the risks and dedicated care this would involve, did she think that I was capable of taking good care of the piercing. She said yes, so he went to the room to make sure that everything was prepared. He came right back, and another girl came in the front door and sat next to me. He introduced me to her as his girlfriend.
A moment later it was time, and he began to walk back to the room. She followed directly behind him. I figured that she was perhaps before me, so I stood back for a second. My mom pushed me forward, so I followed too. Once all four of us were in the room, he closed the door, and began to examine me, girlfriend still in the room. This struck me as a bit odd, being a nursing student, I know how extensively you have to seek a patient's permission in order to observe a procedure in health care, so I was a bit taken back when I wasn't even asked if she could be in the room with me. It didn't bother me that she was there, I didn't mind, it just struck me as funny. He told me about placement and how the pants could rub and cause rejection (his girlfriend supplemented this with her anecdote). He measured, aligned, and consulted the others in the room for their verification. He looked at me standing and sitting to ensure that both sides were aligned. I then laid back, and was clamped, my mom at my feet, him on my left, and his girlfriend on my right. He clamped, pierced, and put the jewelry in very swiftly on that side. He'd had a little bit of trouble with the clamping on that side, but that would soon pale in comparison when he moved to my right. He and his girlfriend exchanged positions at my side, and he began to clamp my right side. With each time came a new wince, the clamping was the most painful part of the procedure on both sides, but especially this side. He just could not get the skin to stay clamped. He resoluted to putting my feet up, to lessen the tension on my stomach, and after a few more tries, it worked. By then I was in a fair amount of discomfort, so I was left to stare up at the ceiling, noticing the still quiet observation of his girlfriend staring at me. At this point I barely noticed the needle or the rest of the procedure for that matter, and before I knew it, it was time to take pictures and admire the work.
He talked to me about care, and what products I was to use, how often, and that they could conveniently be purchased on location. We proceeded up to the register, paid, tipped, and got care information cards and products.
On the way home I made sure and kept my pants low, and we stopped for food. We got home, and I went straight to bed. I didn't really take any anti-inflammatories until the tail end of healing. I woke up the next morning, showered, taking concessions not to get shampoo water on my hips, and used and ample amount of "Satin" moisturizing anti-microbial soap on q-tips (never fingers!). I used a different side of the q-tip and fresh soap for each hole in order to exercise proper infection control techniques. I rinsed using the detached showerhead on the lowest pressure setting (I didn't want water running from other parts of my body into the holes. Yes, I was clean, but I didn't want to expose any foreign flora into the environment). When I dried off, I dried the rest of my body with a towel and then dried off the piercing with clean tissues, not using the same part for different holes, and not the same tissue for different sides, in order to prevent germ transfer. I would then spray each side with H2Ocean after care spray and let it dry naturally as I dressed. At lunch I'd spray it again, and at night I'd repeat the shower cleaning procedure, only cleaning the piercings, and spraying again. I'd sleep wearing nothing over my hips but the sheets (shirts rolled up, pants rolled down). Also, in my initial days I was terrified to sleep on my side. I was afraid that the piercing would sit weirdly in the hole and heal incorrectly or that gravity would prompt a rejection. I was paranoid about everything, I took immaculate and precise care constantly. I continued the prestated cleaning regime into the second week. I began sleeping on my sides during the second week. Never the less, I remained paranoid. My barbells weren't sitting properly in the holes, the skin was exceedingly red, I had little to no excretions, but I was still worried.
I didn't exactly like it either. It caused me a bit of depression and anxiety, and I wasn't happy at all. I loved my hips, and I was worried that I'd permanently ruined one of my best features. I hated that when I looked at them I didn't feel the same unconditional joy that I'd felt toward my other piercings. I'd wanted this for two years, but I was extremely unhappy, the opposite of the intent, I felt immensely disappointed.
