OK, well. I was about 14 when I had decided that I wanted my septum pierced [pre-NY state law; this was before you had to be 16 or accompanied by a parent or guardian]. This would be my first piercing [aside from my ears - 6 in each], and I was so set on it. A few friends of mine had wanted to get pierced as well, so we all decided to go together. Nichole was getting her tongue, Jamie was also getting his septum, and dawn her nostril.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon Artist scary john / barbara Studio sunrise tattoo / artful ink Location bohemia, ny We pull up to the shop. I'm freaking out because I really didn't know what to expect, but we proceed anyway. Jamie insisted on getting pierced first, so we let him go ahead with it. John [the tattoo artist / piercer] gets everything ready, and he seems relatively clean...nothing seemed out of the ordinary at all. He sits Jamie down, and draws the dot inside his nostril. There was no cork, tube or anything of that nature, so I was a bit concerned, but didn't say anything. John proceeds to take out a clamp [which I had thought was only used on naval or tongue piercing] and locks it onto Jamie's septum. He struggles, and finally Jamie has his septum ring [although slightly crooked].
So next up is Nichole for her tongue piercing. Now, Nichole has a huge bottom lip, so this was fun. Again, John gets ready, and everything is clean; nothing out of the ordinary. But he has a hard time piercing, so he asks Jamie and I to hold Nichole's mouth open. This was weird now. It took him forever and a day, but he did it, and Nichole was so swollen, she couldn't even close her mouth. Not good. Lots of blood.
Dawn goes for her nostril, and that's over and done with in 2 minutes. So it's my turn. I sat in the chair, knowing that something wasn't going to go right. I just wanted the piercing so badly that I didn't pay attention. So John marks me, and proceeds to grab a clamp. Let me tell you, that clamp was so painful. I've never heard of using a clamp on a septum, but he assured me that it was fine [which I later on found out it wasn't standard practice]. So he draws the dot on [where it had seemed way too low, but he's the pro, you know?], and clamps me. He pierces me, but the edge of the clamp had torn the inside of my nose [which I still have a scar from], so I was bleeding everywhere. He proceeds to take a picture of me bloody, with the needle still in my nose. He had a hard time getting the jewelry through, and it was crooked!!! I was *so* not happy. The piercing itself wasn't all that painful, but afterwards, it hurt so badly.
Well, it healed slightly crooked, but not all that noticeable, so I just dealt with it. there was no infection, nothing. The only thing that struck me as strange [being that the piercing had always seemed kind of low] was that if I took it out, even if only for a day, it would shrink down and almost close up. Now out of everyone that I had known that had had their septum pierced, they could take it out for up to a year, with no closing or shrinking.
So 5 years later I get a cold. I take my septum out because it's just unbearable with all the congestion. It closes up after 3 days!!! I've had the piercing for 5 years, and it closes up after 3 days?? I was so upset that I decided to go into another shop to see if I could just get it stretched back open with a graduated needle. The piercer there tells me that not only was it crooked, but it was *way* too low and pierced through the cartilage, so that was why it was closing up every time I took it out. She couldn't even stretch it, so we decided to just pierce it the right way. She was very clean, professional, accurate and quick. She used a metal tube and a needle; no clamp. She did an excellent job, and it healed within 2 weeks. No infection, perfectly straight. It's been 3 years since I've had it re-pierced, and I had taken the piercing out altogether about a year and a half ago because I had just gotten bored with it, but to this day, because it was done correctly, I can still wear my horseshoe if I want to...
I suppose that when you're young, you don't really look too much into the artist, and I was stupid and hasty in my decision. I was fortunate that I didn't get any sort of infection, and that I found barbabra to fix everything for me. the scar [fortunately] is only on the inside of my nose, and isn't noticeable. Now I have 6 tattoos, and many more piercings. All of which have been researched.