What Not To Do To Your Nipples...
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When Ten years ago or more Artist name withheld to protect the guilty Studio name withheld to protect the guilty Location San Jose, CA After reading horror story after horror story of piercing gone wrong here on BME, I figured I'd go ahead and add my experience. No, it doesn't involve blowouts, gangrene, or my nipples falling off, but it does illustrate the importance of choosing your piercer carefully.
This all took place back in 1997, when it was actually pretty damn hard to find a decent piercing studio. I'd made several trips to San Francisco in the hopes of making it to Gauntlet (which I'm sure would have resulted in a very different experience), but it had never worked out. I should have held out, and gone to Gauntlet -- but instead I wound up at a local studio with a reputation of being the only place that would pierce minors. That was probably my first mistake. Oh, and I should mention that I was in fact 18 at the time, so I had no excuse for *not* going to Gauntlet.
I really should have known better. I had read rec.arts.bodyart extensively for close to a year before deciding to have the piercing done, and had extensively researched both the piercing, and aftercare procedures on BME. Again, I really had no excuse for making the poor choice of studios that I did.
There were plenty of warning flags that I should have noticed. The funny look the piercer gave me when I told her what I wanted. Her asking me not to punch her when she put the needle through me (what was that all about anyway???). The fact that she didn't mark the piercing, or use clamps but kinda just winged it -- that sort of thing. In my excitement, I ran past all of those warning flags and went ahead and had a 14g CBR put into each nipple. Of course, the piercer had both rings in when she looked at my right nipple with a concerned expression....
Turns out she had pierced it crooked. I should have run right out of the shop right then.
But......I was 18, amped to get pierced and chock full of endorphins. So I let her take the jewelry out, and re-pierce my right nipple to get it straight. Very, very bad idea.
Now, on the bright side I heal really, really fast and I'm super attentive to aftercare procedures. As such I was able to avoid developing an abscess in the abandoned hole in my right nipple. However, that nipple never really calmed down, even after several years and there is a small amount of keloid scarring there even now.
Over the next couple of years, I was able to learn from my mistakes. Once the piercing had healed, I went to reputable studios on several occasions going from 14ga, to 12ga, and finally to 10ga. The larger the gauge, the more comfortable the rings became. However the right side never ceased to be touchy, getting inflamed and irritated with the slightest bit of rough treatment. In spite of that, I was able to keep things under control, and keep the piercing.
Fast forward five years.
Motocross chest protectors and nipple rings don't mix too well. My left side, which was always the healthier of the two was having trouble being smashed around so much by my plastic chest protector, and being pounded with roost. The right one was constantly sore, and on the edge of infection. I was riding every weekend, and it seemed like I could get my piercing under control in just enough time to go and beat up on them the next weekend. I had a couple of crashes where I was sure I was going to take off my chest protector and find my nipples ripped off. I had tried wearing a rash guard under my jersey to keep them tight to my chest, taping them down, covering them with band aids -- you name it, but nothing really seemed to help. Then came the event that was to rid me of both nipple piercing, and my beloved 6ga tongue stud.
After a weekend of racing that had involved a couple of really nasty crashes, I developed appendicitis and was rushed into emergency surgery. In the pre-op room I was told that I would have to remove my tongue stud so that I could be incubated for the surgery. At that point, the nurses also decided to tape my nipple rings down so that they wouldn't get caught on anything! I'm not sure what they were concerned that they'd catch on, but okay, sure, you're the medical professionals....
When I finally left the hospital the next day, my tongue ring wouldn't go back in. That was about the point that I gave up, and just took the nipple rings out.
Looking back years later, I can honestly say that I don't regret having the piercing done at all. I regret that I chose the studio and 'artist' that I did, I think that if I'd stuck to my initial plan and gone to Gauntlet that things would have turned out very differently. I regret letting the piercer re-pierce my right nipple the way she did.
So, what did I learn from all this?
1) Pick your shop, and your piercer carefully. Ten years ago, it could be a challenge to find a good studio. I made a big mistake in not holding out, and going to Gauntlet which at the time was the most professional, experienced, and trusted studio I can think of.
2) Pick piercing that are compatible with your lifestyle. If you race motocross, maybe nipple piercing aren't the greatest idea. If you're a jujitsu practitioner, cartilage piercing probably aren't in your best interest. Then again, who am I to say? Everyone is different, and I'm not about to tell anyone what to do.
Please don't go out and learn lessons like this the hard way, there are plenty of people who have already done that. These days, if you live in a reasonable sized city, you should have virtually no problem finding a reputable studio with an artist who isn't going to mangle your body. Take the time and the effort to make good choices for yourself.