This is the story of my Vertical Bridge. So I had just made this big procclaimation to Orbax about how I wasnt going to have anymore facial piercings. Or many more piercings in general. And then....I went to work. Strange things can happen when you work at a Tattoo & Piercing Parlour...

I work for Joan at Stigmata. On a pretty random at work, I was flipping through her piercing portfolio and started humming and hawing over a picture of a vertical bridge she had done. The picture is of a little punk boy with also with a septum, (and a horizontal bridge, too). So I try to picture what it would look like on my face, with my septum. I decide that it would look a lot cuter on me, than on the guy in her book. (Its true!) Im thinking to myself: "Self: that is a pretty cute piercing. Aesthetically pleasing, not very common, and my piercer kicks ass..." I know that I dont want my eyebrows pierced, and I dont want to muck around with oral piercings, and that one hole in my nose is enough for now...but I hadnt even considered a vertical bridge. And now, Im doing the "I want to be pierced dance". So I ask Joan if she has any jewelry for it, and sure enough she does. The jewelry is a custom "L" shaped surface bar that used to be in shannons face. Funny where jewelry can end up: sometimes I think my jewelry has a life of its own, well apart from me. Its a pretty barbell: (although I call kitten skulls "cute" so this is may be a slanted opinion)....the jewelry has a nice purple titanium bottom ball. I think its swell. So I toss the jewlery into the ultrasonic, and then into the autoclave. Joan & I continue closing the shop. When work-related tasks are complete we stroll into the piercing room. Joan figures out placement, I check my dots in the mirror...all marks are finalized and I lay down on the piercing table. this is the classic moment where my rational brain kicks in and says: "what the fuck are you doing?". I quiet it down and start to relax. I take some nice slow breaths and do a little reiki on myself. (Im a Second Level, Traditional Practioner). I feel VERY comfortable having Joan pierce me. For starters, I know first hand that we are clean: that the 'clave is tested regularly, that every employee is schooled in the lessons of cross-contamination, needles are immediatley tossed into biohazard containers after use, and are never seen or heard from again...etc., etc. AND because Joan is a highly skilled piercer. I trust her completley. So there I am laying on the piercing table. My eyes are shut at this point, so the following information is audio and tactile info, and I may potentially miss something. To the best of my knowledge, this is how it went: Joan cleans off my forehead with iodine. Pats off the excess. She clamps my very flat little forehead. This feels very tight. I take my deep breath IN and OUT, needle goes through, jewelry follows, bead is attached. (joan does her follow throughs quick and smooth, just like it should be). AWESOME! I wish that I could have seen the blood, because apparently there was some, and it looked great. Joan used a needle slightly larger than the barbell, so the threading would tuck inside (and not chew my skin). The actual PIERCING part didnt feel like any other piercing Ive ever had. Because I didnt really feel it. It just felt like pressure: Like Joan was pushing on my forehead with her thumb. I was in AWE of how little I felt - and that it didnt hurt. I am a very happy girl. It hasnt hurt yet. (Except when Orbax hits when hes sleeping). It has healed beautifully - no pain, no puss, no fuss. Its only been a couple of weeks, and it certainly doesnt look fresh like I thought it would. I've been washing it with Spectro-Jel. And thats it. There has been very little discharge, and its easy to clean. It took a while to get used to where it was on my face, (with my eyes closed washin' mah face). But now face washing runs like clockwork again. I am very content with this piercing, and have had streams of compliments on it. From the ooohs and ahhhs of the little hardcore kids, to the average Joe and Josephine thinking that its "cool", to the shreiks of cheerleader wives at fancy dinner parties. Well the ladies that shreiked at me didnt like it, but I took it as a compliment of sorts, anyway. Ive been surpised at how well people have reacted to this piercing. When I got my septum done, I felt like people were treating me like a barnyard animal, but this is totally different. My septum isnt usually described as being "PRETTY", but this vertical bridge certainly has. Ive gotten compliements out of even the most straight laced folk. And I feel like some crazy anime babe when I get all dolled up and go out now. Adds a little sumpthin extra special to the mix.
this piercing has been a smashing success.