Tonight I decided, rather on a whim, that I desired a new piercing. Lately I've bumped in to a bunch of girls with surface bars on their chest [you know, the ones below but parallel to the clavicle] and decided that I found them to be pretty stunning. Simply put, I needed them.
At A Glance Author leelou Contact herdisorder@gmail.com When It just happened Artist Luis Garcia Studio NokaOi Location Philadelphia, Pennsylvania I headed down into the city and made my way to NokaOi to get pierced by Mr. Luis Garcia. Luis is the kindest, most interesting, honest and knowledgeable piercer that I've ever encountered. With every piercing that he's done for me [scrumper, eyebrow, and now my chest] he had immediately said that he would have to mark my body first and make sure that it would sit and heal correctly. In most other situations, the piercer is pretty much jabbing you a soon as you sign the sheet. Just as usual he said that he would have to check first to make sure that he would be able to do the piercing.
He had me stand with my arms down and made marks on my chest where I had indicated my desired placement of the piercing. After making the marks he had me move my arms around in different positions to make sure that none of them would stretch or bunch the skin in a way that would be detrimental to the healing of the piercing. I had to cross them, slowly uncross them, stretch them to behind my back, un-stretch them, put them above my head AND slowly lower them, all while he stared at my chest. It was a go.
He let me know the price and gave me the friendly tip of using the ATM around the corner so that I wouldn't have to pay tax on the jewelry. I headed out to the ATM and picked up a soda for some extra sugar.
When I got back he had the room prepped for me and chatted a bit while he washed and gloved his hands. I told him that I wouldn't have to steal any of his vitamin water this time because I bought myself a soda. He laughed. [When I had come in to get my scrumper pierced a few months earlier I got a bit faint afterwards. He talked to me to make sure that I was ok while I sat down for a bit and gave me a glass of his tasty beverage to get some sugar into my blood stream. What a guy!]
Luis then cleaned my chest and made marks for the piercings. Again he made me move my arms around to make sure that the placement worked. I checked the marks in the mirror, turned, smiled, and sat in the freshly cleaned chair. He brought out the jewelry to make sure that the measurements lined up perfectly with the bar [which they did] and pinched the skin. Luis than asked for me to lean my head back and get comfortable. He took out a freshly sterilized needle and asked me to breathe in verryyyy deeply. And then out slowly. And my right side was done!
I couldn't believe the small amount of pain that the piercing had caused! The most uncomfortable part was having the needle set through the piercing while he got out the jewelry for insertion. One down. But after having other pairs of piercings done [nipples, upper and lower naval], I knew that the second was always more painful.
He asked how I was feeling and took out another needle. Again the deep inhale and slow exhale. A bit more painful than the first was, but BARELY. Again there was some discomfort while the jewelery was put in, but nothing too bad at all.
He asked me how I was feeling again and began to clean up the piercings. He gave me the usual Luis style talk on aftercare. If you can't clean it AT LEAST X times each day and do such and such X times each week, there is an extremely low chance of it healing. He's so strict yet comforting. So informative.
I got up from the chair and stared in the mirror at my beautiful new surface piercings. I've never been happier with a piercing.
Well. . .I guess I say that after every one I get.
I walked back into the main piercing room and payed for the piercing while Luis instructed me to come back for a check-up in a month or two, and again told me to take good care of them. I tipped him, smiled, and was on my way out. I greeted my friends with a big grin on my face as they ooohed and ahhhed at my beautiful new adornments.
Now, about 9 hours and 2 salt water soaks later, I'm sitting comfortably in a sweatshirt [coming into full contact with the piercings] with no pain at all on my chest. The most irritation post-piercing occurred while I was struggling to fit my coat on over two other layers of clothing.