At A Glance Author Zorbo Contact Zorbo@bme.anon IAM Zorbo When A week ago Artist Chris Studio Stinger Tattoo Location Aurora, Ontario, Canada Since the last time I submitted an experience, I've gotten a couple more tattoos and a nostril piercing in the summer of 2001. It's February 2002 and I've again got the piercing itch badly. I'd been unsure of what to get, but after a new friend told me that she had recently gotten her nipples done, I think my mind was made up.
The opportunity to get stabbed presented itself when a student cancelled her 45 minute piano lesson at the last minute. I drove out to a nearby grocery store during the break, thinking I'd pick up some candy, but the neon glow from the sign of the piercing studio quickly caught my eye. As if under a spell, I jaywalked across Yonge Street (no easy feat!) and went in.
It was nearly empty in the studio (it was early Thursday evening after all) and I busied myself by looking at the portfolios, trying to silence the voice inside my head that was screaming, "GET SOMETHING PIERCED!!!!!" I kept looking at my watch: 30 minutes to spare.
When the counter guy asked if he could help me with anything, I barely managed to croak, "I'd like to get my nipple pierced, please."
I recognized the piercer immediately - although the sign outside said Hwy. 11 Tattoos, the studio was actually another branch of a studio I'd visited before, Stinger Tattoo in Newmarket. The piercer had helped me put my nostril stud in after it had fallen out several months previously.
I paid up front, $50 CDN including tax, and filled in the forms. Before I could change my mind, I was in the piercing room discussing jewelry options. Ideally, I would have preferred a 12ga titanium CBR, but ended up settling for a 14ga 5/8" SS CBR. I can always stretch to 12ga later. Since I looked at a few different ring sizes, Chris ended up changing his gloves several times after handling the (sterile and autoclaved) jewelry packets. He cleaned off my left nipple (I only felt like getting one) with iodine, and marked the dots with the purple surgical marker. I could see right away that one dot was crooked, so the dot was redrawn lower.
I find that when I get the pre-piercing jitters/excitement/trepidation, talking about piercing, tattoos, or BME is really relaxing. I can show the piercer that I'm not another clueless moron getting pierced without doing some research, and I can gauge if the piercer is sufficiently knowledgeable. Today, the discussion was about a salon at the mall which continues to pierce navels with guns despite being busted by the Ministry of Health (I should know, I reported them!) Chris said that he had reported them before as well, and seen girls who didn't know any better come in with piercing studs in their navels that had to be removed with pliers. Oh well, I guess some people aren't as smart as you, gentle reader, reading experiences on BME!!
Back to the actual piercing. He got me to lie down on the doctor bed, and put the clamp on (which I didn't even feel) and pierced me immediately. For all of my other piercings, I either wasn't able to see the needle coming at me, or I closed my eyes, so this was the first time I actually saw the needle coming at me. I tensed up from the shock, but my snug piercing by far remains the most painful that I've had done.
It's now been approximately six hours since being pierced, and I am barely feeling any pain, although this might have something to do with the fact that I now have food in my stomach. I wasn't starving when I got it done, but it was before dinner, and I was in a bit of pain finishing up my final three piano lessons for the night.
I've been wearing a bra for the whole time, and I think keeping the breast somewhat immobile does lessen the pain. I'm hoping my nipples won't get knocked around too much when I work out.
As for aftercare, I bought some sea salt, and I'm going to do a soak as soon as I'm done writing this experience. For all my other piercings, Bactine was just fine, but for a sensitive area like the nipple, I don't want the skin to get dried out, so this time I'm going for the salt soaks. Other than that, I'm going to leave it alone, I know now from reviewing almost 400 experiences on BME that this method seems to be the most effective. So we'll see how things turn out...I'm off to find the exact ratios of salt:water for the solution.
I'd recommend Stinger for piercings, there's nothing wrong with the place, I am just used to the staff at Yonge Street Tattoos and would have gone there, but that's an hour from my house and hey! spur of the moment piercings are more fun, I think.
3/3/2002 - update
It's now been over a week since the piercing, and it is healing beautifully with minimal crusties. I've invested in a couple new bras, since I now need to wear them a lot more often. I've also heard some things about the piercer from another friend - he marks up his jewelry big time (a 16ga 1/4" niobium CBR is $40 Canadian) - which would lead me to believe that he would perhaps try to, uhh... 'cut corners' on a piercing novice. That is my gut feeling, but again, my piercing seems fine right now.