I was 5 when I first got my lobes pierced, after whining about it since I could speak. At 14, my parents allowed me to get second holes in my lobes. After about a year, I took the second holes out, and totally forgot about them.
At A Glance Author sparrow When N/A Then, this year I decided I wanted more piercings. A lip piercing perhaps? Mom said yes, Dad said no, long argument about them not paying for me to go to college if I got it done resulted in my reluctant halt in pursuit of a lip ring. Nose ring? No go. Tragus, industrial? Of course not. Tattoo perhaps? I promised if they allowed me to get a tattoo I would never mention another piercing until I moved out of the house. They didn't really find this much of a deal.
So now to the point of my story. I started searching on BMEzine for a piercing that was somewhat different, but I would be able to preform on my own (since I'm not yet 18 yet) and my dad couldn't notice it. I'm a wimp with pain and needles, so any of the piercings I really liked I never would have been able to do myself without passing out. Until I saw an orbital. Hmm, I already had one hole, and I also had kind-of holes next to them. I put an earring in my second hole to see how far it would go. Not very far at all was the answer. It had quite closed up after two and a half years. After trying to just push different earrings through it for about an hour, my ear was red and swollen, so it seemed that wouldn't work.
It appeared I would have to repierce them myself! Not something I was looking forward to with scar tissue in the way. So, very unsafely, I heated up a needle with a huge BBQ lighter, poured some alcohol on some earrings and iced my lobes. I got a wedge of potato to put behind my ear to catch the needle, and got all set with a bright light and mirror. I figured it wouldn't be that hard for placement since I already had those half-holes right where I wanted them to be, so I didn't bother with a marker. I was pretty worried, because I've read about how horribly infected homemade piercings can get, so right before I pushed the needle through, I had one last idea; my mom used to pierce people all the time when she was in highschool, on the bathroom toilet during study halls, so maybe she would know a thing or two. I find my mom and tell her my predicament of my ears closing, and asked her if I should use a needle. "No need!" she exclaimed. "Just take a sturdy earring, hold your lobe taught and shove that sucker through. Don't even think about it just do it!"
Alright that's it! I thought. If it went wrong it was all in my mother's hands now. I took the studs, pulled my ear and just PUSHED those suckers through. With a resounding pop, and a tiiiny bit of blood, I had my lobes pierced again. Mildly unsanitary, but still. I cleaned them a couple times a day for about two weeks with either alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, or some ear antiseptic I found. On my next trip to the mall I picked up some CBRs, (lucky for me they fit perfectly) and managed after some trouble to get them into the holes. Ta-da! New orbitals. No one else in my school has them, and they're pretty sweet looking. All day I get kids coming up to saying how neat it is that I have one ring through both of them, they're quite an attention getter for such a tiny thing. They are a bit sore, probably due to the fact that the CBRs are a bit thicker than my usual earrings and I can't help but sleep on my side. Also I just can't stop playing with them in school when I'm bored, which I know I should stop since of bacteria and hands and such. The other day my right ear really ached, so I took the CBR out and really cleaned out the holes, got some of those nice crusties and such out (mmm), and popped it back in, now it's fine. I've only had them with the CBRs in them for about a week. I soak them a couple of times a day in hot water and salt and slide them around, and so far they're great! Pretty tame, but they'll have to do until I'm 18 and can go on my own to a real parlor to get things done! And for right now I love them.
NOTE: I don't reccommend piercing yourself, for obvious reasons. I felt I took the necessary precautions, and was too cheap to get them repierced since I already paid to get them done once, but it's always a better idea to just save up the money and get it done professionally. If it was anything more complicated than a lobe piercing, I certainly wouldn't have attempted to do it myself.