re, To be honest, i usually try not to be one of those people that gets a piercing and writes an experience of it within an hour or so. However, I'm going to completely contradict myself here, because I am now the proud owner of a 10 ga. septum piercing, performed by none other than my piercer-extraordinaire, Tom Brazda of Stainless Studios in my great big city of Toronto. Anyway, the story starts about 5 weeks ago, when i got a call from my father one morning, asking me whether i was interested in going on an all-inclusive, all-expenses paid trip to Acapulco, Mexico. Being the middle of winter here, it didn't take much cohersion on his part. However, this did cause me some stress: for the next five weeks, until after my trip was over, I couldn't have anything done for fear of infection. I gritted my teeth, and time slowed... Until my return last night, of course. I frequently have dreams and visions in my sleep of getting new piercings and other more extreme procedures done. Last night was one of these nights. I had a dream that Tom was going to pierce my tongue twice more. I got all excited, and then woke up... Needless to say, my girlfriend liked that idea, but I decided against it because I want to be able to speak without a lisp at work and two more oral piercings would mean more "down time" for me...something that I don't look forward to. But I was determined to have something done, and we decided on a septum. A few hours later, I found myself at Stainless Studios telling Damon (counter guy) what I wanted done. I didn't even know that they normally stocked 10 gauge retainers there, so I jumped at the chance to have it done at this size. Lately, my theory has been "The bigger the better," at least for the initial piercing. When it came to be my turn to get poked, I walked back with Tom and found that everything was already all laid out and in autoclave bags, something you should expect when dealing with professionals. As we always do, we chatted about lots of stuff for a while, and he offered to scalpel my ears if i wanted to stretch them bigger, in order to retain their natural shape. However, this wouldn't be today anyway: I was here for a septum piercing. He cleaned the inside of my nose with the usual idone swabs, He brought out the iodine swab and told me that many people are very repulsed by the smell. I braced myself for that, but found that the swabs didn't smell that bad, if at all (and it was being pushed WAY up my nose! I should mention that Tom changed his gloves after touching anything other than my nose. This should be expected... The needle didn't look intimidating, as it usually does (I suppose that goes with the experience of having been poked many times before), and I was much calmer than I thought I would be. I knew that a regular 14 ga. septum was no big deal, however I didn't really know what to expect of a 10 ga. jolt in the nose. Tom explained that he may have to pierce it twice, since the cartilage is somewhat fussy and doesn't like to be sliced through evenly. _He said that if he went through too fast, that the cartilage would bind and I'd end up with a crooked piercing. Needless to say, I didn't look forward to having it done twice (or more), and even more importantly, I didn't want a crooked piercing in the middle of my face. I was prepared for the worst... He lined everything up, including that needle and the receiving tube, checked over and over again for accuracy, and pushed the needle in just a little. No pain, just the anxiety of having a needle resting against my skin. He had explained that at this gauge, this is one of the longest piercings there is (timing out at a whopping FEW seconds!) In any case, I was getting very excited at this point. This happens all of the time with piercings (and other procedures) with me - I'm somewhat nervous right up until the last minute, and then I become calm all of a sudden. After getting about halfway through, Tom decided that my cartilage was not going to pose a problem, and he swiftly pushed the needle all the way through, rather effortlessly. My eyes watered quite a bit, but there was very little pain. This was the first piercing I'd ever bled from, and I told him that. (I don't know how much I bled, but enough to soak up a few gauze pads and there was some on my shirt - luckily I wore a burgundy shirt that day!). He was even nice enough to wipe away my tears for me, and we chatted some more about travelling the world and bactine, among other things, as I got out of the chair and headed back out into the lobby and off to the drugstore. As of now, the piercing just feels like a dry, crusty booger in the front of my nose. Its not noticeable (feeling-wise) if I don't move too much, and entirely worth the non-pain I endured. Now I just can't wait to stretch it....! UPDATE: One week later... Later on that night as I was cleaning the piercing, there was some blood, and the middle part of my septum was slightly swollen. The thinned blood continued until the next day, and has not bled since. After talking with a few people about aftercare (before I got pierced), including Tom, I decided to use Bactine as the cleanser for this piercing.
Now normally, I would stay well away from this harsh of a cleanser, but none of the people I talked to had had any problems with it, and it is quite appropriate to use on a Q-tip. By the third day or so, all remainders of crusties had disappeared. I am still cleaning it twice a day with Bactine, and it seems healed (though I am aware that it is not). Yesterday I dared to remove the retainer and replace it with a 10 ga captive bead ring: the retainer fell into the sink, and I was lucky enough to catch it with my hand. I thought that it would be difficult to find the hole with no jewelry in, but I was surprised at how easy it really was. (By the way, the CBR looked ridiculous). Upon re-installing the retainer, it fell on the floor, so I had to sterilize it...I had no jewelry in the hole for a few minutes, and it did not close up (to my relief!) Future plans include stretching this hole with larger retainers and/or plugs. Putting holes in my flesh and stretching them really appeals to me...and after easily surviving the 10ga septum, I am left wondering why I simply didn't have it dermal-punched in the first place? Oh well, at least I have the fun and frustration of stretching to worry about for awhile....:P If anyone wishes to contact me, feel free, and I can answer your questions a little more in-depth.