Three months ago I had my snug pierced. Gorgeous piercing, looks fabulous. A month after that my friend got her rib pierced which prompted me to look at surface piercings on bme a bit more. And then I saw it... The Sternum Piercing.
At A Glance Author Melonoma Contact Melonoma@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Jackie Studio The Piercing Shop Location Brisbane, Australia Oh how I craved this piercing. It was gorgeous, it drew attention to the best part of my body and it could be easily hid from the dictators that run my school.
I waited for three months to pass for my snug piercing to pass the initial healing stage and then worked up the courage to ask my mum.
My parents are pretty easy going. They let me do a lot of things that teenagers at 17 should not, like drink and smoke and go out to gigs on school nights. They let me get all my previous piercings too (industrial, 2 helix, snug, tragus, 8 lobe, double navel) but awhile ago I asked to get my lip pierced and their foot was proverbially put down.
They were dead against facial piercings. So I was not too sure how it would go when I asked about a sternum piercing.
"Mum, I want another piercing."
"Why?"
"Bored with the ones I have already got."
"Oh... which one?"
"Sternum?"
"What-um?"
"Cleavage."
"Oh... ok, but you have to pay for it. AND no more piercings!"
"Damn. Ok. Fine."
I only agreed, because she never specified anything about tattoos in that verbal contract.
I called up The Piercing Shop and made the appointment the day after my birthday.
That day could not pass fast enough. I had two lessons during the day and then had the entire afternoon off, so my Mum and I took a bus into the city.
I practically ran up the stairs to the Piercing Shop and spoke to Jackie about the jewellery I was going to use.
14 gauge Tygon (bendy plastic, brilliant for surface piercings) and two 16 gauge blue "opal" balls. My mum chose the balls because she decided if she was going to be looking at it the whole time, she might as well like it. Jackie suggested 16 gauge balls for a 14 gauge bar as it makes it a lot harder for the balls to pop out. Jackie then suggested this new stuff (in Australia anyway) called H2Ocean which is purified ocean salt water which, when used 3-6 times a day helps clean away the crusties and increase circulation to the piercing thus causing fistula to happen a lot quicker. I grabbed a bottle of the H2Ocean and the soap that the Piercing Shop provides and sat on the bench waiting for my jewellery to be sterilized in the autoclave.
It was not long before Jackie called me into the room and asked my Mum if she wanted to come in too. My Mum had never been in the room before so I guess this was a learning experience for her.
Jackie expertly marked a cross in the middle of my chest to indicate how deep and how long the piercing would actually be.
She handed me the squeezy balls that the piercing shop provide that help relieve anxiousness and nerves. Also really great to hold onto while you are being pierced so you do not flip out and hit one of the piercers.
She then sterilized the area and called one of the other piercers into the room. They clamped the skin which, yes, was the worst part. The other piercer held onto the skin around the clamp to make sure it did not move during the piercing.
Lots of deep breaths and then Jackie began to push the needle through.
Goddamn that was painful. Definitely one of the worst ones I had yet, but thankfully for my incredibly high pain threshold I did not make a sound.
The needle was through and Jackie began to thread the Tygon through the piercing. She waited a minute or two for the skin around it to relax before she cut the plastic back and then proceeded to push the last ball on.
We waited for a few minutes for the miniscule amount of blood to be cleared away. By this time there was no pain at all, but that incredible adrenalin rush that comes with a piercing. I was allowed one look at my fabulous new piercing before a patch was placed over it to keep it clean for the first 4 hours. Jackie went into the after care details that I had heard a million times before, and then we left thanking Jackie immensely. My Mum seemed incredibly impressed with their cleanliness, their professionalism and their manner within the procedure. I have said it once and I will say it again – The Piercing Shop rules.
The piercing has not hurt since. I have developed a cleaning routine that works around school and work and I have managed to keep the swelling away and there is only a tiny bit of redness around the entry and exit holes.
I start with a salt soak in the morning followed by a quick spray of H2Ocean. I then leave for school or work (depending on what day of the week it is) and strictly do not touch it! I love this piercing so much I definitely do not want to introduce any infection to it. When I get home in the afternoon I give it another quick spray with H2Ocean and then wait until I have my evening shower and rinse it off with my soap that the Piercing Shop provided. I then ice it (to encourage healing and to ward off swelling) and then one last spray of H2Ocean before I go to bed.
I have had trouble with sleeping on my back. I always sleep on my stomach but have had to switch to avoid any complications with the piercing. This has caused very little sleep over the past few nights, but it is steadily getting better.
4 days later and my piercing is looking fantastic for how old it is. Altogether it cost about $60AUS for the piercing $40AUS for the Tygon and my Mum paid for the blue opal balls which were $25AUS each. Otherwise the Piercing Shop adds on silver balls (size of your choice) for about an extra $5AUS.
Altogether that is $105AUS, or in my case $150AUS.
I would definitely recommend this piercing to anyone who loves their boobs as much as I do. I do not really have much else going for me other than my excellent rack, and this is an even better way to draw attention to it.
A few people have recoiled in horror, others have spent a good 10 minutes or so pinching the skin on their chest and repeating "How does that even work?!" But most of my friends love it, and even named it. "Stan the Sternum"