So I had arrived back in NJ from living in Louisiana for 4 months and it wasn't even a week later when my best friend convinced me to get my nose pierced. She had gotten hers done while I was living in Louisiana and when I finally got to see, I fell in love...
At A Glance Author Stephanie Contact Stephanie@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Nut Studio A1 Location Franklinville, NJ My first piercing were my ears at age 6 as a Birthday present. Since then, I had been hooked. Because my family doesn't like the sight of multiple piercings, I had to wait till I was 18 before I could finally go and get what I wanted myself. But, because of the job market I have to be careful with where I place my tattoos and piercings. Though I had always wanted a nose piercing, I didn't think that it would be a good idea with most jobs. It wasn't until a Saturday evening where my best friend convinced me to just "go for it" and get my nose pierced. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea at first because I didn't think my husband (who was deployed out in the Middle East, the reason why I was back in Jersey for some time) would approve of it. I ended up just deciding that I didn't care what he thought and would go for it. We had made plans to go to the studio she had went to the following weekend.
When the day finally arrived, I was so excited. My best friend and another friend went with me. My best friend was looking forward to seeing how I re-acted to the piercing more than anything. She claimed that it was the worst pain she has ever felt in her life and described it as "Needles ripping through my face." After filling out all the required paperwork and when the piercer was finally done prepping the room, I entered along with my friends. I sat down and my best friend tried to get a spot to where she could see it all happen. The piercer cleaned the inside and outside of my nose and then marked the spot. I nodded in improvement when he showed me the mark and he then clamped my nose. He told me to inhale and as he passed the needle through my nose he told me to exhale. I didn't think the pain was nearly as bad as my friend had described. To me, it just felt like a sharp stick in the nose and my eyes were watering due to my sinuses. Once the needle was out, I felt nothing but was bleeding. He kept cleaning it up but the blood just kept coming. Eventually he just gave me some q-tips, told me the bleeding should stop in 10 min., handed me a paper on how to care for the piercing and rang me up. It wasn't until the car ride home when my nose started to hurt, but that was due to the cold air. My best friend insists that she "has" to smoke and with the window being open and that cold January air, my nose hurt so bad. It got to the point to where I just wanted to take the ring out it hurt so bad. I told her she needed to toss the cigarette and shut the window. She didn't toss it, she finished it and shut the window and then opened it again 5 min. later for another smoke. The ride from the studio to my house was a good half hour or so.
When we arrived back in town, we went to my best friends house where she showed me how to clean it...clean it off with Dial and follow with Saline. Easy enough. I kept at the routine for a while when I noticed that I was getting the infamous "bump." My best friend had the bump and said that using Saline ridded her of it. I followed with Saline and eventually gave up after month of noticing that nothing was happening. I went to the local tattoo/piercing studio in my area and the piercer told me to do sea salt soaks. If that didn't clear it up, she told me to come back and she will figure something else out. After doing the sea salt soaks, nothing was happening. The bump just looked as if it got bigger. I went back to see the piercer and she took me to the back where she sat me down and took a piercing needle to the bump and attempted to drain it. She squeezed what she could out and said that it was looking better and to do a soak as soon as I got home. Again, I was bleeding like crazy. She said that because she poked holes in it, the salt should be able to get in there and dry it up...if that didn't help it, our last choice was to change the stud out to something that wasn't composed of nickel.
I followed through with the sea salt soaks and to my surprise, it went down! I was so excited to not have this huge bump on my nose and walk around feeling like everyone I talked to was starring at it. Though people claimed that they didn't even notice it till I pointed it out, I felt like I had a mountain on my face and would try to hide my face by looking down or putting my hands in front of my face when speaking to people. I defiantly feel a lot better now about my piercing and was so glad to have the wonderful, patient piercer help me out.