I have been enjoying BME for quite some time now without the benefits of a membership. I decided I was missing out. BME was so helpful to me as I planned out my last piercing that I just had to contribute. I learned so much from other people's experiences that I wanted to share my own. This is the second story I have shared.
At A Glance Author designer26 Contact designer26@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Elby Studio Captive Elements Location Blaine, MN I have been interested in piercings and tattoos for a while now and had my first mod done about 5 years ago when I pierced my eyebrow. Since then I have done my tongue, labret (bad experience which I will share another time), nipples, and 2 tattoos. My only other mod was a cartilage piercing on my left ear. I was cheap and stupid and had it pierced at the mall with a gun (VERY bad idea). The lady screwed it up majorly and I had to take it out within a couple days. Having not learned my lesson I went and had it repierced (slightly different location on my ear, different piercer, still with a gun) This piercing went a little better but my ear still didn't like it. It was HORRIBLY irritated for about a week or two. I decided it must not like the jewelry (your standard piercing gun post) and might do better with a CBR in it. I went into the bathroom and took out the post and tried to force in a CBR. This was very difficult for 2 reasons. The first being that the piercing was so new and you shouldn't try changing jewelry so soon. The second is because I was trying to put in a 16g CBR and piercing guns pierce a MUCH smaller hole. Long story short after much pain and blood I managed to get it in. It was irritated for a day or so but started really feel better shortly afterwards. It much preferred the new jewelry. That experience happened about 3 or 4 years ago. It healed wonderfully and I haven't had any problems out of it since.
Jump ahead to about a month ago. I had been longing for a new piercing and had decided I wanted to do something more with my ear. I had looked a lot at industrials and orbitals (had admired both of those piercings for years). I spent weeks on BME every day reading story of people that have gotten these piercing and looking at pictures and such. I decided on the orbital for now (still want to do the industrial on the other ear). I read lots of stories of people getting piercings and found the two types of methods. Either piercing both holes at once and connecting them right away, or allowing the holes to heal first and then connecting them later down the road. I then called several piercers in my area and asked them their preference. It seems as though the piercing community is pretty split on the issue.
I really didn't want to do it in two sessions cause I wanted to be able to enjoy my piercing right away, not have to wait for it to heal before connecting them. As I continued to look at placement of where I wanted it, it kept running into my current piercing. Thats when I came up with my idea. Why not utilize the current piercing as one of the holes for my orbital. This will let me put it where I want it and allow my to do it in one session without the complications that it can cause. I was so excited. I had a circular barbell (horseshoe) in my ear at the moment. I pried it open just a bit and managed to flip it around my ear so that the opening straddled my inner ear and made it almost like a fake orbital. This did two things. It let me get used to seeing the piercing in an orbital (to be certain I liked it). And more importantly it got my current piercing used to having the jewelry go in the opposite direction. Glad I did. It was rather irritated for a few days but soon started feeling better.
My girlfriend really wanted to be there when I did it but she is out of town at school so I had to wait for a weekend or something when we would be together. After a week or two the time came. We went to the studio to get her tattoo done (weren't able to at the time though, no open artist) and I decided I couldn't wait any longer. I needed a new piercing. I told the artist what I wanted and he said no problem. We had to modify the location of the new hole just a bit to accommodate the uniqueness of my ear. I was happy to adjust it a bit if it leads to a better end product and was happy to have his professional advice.
He explained what he was going to do, had my help pick the exact final location and proceeded with the piercing. Minor pain, comparable to any other piercing I have done. Nothing bad. I expected worse since it was going through cartilage. Next came inserting the jewelry. This was the part I was worried about. I had read so much about how much it hurt to connect the two piercings. It was NOTHING! So easy. I asked him afterwards and he said that using one existing healed piercing minimizes the pain dramatically. I was thrilled. Great finished product, and very minimal difficulty. It bled a little but nothing bad (I have never been much of a bleeder). I couldn't have been happier. I was so happy that I quickly paid for my piercing and left. So excited I forgot to tip. I felt like the BIGGEST ASS when I realized this. Don't worry I returned a few days later and gave him a tip. I felt so stupid.
Its been a month now and I couldn't be happier. It is healing well and I love the end result. I can't wait to get my next piercing done now.