On the same day I had my bridge pierced, I got a fourteen gauge needle through my septum. Alas, the needle was a bit crooked as well as placed a bit too low for my liking. I asked Nomad, the piercer at my local headshop, what we could do to fix the problem, hoping he would say he would repierce the hole. His reply was that I should put a retainer in to straighten up the hole. He said that since the retainer would get pressure from inside the nose it would force the jewelry to migrate into a better position in just a few months.
At A Glance Author pigkillin'_headhunter Contact syck_dryfter@yahoo.com IAM pigkillin'_headhunter When Two years ago I wore a retainer in the hole, and soon found myself searching for employment, so I kept wearing the retainer. I wore it in job after job, occasionally turning it down for special occasions like concerts and parties, but mostly, I wore it up in an effort to change the jewelry tract.
Eventually, I found myself in my current situation: too crazy to maintain employment and consequently drawing a disability compensation. I was looking in the mirror shortly after receiving this news from my psychiatrist and decided it would be a great time to fix my septum hole. I didn't want to go any of the other piercers in the area since over half of the septum rings (and there were admittedly very few) I had seen done locally were as crooked as mine.
Also, I knew I eventually wanted a somewhat large septum–like ten millimeter or bigger. I decided to do the piercing at home with a six gauge needle and then taper to four gauge. I gathered up what I needed and autoclaved everything in one big pouch: receiving tube, six gauge needle, four gauge taper, four gauge tunnel. I took out my current retainer.
A few days later after dinner I set up the tray for the piercing and built up my nerve to go through with it. My wife was taking a shower in the master bath; our roommate, Tony, was watching Good Times in the living room. I was sneezing every time I touched that needles sharp tip to my septum. I must have sneezed six times, aborting the attempt each time. Finally, I was able to get the needle to start its way inside without a convulsion of expulsion.
I started the hole right at the very base of the cartilage because I knew I wanted it high up in the septum to aid any future stretching I would do. I situated so that the bevel faced down. I went slow like I always do on my own holes, dragging the whole experience out much longer than necessary. I guess that's just the sadomasochist inside me. I didn't put the receiving tube up to my septum until the needle began to poke its tip out of the other side. I was bleeding a good bit from both entrance and exit holes. I was also hurting more than on any piercing but my dydoes.
Finally, the bevel came to rest against the entrance hole. I figured one or two good shoves and the bevel would emerge on the other side. Two good shoves later and all I had to show for it was watery eyes, more blood, and a needle that appeared to be exactly where it was before the effort. I tried for about a half hour to get that damn bevel to slide through, but by that time my septum was just too sensitive–my nerve gone.
I knew I wasn't going to get this needle through. Not by myself. I called for my wife. "I need you to help me get this needle past the bevel, baby" I said while wiping some errant blood from my beard.
"I'll try," she said "but don't get mad if I hurt you more."
"Okay, just let me take a breath and shove it through when I exhale."
"I know how to do it," she said. She gloved up and took the receiving tube from me. "Breathe in." She pushed, but not hard enough.
My nose hurt bad but the bevel stopped about halfway through. "One more time, baby," I said. The second time worked like a charm. I hate bevels, especially the severe ones on big gauge needles.
The bleeding stopped once the needle was in there all the way. I corked the needle and put away the receiving tube. I was not looking forward to the next step, but was determined to go through with stretching the hole to four gauge that night. I lubed up the surgical stainless steel taper and the tunnel that was to follow it. I even remembered to check how the taper and tunnel fit together. I inserted the tip of the taper into the needle and used it to push the needle out. Once the needle was out I put my fingers on either side of the exit hole for support and began to push the taper through.
I won't say the taper slid in easily but it didn't give me much problem either. The pain was nothing compared to the bevel of the needle. Once I had the taper ninety percent through I held the tunnel up to the fat end and used it to push the taper through the rest of the way. It caught a little at the opening but then slide inside and all the way through.
A couple of days later I stretched to two gauge with the same method. Since then I have only stretched once–up to zero gauge, but I think I want it bigger.