At A Glance Author Jen Contact Jen@bme.anon IAM blackbird__fly When Six months ago Artist Colin Nichols Studio Big Brain Productions Location Omaha, NE After a long day of school, Dara (a friend I made in my short stories class through a mutual interest in body modification) and I often rewarded ourselves with a trip downtown to Big Brain Productions, either to get pierced, or just to hang out, talk with whomever wasn't busy, and look at jewelery. On this day Dara had big plans to get an anti-tragus piercing; I, on the other hand, had purposely brought little money with me so I wouldn't be tempted to get anything while I was still dealing with a pesky industrial and a very new orbital.
As usual, Smitty, Dara, and I chattered all through his setting up process, and somehow the topic landed on the possibility of me getting a facial piercing. Smitty was holding rings in various places, including my septum, and I had a look in the mirror, trying to decide if I liked it or not. The two of them were encouraging me to do it, but I decided that aside from the fact I couldn't pay for it at the moment, I wasn't sure I was ready to commit to a facial piercing just yet.
But once I went home, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I took a 14G cbr out of one of my earlobe piercings, and fixed it onto my septum. I also tested it on my nostril, remembering being 12-14 years old and wanting a nostril piercing so badly that I bought one of those magnetic earrings and wore it in my nose (I guess the idea that I might accidentally inhale it never occurred to me). I was still hmming and hahing over it, partially because the 14G ring looked enormous, so I took a couple of pictures to see what other people thought. I got the same basic response: "you could pull off the septum if you wanted to, but the nostril suits you perfectly." It was then that I realized that the reason I was having trouble deciding, and leaning more towards the septum wasn't because I liked it more, but because it was a 'less common' piercing than a nostril, which (for me anyway) is a pretty silly reason for getting a piercing. I had made my choice: my first facial piercing was going to be my right nostril.
On Saturday, November sixth of last year, Dara picked me up and we drove to Big Brain. Smitty wasn't in, but Colin said he could do the piercing. I reluctantly agreed – I had to get the piercing done that night, but I'm always wary of seeing a new hairdresser, doctor, or, in this case, piercer. But, Big Brain is an award-winning studio, and as such I assumed they could only have employed competent and knowledgeable artists. I relaxed as Colin marked my nose, and after I checked it out, he slid the clamps on. I can honestly say this was the worst part. I had never had clamps used on me before; my other piercings were all in my ears and done freehand. It didn't hurt at all, but having something sticking that far up your nose is very uncomfortable, like when you accidentally breathe in water while swimming (only without the burning). He took out a packaged needle, and I made sure it was a 16G – 18G makes me worry about the cheese-cutter effect, and 14G I thought would overwhelm my puny little head. I took a deep breath and bit my lip as Colin pushed the needle through.
The pain was minimal, much less intense than any cartilage piercing, I thought. But here was that burning feeling I was missing with the clamps. Putting the cbr in felt a bit prickly, like when you push a crustie through a healing piercing. My right eye watered a little, and Colin handed me a Kleenex to wipe off before putting the ball on the ring. He asked me, "Do you want the bead on the inside or outside?" I confirmed that I wanted it on the inside, and he turned it for me and told me he was all done. I thanked him, and when I went to pay he charged me only $20 (word got out around there that I was Canadian, and as such, I've never paid full price for a piercing). I tipped him five and Dara and I headed out to the car. We stopped at Subway for dinner, and I was acutely aware of my new piercing while I ate. It wasn't painful, just a little warm, but I could definitely notice it. I was so pleased with myself; I couldn't wait to show it off.
A couple of days later, though, my nose was still red and sore, and the ring felt much tighter than it had after the initial piercing. While looking in the mirror and moving the ring aside from its resting spot, I noticed a groove where the ring had been sitting. I deduced that this was not good, but I didn't know what I could do, since it was late and I had school in the morning; it would be at least twelve hours until I could get to Big Brain. I guessed that either the ring Colin used had been too small for my beak-like nose, or that the placement was just slightly too high. I tried to bend the ring into a shape that would better fit my nose with needle-nose pliers, but after an encounter with them scraping the crap out of the inside of my nose and making my eyes water profusely, I gave up and just popped the ball off and turned the open part to where the groove was. I hoped this would take some of the pressure off it (and I also hoped it wouldn't fall out while I was sleeping).
Much to my relief, in the morning the ring was still in, and after classes Dara drove me down to the studio. Smitty had a look at it, and said that he could change the shape of the ring a little to better fit my nose. It stung a little to have the cbr removed and put back into such a new piercing, but better than having my nose scraped up again, I thought. The ring did seem very noticeably misshapen at first, but it really wasn't that different and I got used to it quickly. It felt much better. I thanked him, and after that continued my routine of washing with warm water in the morning, and salt soaks in the evening.
Alas, about three months later, just when I was looking at it going, "Hey, I might have an easy piercing for once", that was when I saw it. Or, rather, my brother saw it (I was visiting home at the time): "Your nose piercing has a... sad," he said. It was true: it was The Dreaded Bump. I attributed it to being irritated after being knocked around at various parties, being hit with pillows, etc. But, this seemed to be nothing more than wishful thinking, because it only got bigger, even with religious cleaning and extra care not to bump it. After returning home, my boyfriend said, "I don't want you to take this the wrong way, because I really like your nose piercing, but... maybe you should take it out." By this time, The Bump had turned into a purplish-red, hideous, oozing monster, but I wasn't giving up yet. "No!" I hissed. "Myyyyyyy precioussssssss..." (Okay, not really, but still.) I picked up some tea tree oil, and while it worked wonders on the hypertrophic scarring on my industrial, the mess on my nostril didn't improve at all. It was like a recurring pimple – first showing up as a big red bump, then a nasty white thing, then it would drain pus and sometimes blood, and then it would scab over and shrink, tricking me into thinking it was healing, but as soon as the scab came off there it was again.
I learned this to be an encysted infection, and upon asking for advice about it, the most common response I got was "change it to a stud." But I'm a stubborn old mule, and I liked the look of the ring so much more, and I worried that if I changed it to a stud, I would just have difficulty with the ring again in the future. I was determined to fix this my way. Although there were times when The Bump got so ugly that I'd be close to tears in front of the mirror and could hardly bring myself to leave the house, I couldn't take out my piercing (though there were times when I wanted to) for risk of trapping the infection inside. Eventually I laid off the tea tree oil in exchange for lavender oil, which isn't as renowned, but I have heard it has healing properties, and is much less harsh. I don't want to jinx myself by saying it's getting better, but I will say that lately it has been much more subdued, with more time as a flat, reddish mark, and less as a swollen, pus-filled bubble. I can only hope for the best.
Despite nearly six months of it severely trying my patience, I love my nostril piercing, and I'm glad I chose it over a septum. Others love it too; in fact, it apparently suits me so well that some people took a long time before even realizing I hadn't always it. Any thoughts I had of taking it out have been quashed – I feel as though taking it out would be like giving up... I'm not going to sacrifice that immense feeling of accomplishment after conquering a troublesome piercing. And besides, I know (and I'm sure many of you can relate) that I wouldn't be myself anymore without it.