At A Glance
Author	Little Miki Urine
Contact	freeicecreamday2@yahoo.com
When	A month ago
Artist	Myself
Studio	My bathroom
Location	Illinois (Scummiest state in the US)

I'd like to start out by saying that my piercing skills are far from perfected. But, having said that, I have never felt that the fruits of my piercing labors have ever been less than perfection. I am very proud of the pierced septum that was the result of my crappy piercing attempt.

I am quite a solitary person with few friends.. I like to do things independantly, thus my piercing preference.With each stab of the needle, I grow as a person. I become enlightened, and more experienced as a self-piercer. My piercings come from myself, from within.... And this makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.Trust is a big issue; I've had a few piercing experiences that I depended on someone else to do, and those didn't turn out so well, thus giving me an overall bad feeling about depending on another person. By piercing myself, I don't have to worry about trusting someone else, which is good. I already trust myself plenty. Granted, it's not the safest or smartest approach, but I am content with it being this way.

For the procedure, I used a 12 gauge hollow needle and a surgical stainless steel circular barbell of the same size.

The whole process wasn't exactly quick and painless. See, when it comes to piercing, I never have the will power to do the job fast. It always takes me a long time to push the needle completely through. I believe that it's a subconscious way to decrease the shock of the whole piercing experience, but I don't know for sure.

Anyway, after I ate lunch and drank lots of juice to keep my blood sugar up, I set up my bathroom/piercing studio to prepare for the event that was to take place.. I washed the countertop, covered it with a clean towel, and then covered that with paper towels. After gathering my jewelry and needle, I clipped and cleaned under my fingernails, scrubbed my hands and arms with antibacterial soap, and swabbed out my nose.

I sat down, took a breath, and pushed the needle in. While that first part was easy, it took me.... two hours and fifty-two minutes to complete my piercing. Yes, that is quite embarrassing. It became an issue pushing the needle through as my nose had had enough time to swell, but I eventually got the needle through, and then the jewelry, which I lubed up with antibacterial soap to ease insertion. The circular barbell was externally threaded, but I kept the threaded part inside the end of the needle so it wasn't an issue. It didn't really hurt much, but the pain was definitely noticeable. There are many people that are concerned about it being so painful, but if you pierce it correctly, pain won't be much of an issue.I happened to have accidently pierced it at an angle, so it goes a little farther back on the right side, but it's not a big deal.

For aftercare, I used antibacterial soap twice a day (once at night and once in the morning) and soaked my nose in sea salt water once a day for the first three days. After the first three days, I cut it down to just washing with antibacterial soap when I woke up in the morning and sea salt soaking in the afternoon/evening.

Healing was a breeze. It was very sensitive and swollen for the first few days, but it wasn't unbearable. The worst moments were when I'd reach up to rub my eyes and push the ring back or when I'd uncarefully try to drink from a soda can and hit the ring against the pop top. When the pain was a bit of a problem, I simply took an ibuprofen or soaked my nose in warm (seasalt) water. By the fourth day, I didn't need to take any more ibuprofen for my septum and I noticed that I barely felt it when I would accidently smack my nose or ring on something. The swelling had gone down considerably, and the circular barbell could be easily rotated in the piercing with minimal pain.

Some advice: Keep cotton swabs handy. You won't be able to blow your nose properly for a while.Oh, and I think that it's best to try to wait until cold/allergy season is over if that's an issue where you live. Dealing with constant sneezing is not fun with a fresh piercing in the nose area. That's what contributed to me taking out my septum ring the first time I got it pierced.

I love my septum piercing dearly. It makes me feel independant and strong. Everytime I look at the jewelry hanging off of my septum, it reminds me of how strong I was to have put that jewelry in on my own.

While I feel that my method of getting pierced is the right one for me, I have to express that nothing beats going to a professional studio. There, you will be pierced by someone that knows what they are doing in a clean, sterile environment. Let's face it: A grimey bathroom is NOT the safest place to undergo a piercing and I am lucky that nothing seriously bad has happened due to my irresponsible choice.

It could happen to you, yo.

-Miki