At A Glance
Author	anonymous
Contact	anonymous@bme.anon
When	It just happened

This is a story about my 3rd piercing, my septum.

I had wanted it done for a while but something always came up, I got sick, or couldn't spare the money or last minute plans forced me to wait.

Finally, my friend and my boyfriend and I picked a day and made appointments to get piercings done together at a local shop that we all had been to before and trusted.

We all went out to lunch before hand and my friend's boyfriend also came along for moral support.

Soon it was time for our appointments so we walked to the piercing shop. I had asked to go first because for me, it's easier that way! Seeing other people getting piercings makes me more nervous for my turn!

We greeted our friends who work at the shop and after chatting for a bit they handed us our paperwork to fill out. My boyfriend already had our jewelry picked out; we had brought our choices in the day before to go in the autoclave. I was just going with a simple retainer so the jewelry would be out of the way while healing. It seemed like the best choice since I'm a dancer and felt the jewelry might be in the way while healing. I helped my friend picked out the perfect nose stud for her. We paid for our piercings, and then we sat down with some cinnamon tea and tattoo art books and waited for our piercer, who was running behind schedule, but it wasn't too long before he called us all into the peircing room.

Since I was first, I hoped up on the table and he said he was going to feel my septum for my sweet spot. He felt around for a second before declaring I had the easiest septum in the world to pierce! He said if I ever wanted to stretch my septum higher then a 14 gauge it would be really easy for me to do so and I was happy to hear that all though I previously hadn't given to much thought to stretching it.

He then asked how much I liked the smell of band-aids and before I could reply, he stuck a bunch of cold liquid up my nose - which did indeed smell like band-aids! He cleaned out my nose then began to mark where the piercing would go. He drew dots on either side and a line under to make sure it was all lined up properly. He had me take a look in a mirror and it was perfect.

Then he had me lie down and take several deep breaths before he stuck the needle through. It did sting a little but it was really fast and really not bad at all. A few tears rolled down my face, but he warned me that would happen. I looked down as he grabbed the jewelry and saw the needle sticking out of my nose and had to laugh a little! Before I knew it, the jewelry was in, no fuss, no pain. I was done!

The piercer took a look and said the piercing was a hair higher on one side but it would straighten out. He assured me. He seemed confidant about it and didn't offer to re-do it so I sat up and everyone said it looked great, so I walked to the mirror and took a look myself. I did notice a bit of crookedness but it wasn't bad and if he said it would heal straight I believed him.

The piercer cleaned everything up and prepaired the room because next up was my friend and her nostril, which went very smoothly. It was her 3rd time getting her nostril done because she kept having to take it out because of her jobs.

Then it was my boyfriend's turn, he was getting second holes in his earlobes, pierced a 4 gauge. OUCH! Yeah, he did well but I could tell it really hurt!

The piercer went over our aftercare instructions and we thanked him and left a tip.

My new piercing feels fine, it stings a bit now and then but it's very tolerable. I am really excited but the more and more I look at the slightly crooked piercing the more worried I get that it won't heal straight. I trust the piercer and the piercing shop, and they know I'm in there a lot so I doubt they would let me walk around with a piercing I am not happy with- but just to be safe, I emailed a friend who is also a piercer and asked him for advice. He said if one side is higher up on the other then it should straighten out soon and I could tape the jewelry to help aid the process while I'm sleeping. He said if it was further forward on one side then the other it may not heal straight and I should have it re-pierced. Luckily it's uneven on each side rather then too far forward so I'm gonna just wait and hope it heals straight and see what my piercer friend says when I have him check it over in a week!