Had been toying with the idea of nipple piercings for some time. In Summer 2002 I decided to take the plunge and get them both done at once.
At A Glance Author Memma Contact Memma@bme.anon When N/A Artist Martin Studio Exile Tattoos Location Kendal, Cumbria, England A little background info: I am nearly 19 years of age and have been getting pierced since the age of 12. Have had several ear piercings (mostly self-done, not recommended unless you've done your homework), navel, nose, madison, tongue, and genital piercings. I was quite hesitant in getting nipples done as I'd heard they are a bitch to heal. However, I'd also heard very good things about the effect it has on the sensitivity of one's nips, so.
Had been pierced by Martin before, as well as having seen many successful piercings and amazing tattoo work he's done. Had booked a few days in advance, and the night before had got plenty of sleep, eaten well and so on, I swear by this as far as mods go.
The piercings themselves were nothing out of the ordinary. I was a little surprised that he was piercing them freehand rather than with clamps, but trusted him fully so didn't let this get in the way at all. He pierced my left nipple first, having previously disinfected and used a mild anaesthetic (so COLD!). I was quite impressed - the needle went right through the middle of the markings to the extent that there were little dark circles of ink round the entry and exit holes. Now THAT's precision! It wasn't nearly as painful as I'd imagined it would be, being something of a masochist I actually quite enjoyed it.. heh.. though I'd imagine for people otherwise inclined it would still be a fairly easy piercing pain-wise, and certainly not unbearable. The second one smarted a tad more, I'm not entirely sure why. I think I may have flinched as the needle was going through, this resulted in the piercing being somewhat shallower than the other. At the time I didn't see this to be a problem, but more on that later.
Jewellery fitted in with minimal pain, and I was dead chuffed with how they looked. They did bleed a little, so Martin put patches over them, and I went on my way.
The worst part I think was when the anaesthetic wore off, man, it felt like I was on fire!! Fortunately this died down within an hour or two, and again was certainly not unbearable.
Cleaned them twice daily with spray-on Savlon, this proved to be a gem that I'd not discovered when previously getting pierced.. it dissolves away the crusties and promotes proper healing. Within two months the left one was healed, but the right (shallower) one was still giving me grief. Not to worry, I thought, with a little TLC it'll soon be right as rain.
Well, over the following months I started to notice the skin around the piercing was a little flaky, and that I could see the jewellery through the skin of my nipple. I had never had a piercing migrate before so I wasn't sure of the warning signs, but having looked it up on various piercing websites I thought it was probably a false alarm. I did however notice it was closer to the surface than at first.
I was most reluctant to retire the piercing, since the benefits were amazing (each nipple piercing increased the sensitivity to such an extent I'd say it's like having an extra clit or two, heh..), so I persisted with cleaning and salt soaks. About 5 months after the initial piercing it seemed more or less at peace, but since it was so much shallower than the left one I wanted something to even them up a little.
At this point I was back in Kendal, and went back to Exile and booked in to get another piercing - a vertical barbell in my right nipple behind the horizontal ring I already had.
The piercing procedure was very much the same, Martin removed the ring while he did the vertical piercing and replaced it afterwards. He didn't say anything about the way the first piercing looked, so assumed it was all okay. The pain from the vertical piercing was much less harsh than I remembered, and it healed in virtually no time at all (I used the same cleaning routine) and now, two and a half months on, it doesn't even get crusties like my other healed piercings do from time to time.
However, all was not well. After a week or two, when I put pressure on the ring, I could feel it rubbing against the bar. I also noticed one of the holes was rapidly getting closer to the surface and the flesh looked 'eroded' for want of a better word. Sadly, I retired the piercing as soon as I noticed this. Thankfully it doesn't seem to have affected the vertical piercing in any way, and I intend to get it re-pierced (or at least speak to Martin about it) as soon as funds will allow, possibly with a barbell rather than a BCR as this seems to make a huge difference in the healing process.
All in all, it's been a positive experience and I've learned a lot from it. If there's anything more anyone wants to know about that or any of my other piercings, don't hesitate to contact me.