I was offered by a friend in school to a piercing of choice a couple years ago and I had always wanted a septum piercing so a septum piercing was what I decided on. We went to the piercing and tattoo studio and the piercing procedure went pretty easily: she eye-balled, marked, clamped, and pushed the needle through the septum flesh just under the cartilage at the 3 count; I did not even realize the piercing procedure was done the piercing was so painless. I was very stoked. She put the 16 g curved barbell in the septum hole she made and I was done... I must admit though that the piercing procedure I felt some strange feelings kind of like low level shock or euphoria.. (which weren't by the way entirely unpleasant) I cleaned the new piercing 2 times daily as told with bactine; which was great because the bactine I had gotten had a numbing agent. There was some soreness of the surrounding area of the pierced septum but the rawness healed pretty quickly. I had a couple of pus-filled infections (due to the piercing being in an area of the bod known for bacteria buildups and that it was a metal piercing and quite cold outside, also I had to take out the piercing for a couple days once while working and it hurt putting it back in after it had shrank a bit but the septum hole had a little pus after that)infections which were however easily gotten rid of after removing the piercing and cleaning it out with soap and squeezing out the pus until it was clean.
At A Glance Author 1m4n1 Contact 1m4n1@bme.anon IAM 1m4n1 When It just happened Artist Woman i forgot her name! Studio the only shop in quincy, which has moved since Location Quincy, North California About a year after I got the septum piercing I got a job where I needed to conceal the face piercing so I got a hidden septum piercing retainer kicked down from a friend. I had not realized at the time that the septum piercing retainer was a 14 gauge, the next larger size from the 16 gauge piercing I had. I popped the septum retainer through the septum hole with a little resistance and it stung a bit, there was a little blood (like barely a wipe of blood) and I realized that I had self stretched the piercing. I had been told previously that it wasn't a good idea to stretch a septum piercing by friends and stuff, but self stretching it I got the impetus and the experience to do just that, since it was so easy to stretch.
I stretched the septum to a 12 gauge with a notched out tapered claw a couple weeks after going to 14 gauge and there was no pain with that stretching. I stretched the septum again later that summer (like a month later) with a carved bone claw piece i picked up at a music festival market, stretching the septum piercing from a 12 gauge to a 10 gauge. I got a tapered piercing about 3 months later and exchanged the 10 gauge claw piercing for the 8 gauge stainless steel tapered claw.
After that i got another job where I had to conceal the face piercings. One day I had lost the septum piercing retainer I was using and I had to use some ingenuity and shoved a coffee straw in the septum hole. The straw was a half size bigger than the 8g piercing I was working with and at the end of the day i accidentally pushed thru a 6 gauge inside-out glass spiral that i was holding on to. Cool!!
I waited around 6 months and i got a 4 gauge tapered horseshoe type piercing with rubber bands and shoved it thru slowly over the next 2 days. This part hurt a lot.. I had to sleep for 2 days. But I had a 4 gauge septum piercing and I was stoked.
I waited another 2-3 months after going from 6 gauge to 4g and I put one of the crochet hook rods I use through the 4 gauge septum hole I had. It stung a bit and I left it in for a couple days and took it out going back to the smaller gauge (4) while I waited for the 2 gauge jewelry I ordered to come in the mail. Just before the jewelry arrived I put the crochet rod back in the septum piercing, there was a bit of discomfort but it quickly faded. I took the rod out and wrapped a few layers of scotch tape around it and put back in the hole.. I repeated this process a couple days later, and the day after that. The 2 gauge acrylic piercing came in the mail that evening and I had no problem pushing it in. That was yesterday and I think I'll wait a month to stretch again. :)