I went in every week to see my piercer (actually, my mom's piercer, Berni, who was much more credible and experienced in my opinion. I will be seeing him in the future for all of my needs) just like he'd told me to. He said it looked okay, but I'm not so sure he was convinced, and neither was I. The redness went from hole to hole on my right side, there was bruising on both sides in the days following the procedure, and I had lacerations from the clamps (especially on my right side) that took into the second or third week to heal completely. My left side only had redness around the holes, predominantly around the top hole, but my right side just looked terrible. Both sides hurt, especially when jerked on the rare occasion, and Inever wore anything over it (mainly for fear of rejection). My pants were as far down as they could go, either sagging or rolled, and I'd just wear long- tailed shirts in order to conceal it. Into my second week, the barbells were sitting evenly (for the most part) in the holes and redness had receded to just around the holes (on both sides), and most of the bruising was gone. However, around the holes the skin was very, very dry and nasty looking. I was still washing up to two times a day with Satin and spraying with H2Ocean after cleaning and before and after work outs (that took place every other day). My piercer asked about my cleaning habits, I told him "Wash with Satin and spray with H2Ocean" he replied, "Hopefully not in the same day!" I was, and I admitted it. Aaron had told me to do that. Berni told me to alternate days, but by then I just decided to clean at nights when I'd shower, and use H2Ocean either in the morning or around work outs (permitting which day it was). He also talked to me about how much Satin to use. He said that too much would contribute to the drying too. He told me to dilute a pea-sized drop in a dixie cup and apply with a q-tip. I decided to start wetting the q-tip with a lot of water and then barely use Satin on each side, it was more practic "\Ãw€ë al. A week later or so, my piercings were looking great. Up until then, the redness was still present, so I'd started to take 1 Advil with Ibuprofen at night, to minimize inflammation and redness.
By now (week 3) the barbells sat better with minimal redness, but still fit horribly. The bars protruded horribly from the skin, and fell to the sides (as opposed to straight out or the balls being flush against the skin. My piercer said to come back in two weeks to get sized down and to possibly get fitted with disks instead of balls on my barbells. The Sunday before my barbell appointment, I mistreated my piercings and wore jeans to church that instead of allowing my barbells to fall to the side naturally, pressed them there and caused tissue break down underneath. How stupid I was, I was so close. I was really upset, and wore nothing but rolled down scrub pants (a God send with this piercing, I have worn them so much. They don't ride up when you sit down, and are easy to wear rolled down. They also look nicer than wearing pajama pants excessively in public). I restarted my Ibuprofen regiment with generic Ibuprofen two days prior to my appointment (I'd only done it for four days when I did it in the past) to reduce redness. At my previous appointment (visit 3) Berni said that he was actually surprised by my progress and had thought that he'd end up taking out the barbells really early, but that they were looking great right then, so I was very worried.
When I came in to have my barbells changed (week 5) I had a short wait, and the apprentice showed me back to another piercer I hadn't previously seen. She introduced it as the hip surface piercing that "Aaron had done", almost as if there was a precidented conception of the work's missed quality. He was aghast at my disproportionate barbells and told me that if I had any hope of proper healing, I'd better get switched out as soon as possible. It's a good thing that's what I was in for. They agreed on 1/8ths and sent me back up to the front while my barbells got sterilized. I told Berni what was going on and waited some. Then the apprentice came back, took me into a room, with Berni and they each worked on a side. Berni asked how it felt, and I hadn't felt anything. He said that was a good sign and a step in the right direction. I looked down, and loved what I saw. They really looked fantastic, almost for the first time. They looked just how they were supposed to look, and they were so beautiful. The ball of the barbell (they couldn't get the disks in stock) sitting right against my skin, little redness, no dryness or swelling – just, perfect. I thanked them, the apprentice gave me my old barbells in a baggie as a souvenir, and they told me to take some anti-inflammatories when I got home, I thanked them again, paid, tipped, thanked, and left. I walked out all smiles and must have looked at them a dozen times on the way home.
As they say, "all is well that ends well", and I'd definitely support that. I am at the end of my 5th week, and am so pleased and glad that I weathered it out and did this. Please contact me if you have any questions, I am here to help.