Over a year ago I had an appointment to get my septum pierced. While I was in the shop, just waiting for the piercer to finish on the customer before me, my mother called my cell phone. She had somehow figured out I had a tattoo and was not very pleased. I explained to my piercer that I had to cancel my appointment; after all, getting a new piercing when my mom was already pissed at me was a very bad idea. Not long after I told my mom how close I had come to getting my septum pierced. She was glad I didn't but told me she knew I'd end up getting it done sooner or later but that she would prefer I waited a while before doing it.
At A Glance Author Uberkitty Contact Uberkitty@bme.anon IAM Uberkitty When Three months ago Artist Mike Studio Tattoo Asylum Location Durham, NC I respected her wishes and waited nearly a year and a half. It that time I had obtained several other modifications but none of them were visible so my family accepted them. It was time for first visible piercing. I had saved up enough money in preparation and I waited for the chance to get out. Because I didn't have a car I relied on others to take me anywhere out busing range. I got a call from John one day telling me he could take me to Tattoo Asylum so I got ready and met him outside.
When we arrived I talked to the piercer, Mike. I ask if he would pierce my septum at 10 gauge and he told me he'd rather do it at 12 (for some reason every one of the 4 piercers I asked said this.) I agreed on using a 12 gauge circular barbell and began filling out the necessary forums. When I finished I was led downstairs to the piercing room.
I sat down in the piercing chair while Mike set things up. When he was done he changed gloves and cleaned out my nose with surgical scrub. The smell was unpleasant and made me slightly lightheaded. I was very happy when that was over. He then took several sterile toothpicks and explained he was going to use them to locate my sweet spot. After poking around for a while (and telling me I was very anatomically suited for a septum piercing) he then put a drop of purple dye on the end of one of the toothpicks and used it to mark both sides of my septum. He made sure the marks were even before preparing the jewelry and needle. Then the chair was laid back flat and I sat with my head slightly off the back of it so that my head titled back. Mike lined up the receiving tube on the right side and the needle on the left. I took a deep breath in (through my mouth) and slowly exhaled. My eyes watered a little bit as the needle pushed through. When Mike turned to get the jewelry I sat up and looked in the mirror. The needle through my septum actually looked really good and it was almost a shame it had to be changed to a circular barbell. Mike told me to lie back down so he could finish. I remember saying something about my eyes watering so he gave me a paper towel. As he inserted the jewelry there was a bit of tugging and it made my eyes water a lot, much more than the piercing itself did. When he finished tightening the balls I sat up again and wiped away the tears. Mike was a little concerned that I was moving around a little too much too quickly but I really was fine. Because I already had several piercings and seemed to know the detailed what was going on during the entire thing he just asked me what type of aftercare I usually used, I told him that I soaked new piercings in warm salt water twice a day, ¼ teaspoon sea salt to 8 oz of distilled water. He approved so he gave me some sea salt and the standard aftercare pamphlet. I paid, tipped, and left. < p> The piecing was *very slightly* crooked but it seemed to me it was no where near enough to warrant taking it out and repiercing it so I left it in. I tried cleaning it that night with sea salt and a q-tip but it seemed almost futile, the inside of your nose very difficult to clean. When I tried to sleep that night it weight of the piercing bothered me immensely and I never got to sleep, I even considered taking it out for a while before deciding I'd give it a chance. Within three days it no longer bothered me at night and I was able to sleep soundly again. Aftercare was still problematic though. By the fourth day I reverted to just dunking my entire nose in the salt water and then wiping the crusties away with a q-tip. I never did figure out a way to dunk my nose and *not* my mouth so I would have to come up to breath every few seconds. People who watched me do it said it was pretty comical.
It's been about three months now and I never had a problem with it, it even straighten out while healing (though this is not something you can count on so if yours is pierced crooked and it bothers you just take it out.) I'm going to let it heal several more months before attempting to stretch it. I'm glad that I had it done and at this point it doesn't even bother my mom even if I didn't wait as long as she would have liked before getting it done.