Towards the latter part of last year I decided to stop smoking cigarettes. After deciding that acupuncture was purely placebo, I decided to get some permanent, and more meaningful "acupuncture" even if it didn't correspond with my meridians. I was also trying fasting as a stop smoking measure. All the research I had done also pointed towards it being beneficial to healing, or at least not harmful.
At A Glance Author Ryan Contact Ryan@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist Renee Studio A1 Tattoo Co. Location Gladstone, MO After looking at experiences and talking to the few people in my area with piercings that looked like they were done by someone who knew what they were doing, I decided to give A1 a call. After talking to Renee for 10 seconds on the phone, I was already at ease enough with her to drive the forty minutes up to the shop.
For the first time ever I set foot in a studio. I have to say that people playing Scrabble was not what I expected. The tattoo artist working on some young woman's lower back looked at me with a puzzled expression (as a soon to be teacher and scout-leader, I maintain a pretty conservative disguise) and asked what I needed. I told them that I heard it was the best place in town to get pierced. A woman jumped up from her double word score and said that it most definitely was.
Cutting to the chase: after filling out the proper paperwork, and asking all the standard questions of her, Renee led me back to a little room with one of those semi-cushioned doctor's table in it. The room smelled like a doctors office. After having a seat on the table, she gave me the lowdown on everything that was about to happen, she showed me the needle, the septum retainer, and explained the disinfectants she was about to swab me with. Though many consider him outdated, seeing a certificate from the Fakir's Piercer's Initiative definitely comforted any lingering fears I had.
She had me lie down, slide my head off the end of the table and into her lap. She handed me a tissue to wipe my eyes with, explaining that they were almost guaranteed to water. After marking things out and playing with my nose for a bit, she asked if I was ready and I replied affirmative. She placed the needle against the spot she had made with gentian violet and had me take a deep breath, on the exhalation she slipped the needle through. I felt a severe pinch, but nothing half as bad as I was expecting. The rush though was incredible, somewhere between first kiss and bungee jumping. Renee had me stay on my back for a minute or so to make sure I wasn't going to black out on her. Upon sitting up, she said to me "Congratulations, you are now pierced-there's no going back now" which filled me with excitement. She also informed me that if I can handle a septum piercing I can probably get anything pierced without issue.
She explained aftercare, which consisted of saline soaks with off the shelf saline solution for contact lenses, washing my hands with antibacterial soap before touching it, and using a moistened q tip to swap crusties off, aside from instructing me to wash the piercing with Satin or Provon everything seemed to be in order with APP guidelines, but given the level of comfort she gave me, and the sterile procedure she followed, I can let slightly archaic aftercare slide, and I have a feeling that from the tone of her voice, it may have been the studio's guideline and not hers.
The next few days my septum was a bit sore, but a little Ibuprofen solved that. Day three was the absolute worst but it was manageable. Since the new hole in my nose was to commemorate my last day as a slave to nicotine, and I was also fasting, the pain may be more attributed to my body screaming for food and a smoke, though I've heard other piercees say that it can take a few days for soreness to settle in.
I used Blairex Wound Wash to knock the crusties off at work as I have sawdust, soap, and nasty water flying into my face as I refinish decks when I'm not in class. I wore a paper mask per a discussion I had with the piercer on the issue, but despite the mask, my paranoia got the better of me, and I gently washed it after finishing every job for a week or so.
Months later, it's straight, feeling good, and looking very sexy, if a bit dainty on my *snicker* manly *snort* face. After deciding that it was healed and loose enough to stretch, I went in to another very reputable shop to have it stretched from 14g to 12g, but that's another experience.