When I had my triangle pierced in September 2006, I submitted my experience to BME. It soon became obvious to me, though, that in terms of the entire experience – of not only getting but living with my piercing – I spoke too soon, writing it while I was still in the brand-new-intimidated-to-even-touch-it stage as I was. If that was the story of the piercing, this is the story of the healing.
At A Glance Author girlndocs Contact girlndocs@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Chuck Studio Lucky Devil Body Piercing Location Seattle, WA
The fact that I had issues healing it at all was tremendously upsetting for me. As I mentioned, my Manindocs and I have a full time power exchange relationship, in which he has control over me. Because this piercing was a way in which he chose to modify my body, I very quickly internalized it as part of my value and desirability to him – part of the package belonging to him which is me. Intellectually I know that he values me for many other things, but the context made healing this slightly challenged piercing a fraught experience for me.
10 days post-piercing, I got out of bed wrong, which resulted in a tiny tear along the left side of the piercing. Initially both M. and I brushed this off as a minor blip, but it became clear over time that the tear was growing – slowly and almost imperceptibly, but growing. Then one day I happened to squat down and actually felt it rip a bit more. I panicked, but M. is not as prone to panicking as I am, and he called our piercer Chuck, who said she imagined I must be "freaking out" and had us come in to change the CBB for a straight one to reduce movement.
The jewelry change was completely painless, and Chuck was very reassuring. She told us the tear should heal up fine. And walking out of Lucky Devil, I did notice a conspicuous absence of the tiny stinging pains that had signaled the tear being pulled open repeatedly. But when we got home that evening and I took my pants off, I realized why the old jewelry had been twisting: my left labia minora was folding the barbell down on that side, parallel to the shaft. The piercing had migrated from the pressure and was now tilted. I don't know why I didn't notice this before; my guess is that it became much more apparent with the straight barbell in.
Cue another call to Chuck, who explained that although everything probably would be fine, I "might have trouble healing it straight". Some people, she said, tried holding their jewelry in place with some toilet paper, so I found a way to wrap a twist of tissue around the piercing that buffered it from the pressure of my labia. I wore the tissue for the next month, removing it to go pee and changing it morning and evening. I stepped up the salt soaks again, and kept the piercing pretty much continuously bathed in tea tree and emu oil -- I wanted it to heal fast and strong. Luckily, I couldn't feel my jury-rigged prosthetic labia (so I didn't have to endure a monthlong crotchal wedgie). With the shifting eliminated, the tear did heal up fine – a week later I couldn't even tell where it had been.
6 weeks post-piercing, the right side of the barbell was knocked hard during sex. It developed a hypertrophic scar with the "bubble" inside the fistula. I used chamomile soaks and more tea tree oil and eventually it burst (with nasty brown goo leaking out both sides), only to form again. And again, building up an unpleasantly large ring of scar tissue. As soon as M. and I decided the piercing had healed enough to go without the tissue bracing it, I removed it, because I suspected it was putting a tiny bit of extra pressure on the jewelry and irritating the fistula. The "bubble" and soreness did go away, but the lumpy ring of scar tissue was still there, and didn't go away until I laid off the tea tree oil and began massaging it daily.
This piercing has definitely changed my relationship with my clit. I'm not shy about my genitals and I thought I knew them pretty well, but massaging my triangle daily has made me more familiar with my equipment and its sensations than I've ever been. It alters my perception of touch and pressure in ways that are hard to describe – new places are "hot spots" because of the way the barbell pushes against the underside of my clit. Using a vibrator is a little trickier than it used to be because I don't at all like the feeling of having my jewelry buzz when the vibe touches it.
Another thing I didn't expect was for my triangle to get sore whenever I have a period – I know now that some womens' piercings react to their menstrual cycles but at the time I had no idea. It gets tender and has random twinges. The first time it happened (I got my period within a week post-piercing) I thought something was seriously wrong; I was walking more bowlegged than I did when I left the piercing studio. Since then it's not so extreme and I've realized it's just stuff getting pissy down there. I expect I'll be in for a real treat when I eventually have pierced nipples (M., being a sadist, finds this an extremely entertaining idea).
A week ago I went in to Lucky Devil and Chuck changed my 12ga jewelry for 10ga. The piercing isn't completely healed, of course, but it had stretched visibly on its own – probably from all the back-and-forth pressure of my labia. We felt that larger gauge jewelry would help minimize the movement and make the piercing happier. The "stretch" (such as it was, really just the taper sliding through) was very easy, especially since Chuck is so amazingly lighthanded, and the new jewelry is a petite, yet chunky CBR that hugs my clit snugly. It seems like every jewelry change makes it prettier – I'm in love with this beautiful new ring and I keep whipping out the hand mirror for another look. The piercing is very happy.
I think this is the end of the story for my triangle. I expect it to continue healing uneventfully after this point. It's never going to be perfectly straight: it does a weird thing where it folds to point out away from my body when my legs are close together, but it goes back almost (not perfectly) straight when they're apart. It's straight vertically, it just migrated to tilt out away from my body. But thanks to Chuck's help and all my work, it's still a viable piercing – not only that, but it's beautiful, and I love it.