I'm going to start off by saying this was a "DIY" piercing done by a friend of mine and I. We have no experience whatsoever in doing body piercings and I don't support self-done/at-home piercings unless the person doing the piercing does research, gets the proper equipment, and is willing to take a risk, with full consequences (negative or positive) of course. We did the best we could being sterile.
At A Glance Author Rebecca Contact Rebecca@bme.anon IAM rebecca2292 When A month ago Artist Friend I have both nostrils and my septum pierced. All three of them have been professionally done. All three of them have been consented by my mom. She took me to get them done and that was it. She wasn't going to sign for anymore piercings and I became a little upset. I don't have my lobes pierced. I had them pierced when I was one month old, all the way up until I was 14. My plan is to stretch my lobes, and the placement was just not cutting it since it was way too low. I took them out and it took a year for them to fully close up, but at least they're gone now.
I decided to order a pair of 14G needles for the piercing. I also ordered a sterile marking pen, forceps, and two 1/2" 14G steel circular barbells. I purchased sanitary nitrile medical gloves that were powder free, the week before. I had also purchased a bottle of rubbing alcohol, alcohol swabs, and a bottle of bactine iodine.
The items I ordered came and my friend, Lorin came over. I scrubbed down the bathroom counter and we washed our hands and arms up to our elbows with Satin soap and warm water. We put on clean gloves and set up all the materials on clean paper towels without touching any of the equipment when we opened the sterile pouches they were in. Everything was autoclaved/sterilized except for the jewelry, so I washed them with Satin soap and put them in a small plastic cup with rubbing alcohol in it. (I do realize that this was not a good idea for the material of the jewelry and wasn't going to get it sterile, but it was the only option at the time.) I changed my gloves again. Lorin did not since she hadn't touched a single thing since the last glove change.
I cleaned my lobe with the alcohol swabs then the bactine iodine, and then the alcohol swabs again to get rid of the brown stain. I took the sterile marking pen, marked up some very even placements on my lobes which were pretty simple since my last lobe piercings had left dents in my lobe so I just had to mark about 3/16" above them. Once I was marked up, I changed my gloves once again since I had touched the pen.
Lorin picked up the forceps in one hand and the 14G needle in the other. We decided to go with my right lobe first. She clamped my lobe and held the needle against my lobe. Lorin then counted to three and shoved the needle through. It wasn't bad. I felt some pain, but it wasn't bad. I took the circular barbells out of the alcohol and dried them off with a clean paper towel. She then followed the jewelry through and I screwed the ball on since she was having trouble with it. One lobe done, another one to go.
I turned a bit to make it easier for her to do the piercing. Surprise, surprise. Another change of gloves. Lorin picked up the forceps and the new 14G needle. Held them both in place and counted to three. She pushed in but this time there was a slight problem. The needle was stuck in the middle of my lobe and not going all the way through. She told me that this was going to hurt and completely shoved the needle through. That lobe piercing hurt more than both of my nostril piercings combined. She followed the jewelry through and it was tricky and painful. I screwed on the ball. We cleaned up and finally we were done.
Week one:
During the first week my left lobe was very sore because of the struggle we had getting the needle/jewelry through. My right lobe was slightly sore, but not bad at all. I have been cleaning them both with Satin soap every time I'm in the shower and sea salt soaks. A little bit of crustiness.
Week two:
Crusties are gone. My right lobe wasn't sore after the first week but my left one still was. The soreness in my left lobe went down a bit in the second week, but was still present. I still continued to do sea salt soaks but less often. I cleaned them with Satin soap, still every time I was in the shower.
Week three:
All of the soreness has gone. No crusties whatsoever. I can sleep on them and not feel a thing. I rarely do sea salt soaks for them anymore but still use Satin soap every time I'm in the shower. They're doing pretty good. I have a bad habit of tugging at them but I don't feel a thing when I do this.
I don't like piercings done at home. I really would prefer going to a professional piercer because that really is the safest and most sterile way to get piercings done. My lobes were a successful piercing experience that wasn't done by a professional, so I may consider doing some other piercings, with the help of my friend. I am most definitely getting my jewelry autoclaved next time for the piercing to have less of a chance to get infected. Over all this experience was more of a positive one and I liked the outcome of it. It was probably because I used actual piercing equipment, not safety pins or sewing needles.