At A Glance
Author	Jexxica
Contact	Jexxica@bme.anon
IAM	jexxica
When	A week ago
Artist	Luciano
Studio	Star
Location	Albuquerque

When a person has his/her septum pierced, I always find it intimidating and fascinating at the same time. I see them, and the first word that pops into my head is "hardcore". Some other facial piercings like eyebrows and labrets have come to be more or less accepted in mainstream culture, but septums still strike me as being for people who are more serious about mods. One time when my best friend Jaci and I were just getting into body mods I remember talking about how we wondered what we'd look like with facial piercings and I said something about a septum. She kind of paused...
and said...
"I don't think you'd look good with that. At all." And then we laughed and I agreed. My nose isn't very cute to begin with.

Which is why it's so odd that three years later on a November Friday it occurred to me suddenly that it was absolutely necessary that I get my septum pierced the very same day. For some reason I chose to have Luciano at Star do it. He's done a few of my piercings here and there but someone else does most of my work. I think I picked Luciano to do it sort of because I don't know him as well. That way if I had to be a big chicken about it or something, I wouldn't have to be embarrassed later.

Anyway, went to Star. When Luciano asked me what gauge I wanted, I realized I hadn't thought about that at all and I told him I had no idea. Recalling my sometime-past conversation with Jaci, I told him I wanted a retainer in it instead of visible jewelry. From there he helped me pick a 12 gauge piece.

Luciano's always really great about explaining things as he goes along. Until he told me, I was unaware that it's pretty standard to pierce septums a gauge above what size you want the jewelry. I guess it's kind of a high-tension piercing while it's healing, which can lead to it being a little bit crooked when it's healed unless you over-gauge.

As he cleaned the area, my eyes welled. That's when I first got a feel for how sensitive the area was. He took a minute to explain the sweet spot principle which unfortunately I can't reproduce.... but basically it just has to do with how the place that you want to pierce when you're doing a septum is the "sweet spot", where there's no cartilage. I guess everyone probably knew that but me. He asked me numerous times if I was ready and ok and everything and then I layed down with my head hanging a little bit off the edge of the table.

He rubbed the area in an up-and-down-ish circular motion, and it was rather odd having his fingers up my nose. Then he stuck the receiving tube into my left nostril. A deep breath in, and suddenly there was a 10 gauge needle going through my nose. He turned away from my field of vision to get the jewelry. "My eyes watered," I said stupidly as a tear rolled down my cheek and off into my ear. "Oh yeah," he said.

Then he put the retainer in and I must say, that's the first piercing I've ever had where the jewelry insertion felt just as bad as the actual piercing. I have to admit I scrunched my eyes together a little.

Then I sat up and he cleaned the blood. It bled more than some other piercings I've had done, but not more than I expected. We went through maybe four or five Q-Tips to stop it and then that was it. I bled a little more for the rest of the day, but only minimally.

It wound up coming out a bit crooked, which I didn't mind for lots of reasons. First, no one can see it anyway. Second, that's the inherent risk for a blind piercing. Third, I understand there's a chance it will straighten out during the healing process anyway. Fourth, I got it done so that I'd know how it felt, not so I could show it off.

Even though it's invisible, I'm glad I have it. I wiggle my nose at odd times to remind myself it's there. At first, it seemed as though things didn't smell the same after there was a piece of metal in my nose. I don't know if that was all in my head or what, but everything seems back to normal now. It is somewhat hard to clean, (Q-Tips and cotton balls are your friends) and beware, my retainer always wants to come out whenever I apply soap. Unlike, for example, an ear cartilage piercing, though, I haven't experienced any pain since the piercing. Just a little bit of soreness.

Anyway, here's a summary of the things I learned about because Luciano pierced my septum that I wouldn't know otherwise:
1) unlike some other piercings, there seems to be more choice available for what initial size you pierce at.
2) over-gauging!
3) the sweet spot thing
4) it's not the sort of pain that makes you jump.