I've been addicted to piercings ever since my first set of ear piercings three years ago. It's a sort of ritual - every year end I have to have a set done, usually before exams. After 6 holes in my ears though I wanted to find a new place to pierce. I'm reluctant to do anything to my face (yet), and while tongue piercings are attractive, three years of suffering through braces in high school has left me quite unwilling to live with foreign objects in my mouth again.
At A Glance Author wwolf Contact wwolf@bme.anon When A week ago Studio City Body Art Location Brisbane A bit research on BMEzine the past few weeks led me to surface piercings at once intrigued me. 3 or 4 years ago I'd wanted a surface piercing on my arm, before I'd ever even heard of the concept of surface piercings, but the piercer I'd spoken to told me it was impossible as it would simply reject. Now that I'd found out about surface bars I immediately wanted a horizontal one on my sternum above the cleavage. I started researching shops in my area, but a friend had warned me against the one he'd visited, and another that I'd heard of was too far away.
I was up in Brisbane on holiday last week, and on a whim I decided to walk into a couple of piercing shops to ask more about surface bars. The first place I visited would only do Tygon bars though, and the piercer did not seem all that knowledgeable about surface bars. I had an ear cartilage stud changed for a CBR there as well, and the piercer's attitude hadn't been particularly inspiring either. The second studio also only did Tygon. I was quite surprised at this, because BMEzine had given me the impression that surface bars were at least as common as Tygon, and I couldn't understand why both studios did not offer the procedure given its advantages over Tygon.
At that point I was beginning to waver and think about settling for Tygon instead. Then, by sheer luck, I randomly turned down Elizabeth Street and saw a sign that said 'Tattoo and Body Piercing Studio'. Frankly, it looked a bit dodgy to me, but - what the hell - I had time to kill so I went in to have a look.
The piercer there, Neek, was completely different from the previous ones I'd spoken to - he was very friendly and helpful, even after I told him upfront that I wasn't planning on getting a piercing done right then and only wanted some information. He explained in great detail how surface bars worked compared to Tygon (complete with scribbled illustrations and examples of both) and was very patient with all my questions. He spent a good 15 minutes talking to me, and I felt so comfortable with him I decided I might as well get a surface bar piercing done immediately. The other thing that made up my mind was that during our conversation, two girls came in with a complaint regarding another of the piercers at the studio, and the way he listened to them and handled the complaint before calling in the owner reassured me of his professionalism. He took 15 minutes to custom-bend a straight barbell for piercing my sternum, then we were ready to go.
Once again, he was very patient and friendly when I got a bit nervous about my first needle piercing. It just amazed me because I've met heaps of doctors with far worse bedside manner than his. He even cleaned up my ear cartilage piercing which was bleeding after I'd had the stud changed. He put me completely at ease, and the entire piercing was done in less than 15 seconds once we'd measured the position and gotten the other piercers' opinions on it. After that he gave me his email address so I could send him photos of my piercing for him to check on it, since I wouldn't be in Brisbane for long.
Piercing my sternum has been a wonderful experience for me. I'm so in love with the two shiny silver studs on my chest now, and I'm babying the piercing very carefully because I'm very paranoid that it will reject, or migrate. Already I can't wait to get a couple more surface bars done above it (once my finances permit) in a V-shape, and then replacing the studs with slave rings for a corset piercing so I can lace it up.
Interestingly, I've yet to see anyone in real life with a sternum piercing, or even a surface piercing. (Or maybe I'm not observant enough.) It's only been a few days, but I've already gotten a fair range of reactions to my piercing, from complete approval and fascination from some of my friends to mild horror from others, and even cashiers have stopped to ask me about it. Both reactions work fine for me. :) Honestly, the deciding factor in getting the piercing on my chest rather than on my arm was because I wanted it somewhere visible where I could show it off to people.
My previous ear piercings were done with a gun, but now that I've researched more about piercings and experienced a needle piercing for myself, I'd recommend the needle over the gun any time, even though it's about 6 times more expensive. Besides, needle piercing gives me a far larger happy adrenaline buzz. =) I'd also recommend that anyone wanting a piercing should spend some time visiting a few studios and chatting with different piercers in order to find one you're really happy with instead of just settling for the first one you come across.