Well I have been wanting my septum pierced ever since I entered the world of Body Modification. I always thought it looked very masculine on guys and very feminine on girls. So last Wednesday I decided I was going to get it done. I began saving up all my extra cash. Then on Thursday I drove over to Big Kahuna to discuss the piercing. I asked the piercer about having a retainer put in right after the piercing; he said it was do able and perfectly normal. The piercer said he did not have any retainers currently in though. He ordered me a twelve gauge black niobium retainer and told me to come back on Monday (today).
At A Glance Author Zac Contact Zac@bme.anon When It just happened Artist :( i forgot Studio Big Kahuna Location Boca Raton, Fl So I went back today at three o'clock to find that UPS has not shown up yet so me and my friends went out for lunch and returned an hour later to find that UPS still has not shown up. So we decided to just wait there for UPS to show up with my retainer. Well after thirty minutes of waiting UPS finally showed up. To our disdain what was shipped was not a twelve gauge black niobium retainer, but actually was a fourteen gauge stainless steel retainer. I told him I could not wait any longer and to just do it anyway with the retainer that was shipped.
So he autoclaved the new retainer. After he got the retainer out of the autoclave he sat me down in the dentist's chair. As I sat down I immediately clinged to my friend's hand. He then went over everything he was going to do (clean the spot he was going to pierce, put the clamp on so he got it straight, then finally pierce me. was what he basically said). Then he put on a new fresh pair of gloves, He first cleaned the spot w/ rubbing alcohol, which smelled so bad I began to taste it in my mouth. Then came the worst part, the clamping, he found the right spot and put the clamps on my nose. He let them hang there for a minute so he could make sure it was straight. That hurt more than anything else, so I said, "Come on guy this really hurts, like hurts a lot. Jesus guys I'm not freaking joking I have a large piece of heavy metal hanging from my septum." So he came close to me and put the needle right through the septum clamp and then through my septum. My eyes were wa tering like crazy and tears were running down my cheeks. I heard the needle pushing through my skin, but it was not half as bad as I expected. Then he put the retainer in (which was not that bad and had the right shape to it, as it should) and taught me how to flip it up into my nose. Finally he went over aftercare with me. He asked me if I was dizzy, light-headed, or nauseous in any way. I told him that I did not have any of those symptoms of possible fainting. I gratefully paid him the money and tipped him well (in my mind 15 dollars is quite a nice tip for only about 10 minutes of his time) and left the store with my newest piercing. On the way to the car my friends joked that I cried and I tried to explain to them that my eyes watered but I did not cry but they would not give up so I gave up.
Well I just finished my first cleaning/salt water soak and it does not hurt much, just a little stinging when I touch it. But the only problem was i could not remember how much salt to put in. I ran to my computer and checked the exceedingly helpful BME glossary where it told me the correct amount was a quarter teaspoon salt for every eight ounces of warm water. It has not bled at all, but I am not much of a bleeder anyway. It was very simple to flip it back down and up. I am very happy with my new piercing and next I hope to be getting a pair of horizontal eyebrow piercings. Even my roommate Jim, who is very against piercings, said it looked good on me.
People who fear that this might be painful I urge you that it is worth the few seconds of pain, that you will like how you look in the long run. If anyone give you problems just ignore them, if they do not like you because you have a pierced septum they are not worth your time anyway.
This is one of my favorite (out of my twenty two) piercings that I currently have. So I hope my experience was helpful to all of you out there in BME world and feel free to email me any of your questions.