In 1991 I was 16 years old and wanted a pierced nose desperately. Living in a small town and under 18 my options were limited. I had pierced a friend of mine's nose previously (What were we thinking???) and felt I was ready to do mine. I waited until my mom had gone to a movie, leaving me with plenty of time, and pierced my nose with a safety pin. I was an idiot, and this was EXTREMELY painful.
At A Glance Author Ellechim Contact Ellechim@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Brandy Studio All American Tattoo Location Spokane, WA When my mom came home she wasn't thrilled, but it was done. Surprisingly this piercing did quite well until I had to take it out for a play a couple of weeks later. I'd heard of clear retainers but had no way to get one, so I took my treasured piercing out and hoped for the best. When I tried to get it back in hours later,it had closed up almost entirely. There was pain and blood and I knew I'd have to go through the same thing the next night and the next - so I left it alone. It healed and the only hint of the former piercing is a small grey discoloration from my moronic use of sterling.
Fast forward 16 years and I am 32, married with a 7 year old daughter. I've had my nipples and navel pierced but felt a familiar longing whenever I saw an older woman with a nose piercing. One day at the grocery store I saw a woman who must have been 50, with a tiny glittery stud in her nose. Having recently started working from home and thus having no dress code to adhere to, I decided that the time had come again.
I made the appointment at All American Tattoo with Brandy, who had done my nipples previously and is an awesome woman and an awesome piercer.
I was SO nervous, and I realized I hadn't had anything to eat in about 6 hours. It was a bad combination, but I'm tough and I wasn't too worried.
Brandy had me hop up onto the padded piercing table and I let her know I was really nervous about the pain I might experience having cartilage pierced. My soft tissue piercings had all been virtually pain free. She was honest and assured me that there would be pain - but not severe. As she got her tools ready I caught site of the 20g needle and started to panic. I swear that thing looked like a Capri Sun straw to me. HUGE. In reality it is not huge, but I was starting to freak. We'd marked my nose and she inserted a metal tube into my nostril to prevent the needle from stabbing my septum as it passed through. My adrenaline really started to flow then. She told me to take a breath and at the moment I started to breathe out she pierced me. The jewelry was in, and before the pain even registered it was done. I felt something tickling my lip and it was blood - I hadn't expected so much blood. Brandy handed me a tissue & as I held the soaked crimson tissue up to check out the damage, a wave of dizziness, nausea and pain hit me - hard. I was instantly soaked with sweat and my ears were buzzing. She got me a cup of water and had me lay down. I was so embarrassed but I told her "I feel like I might faint!" She was extremely understanding and after about five minutes I was ready to go sit on the couch and chill. I spent the next hour there! I was really overwhelmed by my body's chemicals and low blood sugar. I got some Mike & Ikes and slowly ate them and drank my water. Meanwhile I was treated to watching a tattoo, watching a tongue piercing, and a hardware change. Brandy kept checking on me, bringing me water, offering me candy - basically being exactly what I needed.
After an hour I felt safe to drive, and headed home.
The pain was far stronger than I'd expected and from what I can gather from the experiences of others, my pain was out of the ordinary. I suspect my low blood sugar and panicky state exacerbated this, but it was bad enough, that if this piercing fails, I don't know that I'll reattempt.
I'm a month out now though and really happy with the results. So far healing has been very good, with no sign of infection or keloid. I'm holding my breath a little on that, since last night I ripped it out in my sleep and bled a little - but so far so good.
In terms of aftercare I'm a minimalist. I did sea salt soaks for the first 3 days or so, and just cleaned it in the shower and when I washed my face with regular soap. Because I sleep on my face, I wore a bandaid at night for the first couple of weeks for fear of ripping it out. I'm gonna go back to that tonight! I check my piercing inside every day with a mini mag light which works great for making sure that tissue is healthy and there are no signs of infection.
It looks SO CUTE. My husband and my dad both like it and every one who knows me has complimented me on it. I did get some clear retainers for if & when I need to travel for work, and I've had a blast buying all sorts of cute sparklies for my piercing once it's healed enough to change out regularly.
Every time I see it I smile and I look forward to being an old lady with her nose pierced!