I first became interested in getting a genital piercing about 3 years ago. I wouldn't say I was too into body modification at the time, though I did have my lobes pierced as well as an inner conch piercing and my lady had several piercings including her nose and nipples so I really had no qualms with the concept. My first thought was that I had wanted an Ampallang, but as I presented merely the idea of getting my member pierced to my lady it immediately got vetoed. Women.
At A Glance Author Joey Contact Joey@bme.anon When A month ago Artist George Studio Hole Gallery @ American Inkwell Tattoos Location Pekin, IL The idea and desire to have a genital piercing lingered though I stopped actively pursuing it and about a year after the initial birth of the idea, I ended up moving to Minneapolis, MN. This city has some fantastic piercing and tatoo parlors, one of the most popular being Saint Sabrina's.
As luck would have it, I lived walking distance from the parlor and worked just down the street. That thought started to creep back up and I knew if I really wanted this thing done, Saint Sabrina's would be a great option. I eventually got to meet one of Sabrina's senior piercer's through something of a random chance at work but oddly enough never brought up any piercing questions (what a chicken!).
About another year into the story, things soured with my relationship and one of the first things that came to mind was "Well hell, I'm getting my dick pierced then." I knew Sabrina's was where I'd go and at that point I had settled on the Prince Albert over the Ampallang but now had a new concern to deal with. Since splitting with the old lady, I no longer had a car and was regularly walking 8+ blocks or biking to get to work and was convinced that was practice was not going to be kind to a fresh dick piercing. Alas, I put the idea on the backburner again.
Here we are at year 3 of the tale and I'm fed up dealing with crazywoman in Minneapolis and make my way back to the small hometown I'm from. Incidentally, my old wheels are still around at my folks' place which solved my previous issue with getting it done. Except now I'm back in central IL, 8 hours away from Saint Sabrina's that I had been so found of. After spending many days trying to call around and use of the internet trying to find a good parlor, I talk to guy who sounds like he knows what he's doing. Says I can come in the next day for consultation and measuring.
Cruise over and meet up with George at the Hole Gallery courtesy of American Inkwell Tattoos and he seems awfully familiar. Turns out George worked at the parlor(since closed) my ex and I had gotten all our piercings at before moving to MN years previous. George lets me know a lot of stuff I had picked up through personal research on getting a PA done and takes some quick measurements to order a properly sized piece of jewelry. We settle on a 8gauge curved barbell to start things off. Put down the deposit on the jewelry and then begins the waiting game for the ring to come in so I can set up the piercing appointment.
About 2 weeks go by and I can't shut up about it, I've hyped it to everybody I know basically nonstop at this point. I imagine my friends were glad I was finally getting it done so that I might shut up about it (which certainly didn't happen). When George called I made the appointment for first thing the next day and George is running around his shop like a madman getting everything perfect and helping other customers with some jewelry questions all at the same time. Soon enough, he was ready and called me on back.
Anybody considering getting a PA done and has done any research (I've been lurking this site for quite a bit now at this point) will find this part of the tale familiar. As most stories I had read, easily the most uncomfortable part of the process was the initial receiving tube. There is a very slight burning sensation but not nothing too intense. I likened the sensation to if any of you gent's have ever had a shower mishap that resulted in soap getting in your urethra. Then he was telling me to take some breaths and I was prepping myself for the piercing and really focusing then I heard him say "Ok, piercing's done." Honestly I was kinda disappointed, I was expecting this horrendous pain and all my buddies had similiar thoughts when I told them I was getting it done. I personally felt like getting my inner conch pierced was a bit more painful. Oh well, 3 seconds was about all it took and I was feeling awesome, albeit having a surgical glove stuffed with paper towels r ubber banded to my unit (I'm a bleeder apparently). Paid George, (be sure to tip well!) and gingerly got into my car to get supplies for sea salt soaks.
This is the only negative experience of my initial piercing and a kind of "no duh" caveat:
I hadn't eaten anything before going in but was thinking ahead and bought snacks and soda on my way to parlor just in case but felt great afterward and didn't think much of it. I met up with a buddy later on to tell my tale and about 10 minutes into conversation (maybe 2 hours post-piercing) I felt really light headed. I then realized I never ate my snacks and in fact still hadn't eaten anything that day. I couldn't even make it to my car to procure some emergency Nerds without having to sit down from my knees buckling. Luckily my buddy was there to get me some munchies and as soon as I got them down I felt fine.
As I mentioned before, I'm something of a bleeder, after my near feinting I munched out and went home to tend to my new piercing. When I took off the glove, it was pretty full of blood and my lightheaded spell made a lot more sense. Also, I had passed a blood clot about the size of a nickel and had to deal with very carefully getting that thing off the end of the jewelry. Sea salt soaks are your best friend. All in all I bled pretty consistently for about 3 days and was forced to wear the "rubber chicken" as George called it until about day 4.
As I type this, I'm waiting on George to get a slightly shorter curved barbell in to change out (piercing was about 2 weeks ago). The one I was pierced with had quite a bit of "play" to it, which is great for cleaning during initial healing but not quite as practical or comfortable as I'd like. I'd eventually like to bump up to a 6 gauge. I'm also planning to get more piercing's done with George but at the moment, the PA is the only one I've got (the ear piercings I had in the past have been healed over for years). I'm the only guy I know who has one and it's one hell of a conversation piece.
I feel like a new man, it only took me 3 years of planning, 3 seconds of pain, and 3 days of bleeding to do it.