It's been over a year since I've had my septum pierced, and was a bit over 4 months since I last stretched my septum. The past two stretches I had waited three months on the dot before going up in size, and it had been suitable, as there was no soreness, no pain, no crusting, just a larger hole between my nostrils. The extra month of healing before my current stretch was added when the twenty-first of April came around, and the tip of my nose still was sore when I pressed in on it; the same was true for underneath my septum. Disappointing, but necessary, I waited the extra month, and set up the appointment to have the gauge upped May 25, 2006.
At A Glance Author Skip Contact Skip@bme.anon IAM Skip3s When A week ago Artist Molly Studio Warrior Piercing Location Levittown, Bucks County, Pa The decision to go up to the next size didn't come as easy as the past few; I was quite happy at 6ga, I had grown much more comfortable with it then my previous smaller gauge sizes, and wasn't as anxious about increasing its size. The real "last straw" (as they say) occurred during my family's Easter celebration during which I performed what I told them was a party trick-passing a toothpick through the tunnel in my septum. With a simple "trick" I had completely disgusted my one aunt whom actually became interested and curious about why I had my septum pierced and was stretching it. Looks of puzzlement followed when I told her about the process of piercing and stretching, and that my original goal of being able to drink through a custom made crazy straw through my septum was no longer my main goal (but certainly a bonus) but that I was doing so based on comfort of the piercing and some unknown internal push to go larger. It was after this discussing I had decided to commit to going up to a 4ga.
Mid-day on the twenty-fifth of March I headed over to Warrior Piercing (where I had the original piercing and last three stretches done) and was pleasantly surprised to see Molly (who performed the original piercing and one of the stretches) behind the counter. She recognized me and joking asked "I've been up in your nose before haven't I?" after asking her for a 4ga single flared tunnel and a septum stretch. I was written up, paid, and taken back to the familiar chair which was lowered down and reclined.
The o-ring gave us trouble as it had the last time I was there; it took a good five minutes before I finally was able to slip the tight ring off of the unflared end of the tunnel. It always seems as though I have much better luck getting the o-ring off than the piercers – I'm guessing it's because they don't know how much play they have to work with concerning the tunnel and how far it can be twisted down and out of my nostril before it gets painful. The absence of the tunnel was an odd feeling, it felt as though a part of me was missing, it felt empty. Molly changed her gloves and lubed up the sterile 4ga taper; my habit is to not look at the taper until after the procedure to see just how much larger I've gotten compared to the last jewelry. The beginning to nearly three-quarters of the taper caused no pain at all, in fact, I didn't really feel it except for a strange coldness due to the room temperature steel. Molly asked if I was in any pain yet and smiled when I said no.
She pushed the taper further, I began to wince, she smiled, "I'm hurting you aren't I?" "That's what I paid you for." Reading others' experiences, there are mixed reactions to stretching and piercing of a septum; for me, it is always a mix of burning pain and soreness that I can usually feel down into my upper lip. This time was no different. As the taper was pushed through to near its end, the burning sensation increased. Molly stopped pushing it through and turned around to retrieve the tunnel I had just purchased. My eyes had begun to water (as they always do) and she yelled out in jest to the other woman who was working that day, "Aw, I made him cry." She let the taper sit in my septum at the 4ga end for about a minute before lining up the tunnel. At this point I anticipated the pain and winced a bit to hard causing the taper to move too far through my septum, in fact, it had nearly fallen out.
"You're not supposed to move!" she grabbed the taper as it slipped out through my septum. "I didn't move!" "You winced..." I sighed; the taper had to be reinserted. Re-lubed, and re-entering, it didn't hurt as much as the first insertion, but the burning pain which had disappeared came back in an instant as soon as the 4ga end of the taper passed through for the second time. Again, the tunnel was lined up, and the burning increased as the tunnel entered the freshly stretched pierce. My eyes watered a bit more was it was slid into place aided by a q-tip which was slid through the tunnel and butted to the end of the taper. It was done, except for the removal of the q-tip which got itself stuck in my nose for a miniscule amount of time. I waved off having the o-ring put onto the tunnel due to the extreme soreness and burning I was feeling. Even moving my nose caused increased pain, and chose to take the o-ring home so I could put it on at a later time.
It was a little over two days before the soreness was dull enough that I could put the o-ring onto the tunnel. Twisting the non-flared end down caused only a small amount of discomfort, but no burning. The rubber o-ring didn't want to cooperate with my and was a tight fit, but eventually worked onto the end, and slid on just past the edge, enough to keep me from worrying about it popping off.
At this point there is only pain when pressing in on the tip and underside of my septum. As I have been since my 8ga, I'll be wearing, most likely, decorative toothpicks off and on through it, and lightly pulling on it, encouraging minute stretching during the next few months in hopes of an easier transfer to a 2ga in about five to six months.
Currently, I am quite comfortable with the 4ga and in no rush to increase the size. When I first started this "project" I was focused on the fun I could have (specifically fitting a drinking straw through and making family and friends slightly sickened). However, as my stretching has progressed, I've become more focused on my personal comfort and inner desire to stretch larger and larger to a gauge I can be satisfied with. There is no real size goal anymore, just a personal adventure and challenge.