My first ever piercing came at 13, when I decided to get my left labret pierced. It only took the one piercing to get me hooked. I planned all my future piercings that day, I would get a matching labret on the opposite side, 2 madonna piercings, and my septum.
At A Glance Author Sugar When Five years ago Studio In2Skin Location Manchester But one day, I found myself in a piercing studio with my best friend who wanted her left nipple pierced. I was there for support, but out of the blue I decided on getting my Scaffold/Industrial pierced. Although not initially a piercing I'd have even considered, I thought I may as well, seeing as I was desperate for another rush that I got the first time I was pierced, and I knew that another on my face would certainly get me into trouble.
After my little conversation with the piercer about the procedure, he sat me in the waiting room reading 'Bizarre' magazine, waiting for my turn to be pierced. Twenty minutes later, he came back and took me into the room. I was a little apprehensive as he seemed a little under the influence, but I wasn't really good at telling at the time.
He sat me on his piercing bed, and drew two parallel dots on my upper right ear to mark where he was going to pierce it and it took him about ten minutes to get it right. Then, another piercer came in and offered to hold my hand and control my breathing, making me feel not much different from a woman in labour. As the first needle went in, it felt like almost 3 minutes to go all the way through, and I felt my entire head turn red because of the pain. He then waited 5 minutes to put the second needle in, which was even worse because I just wanted the pain to be over.
By the time the second needle was in, my ear was really starting to hurt, with the added extra weight of two hefty needles in my ear.
The size of each piercing was 1.6mm, and the next part was to put the long bar in. This was probably one of the most painful parts, as the jewellery was rubbing against a fresh wound, which felt awfully raw.
As he slid it through, my eyes were watering, and my palms were sweating, but I had to tell myself that it'd all be over very, very soon.
The piercer was meant to give everyone who got pierced a lollipop afterwards to get their sugar levels up, but I guess he really liked me, as he gave me the entire box ! Haha ! Anyway, so he gave me the speech on how to take care of my new piercing, and an aftercare sheet with a bottle of Savlon antiseptic spray.
Trying to get to sleep that night was impossible, as the side I got pierced was the side I lie on, and with being in agony every second anyway, just nudging it slightly made me want to cry. I woke up the next morning with dried blood on both my ear and my pillow. But, I carried on cleaning it regularly, with extra special care.
Things were going okay for about a week, til disaster struck, and I saw a raised white bump on my ear, I went to my piercer the next day, asking what it was and he said a keloid, but after some research I realised it was hypertrophic scarring, I was told to put tea tree oil on it daily, but after three weeks of this, it didn't go, but increased in size. I went back to the piercer who said "well, it has to get worse before it get's better" so I went home and researched more.
That week, it turned into what I can only describe a small sack of puss, so, I got a paracetamol tablet, put a drop of water on it and crushed it into a paste, and put it on my keloids with a cotton bud.
Within a few weeks, they disappeared. Only occasionally did I have problems with it, such as my hair getting wrapped around the bar, which hurt like hell, otherwise it was okay!
A few years on, and now it's almost as though it is not there. I cant feel it, even when I am brushing my hair, or sleeping, I can move the bar, change it, clean it and not worry about a single thing. Theres no more pain, no more tears, and certainly no more keloids.
It was certainly worth everything I went through, I'd just suggest going to a piercer you trust if you were considering it, seeing as this one was far from competent, and not my regular piercer, if you're ever in the manchester area, I'd suggest going to Skinvasion in Afflecks Palace!