When I decided to have my septum pierced, I had previously had both nostrils pierced, my ears, and navel (a long time ago). I had really taken a liking to this piercing in my roommate, who had has hers for several years and assured me that her experience was altogether pleasant and minimally painful. Hers was placed high in her nose, and looked really feminine and cute on her, I thought.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When A year ago Artist Christy Studio Blue Devil Tattoo Location Tampa, FL I decided to go to Blue Devil in Ybor City, which has a good reputation, especially in terms of cleanliness. I had had my navel done there when I had first turned 18 and the guy who pierced me was really friendly and professional. I had also gone in with friends who had been tattooed or had their lobes stretched or whatever and so I had pretty good faith.
The girl who pierced me was really nice but, in retrospect, I should have paid closer attention to the subtle warnings she was giving me ("now, this is a really difficult piercing....a lot of people won't do it....it's a blind piercing....") and her visible nervousness. I really wasn't that nervous. Mostly I was excited, though i remember that my palms were sweaty. She marked my nose, and asked me what other piercings I had had before, and we talked about that as she felt around in my nose.
When I chose my jewelry, I asked them for a circular barbell so that I could have the option of hiding it for work. Nobody said anything to me about whether or not the external threading on the barbell I chose would make it harder to put in the new piercing. Apparently, though, that was the case.
I don't know why, but she didn't use a clamp. When the needle was pushed through, it hurt a little and my eyes watered, but not more than I had expected and I figured that was the worst of it. Oh, for shit's sake, it was NOT the worst of it. Christy fumbled around for what seemed like forever, pulling and scraping the piercing around, pacing around me and trying to seem calm. I had my eyes closed until she said to just stay still and she'd be right back. By now the pain was almost unbearable. My stomach felt extremely queasy. I opened my eyes to lock stares with my two terrified friends, mouth open and faces pale. The friend who had cheerfully encouraged the piercing looked particularly alarmed as Christy scuttled back over to me with a long taper in her gloved hands and mumbled something about how this would help, and then started to sopping up the blood that had apparently begun to puddle on my lips. I'm sure this made it even harder to navigate the jewelry throug hout the piercing. I felt so bad for the girl doing the work that I just sat there silently with my eyes tightly shut, clinching my teeth and gripping the end of the medical bed thing I was seated on. I was very very close to telling her to forget the whole thing, but I felt like I had endured so much pain at this point that I wanted something to show for it. I think, though, if this pulling, scraping, and poking had continued any longer I would have passed out or thrown up, or both. She finally got the 14 g. CBB through the hole and was going over the cleaning procedures (again! I guess she had forgotten that she'd already told me twice because she was almost as traumatized as I was by the whole mess.). I tried my hardest to hold onto my consciousness, and fought to urge to push her out of the way so that I might flee to the bathroom and puke in privacy. I had never endured so much pain for a modification before! My other piercings had been a breeze: a poke, a pr od, and it was over. But this one, because of the trouble the girl was having getting the jewelry all the way through (it was getting caught midway through my nose, and the external threading paired with the swelling and blood were NOT making matters any easier) was like 15 minutes of torture!
I managed not to pass out and to resist the urge to vomit, and I really did like the way the piercing looked on first glance. I even tipped the girl very generously because i felt like it was my fault for choosing a difficult piercing, the way she was stressing out the whole time.
The jewelry was really low, though. Even when I "hid" it by tucking it back into my nose, the metal was still quite visible. And when it was out, it hung really low near my lip. It wasn't what i had envisioned, and for the 4 months I had it, it was always quite tender and sore, and hung awkwardly close to my mouth, though the Circular barbell was small.
Eventually I took the damned thing out, and did my homework on finding a reputable piercer who felt comfortable doing my septum, and who would pierce with jewelry I had bought myself (a 14 G. 3/8 inch captive ball ring). I went to a place called Artistic Armour, where the gentleman doing the piercing was actually a registered nurse and a old veteran of the art of piercing. This time it went extremely smoothly: clamp, needle, jewelry, done. He was fast, efficient, and concise. My new piercing is very high, which is what I wanted. And it hasn't been sore at all since the second week.
In all fairness, I was shy with the first piercer. I didn't pay close enough attention or ask enough questions, and perhaps I wasn't clear on the placement I was envisioning (high, not low!). And i shouldn't have been so impatient to get the piercing on the day I wanted to get it....If I had been more intune to how nervous and uncomfortable Christy was, and more open to postponing the procedure, I could have escaped this terrible experience. I do really love this piercing. It's small enough and high enough up to look unobtrusive enough to wear with nostril screws, and it's definitely my favorite piercing of all. I love the way it looks, and am so accustomed and pleased by seeing it on my face that now it's like I was born with it. I definitely recommend it to those who have thought it over, but I can't stress enough that it is important to do your homework first. Make sure your piercer knows what he/she is doing! And make sure he/she wants to do it! It just goes to show , the amount of discomfort you will have to endure doesn't just depend on your own threshold for pain, because I am just one girl with two completely opposite experiences having my septum pierced.