Three weeks ago I had my right nipple pierced. I was a little anxious because I had a lot of worries concerning the fact that I had breast reduction surgery 10 years ago. My piercer told me that she had an experience where a nipple piercing was rejected twice after a breast reduction, but that everyone's experience is different and that the best I could do is keep my eye out for migration. I decided to go for it and so she prepped and pierced me. I don't have a lot of feeling in my nipples, so I barely felt the clamp, however I DID feel the needle. It was a quick sharp pain and was over quickly. I'm planning on getting the other nipple pierced, but I want to wait and see how this one does first. I would be really bummed to put all of the time and effort into 2 piercings if they are going to be rejected. Plus my boyfriend is a real boob guy and I need to leave him at least one nipple to play with!!
At A Glance Author Jaime Contact Jaime@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Christina Studio Area 51 Location San Rafael, CA I bled off and on (mostly at night when I was sleeping) and after 4-5 days my nipple stopped bleeding altogether. It seemed to be healing really well and I had little or no pain. I was using Provon once in the morning, then doing a sea salt soak in the afternoon, then washing with Provon once again before bed. I would also use Bactine after washing or using the sea salts.
About a week and a half after I was pierced, I got a few small red spots around my nipple. I figured that it was just a little irritated from all of the washing. By the second week there was a definite rash starting to develop. I figured that It might be the provon so I switched to Dial. Well, I woke up the next morning and my breast was covered in a rash! I freaked out a little and realized that the piercing place was not open that day, so I went to see a doctor.
This was my first experience with a "not piercing friendly" doctor. I had been lucky enough that my Doctor back home ( I moved out of state 3 years ago) was very open to Body Modifications and often admired my tattoos or piercings, which was strange because he's in his sixties.
Anyhow this doctor started off lecturing me. Telling me how he can't understand us kids, and how I was just like '"one of those extreme sports people" skiing down mountains and then they're all surprised when they break a leg. He then told me that with all of my 'risky behavior' it wasn't a question of 'if' I would run into trouble, but 'when' I would run into trouble. He then looked at my breast for a whole 5 seconds (if that) and declared that it was infected. I would have to remove the jewelry immediately and go on antibiotics.
I then asked him, if my piercing was infected, how come there was no pus coming out of it? And how come my breast was itchy, but not painful? He told me that (you aren't going to believe this) but he said that there would only be pus (or excretions of any sort) if I was pregnant or nursing because it would be breast milk... WHAT THE HELL??!! And that the infection was making my breast itchy.
I also told him that I had read in MANY different articles that if you do have an infection, NOT to take out the jewelry, because the piercing will close up and force the infection deeper into your breast and into the milk ducts. He told me that you WANT the piercing to close up so that no more bacteria can get in. That doesn't make sense to me, if the bacteria is there, it's there and all you can do is fight the existing infection and keep the wound clean.
He was pretty much just trying to manipulate me into taking out my piercing, or maybe he was just a freaking idiot. My guess is that it was a bit of both.
Needless to say, I DID NOT take out my piercing, the next day I got a second opinion from my piercer and did some research.
It turned out that it was contact dermatitis caused from a reaction from the Provon, further complicated by the harshness of the Dial soap. I switched to Dr.Bronner's, plain Mild Baby castile soap.
The rash is starting to fade (it's now pink instead of an angry red) and feeling a little less itchy. I can't believe that doctor was going to put me on 2 weeks of antibiotics to prove a point.
Anyhow, I guess my advice would be to look around for a piercing friendly doctor or at least one who isn't biased, also, don't take this as me saying that all doctors are going to B.S. you. In general I would always take a doctors advise, just make sure you do your homework. In this case it was so obvious that the doctor didn't know his butt from his head.