The first incarnation of my nostril piercing happened in May 2003. I was nearing the end of high school and needed to do something to celebrate being an adult and making my own decisions (blah blah blah) so I decided to get my nostril pierced at a tattoo/piercing studio in Ann Arbor called Lucky Monkey (My experience for that is still up on BME). The piercer, Mike, was really nice but the piercing was only so-so and the studio was a little scary/shady. There were several problems due to the placement and jewelry. The screw was very, very loose so every night it would come half-way out. The inside part of the jewelry would always be sticking out because there was no place for it catch inside my nostril and partly because the piercing was placed pretty low. Because of all the movement that was happening when I would sleep and from my constantly pushing the screw back in during the day I developed an ugly red cyst on one side of the piercing. Fortunately, looking through BME one day I found some possible remedies for it and tried hydrogen peroxide, and yay it worked. I would just dab a little on the cyst every day and it disappeared quickly. By the way, I got kind of lax on the cleaning so that could have contributed, too (I wasn't doing my sea salt soaks as religiously as I should have...). In the end, it fell out while I was sleeping one night while I was on vacation and I woke up to find the screw on the floor. And what a surprise: the hole had closed up. That piercing lasted a grand total of one month.
At A Glance Author Lisa Contact Lisa@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Andrea Studio Pangea Location Ann Arbor, Michigan Right after my nostril piercing failed on me, my nose started to feel lonely. I'd only had it for a month, but it felt weird not to have something there. I went for about a year and a half without going back to get it redone because it was just never the right time to do it and I was feeling squeamish about punching a hole through my face again (it hurt like a mother and bled A LOT). However, I finally got the nerve up in the beginning of October of 2004 after finding a new studio in Ann Arbor that I really liked and also after having had a really bad start to school (college sucks sometimes) so I wanted to do something for myself.
I've known about Pangea on State St. for a long time, from experiences on BME and from word of mouth. I've only ever heard good things about them and the piercer there, Andrea. The only drawback is that they're REALLY expensive, but I'd rather pay for the peace of mind that my piercing is going to be done well and safely. What really made me want to go was that a girl that I work with showed up one day with her nostril pierced, so of course I played 20 questions and found out all about it. She had gone to Pangea and I liked what she had to say and I liked how her piercing looked (exactly how I wanted mine to look). So I was determined to go to this place Pangea and to go soon. I wanted to go before I had the chance to change my mind. I called them up and made an appointment for a few days later, and promptly stopped thinking about it so I couldn't make myself not go. I needed to get this done.
The day came and I was starting to get nervous. As I was walking down to the studio, I got butterflies in my stomach. I kept telling myself that I shouldn't be this nervous, I mean, come on, I've had this done before and I know what to expect. I walked into the studio and liked it from first impression. It was clean, professional, and there wasn't loud scary music. It looked like a business.
Andrea showed me my screw options and I decided on just a regular steel ball – it seemed the most hygienic option with a minimum number of places for bacteria to hide. She took me into a separate room and asked me if another person could watch (she said he was a guest piercer, I forget his name). I said I didn't mind. She sat me down and gave me the whole thing about sanitation and autoclaves and so on, showed me the spore strip thingies (I know, very scientific) and then marked my nose. I must have agonized about the placement for 20 minutes because my first nostril piercing was so low and not in a good place at all. It was pretty much directly in the center of my nostril. I didn't like it. This time around I wanted it to be in the more defined part of my nose so it looked like it belonged there. I finally just gave up and decided where the mark was was good enough. It looked OK to me.
She had me lie back on the table and before I knew it I had a receiving tube up my nose and a needle pushed through my skin. OW HOLY SHIT THAT HURT! I didn't remember it hurting that much! And I didn't remember the screw going in hurting that much either! I had told her before that I bled a lot the first time I had this done and no, I didn't lie, I bled right away. And my eye watered just as I remembered. She had to stand there for a while with her finger and gauze in my nose until it stopped bleeding. Laying there was the worst part because it was so painful all at once and then it was just like right after someone had punched you in the nose, like that residual pain. My first nostril piercing was very intense pain when the needle went through and then I didn't feel a thing. This hurt so much more.
When it finally stopped bleeding she let me see it in the mirror and I loved it instantly. I had made sure she knew how much I hated it when the screw part on the inside stuck out on my last one and she bent the screw very well, I couldn't even see it at all.
So, I walked back home very pleased with my new nose jewelry. Andrea had told me not to worry about cleaning it until the next day but I took a shower that night and cleaned it with Provon soap (eeeewww bloody boogers.....). Since then I've been doing daily Provon cleanings and sea salt soaks. Every once in a while I'll do a saline solution rinse if I feel like it needs it. Overall though, it's healing quite nicely and there aren't any crusties to speak of. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing, but it does make cleanings easier because I don't need to worry about soaking off dried crusty crustiness. Andrea told me to use little gauze pads to do sea salt soaks aka compresses but I've been taking a small cup and submerging my nose in it for as long as I can stand it and then blowing bubbles into it at the end. I don't think I really need to be blowing bubbles to make the soak any more thorough but it is quite fun to do anyway. I recommend it.
In the end, I'm SO glad I went to Pangea. The piercer, Andrea, is awesome and the shop is so nice and professional looking. Pangea is the best place to go in Ann Arbor, it's like a little hidden gem on State St.. Everyone always notices the Stairway to Heaven on State St. because it's so prominent but just go down a little ways and go up the stairs above Mr. Greek's Coney Island and you'll see it. You can visit their website at http://www.pangeapiercing.com.