For me, body modification is really just a personal thing which I do because as much as anything I just enjoy the experience of getting pierced/ tattooed/ cut. However, as a person working toward a professional job, I find myself very limited in terms of what I can realistically do and keep a professional appearance. Though a septum piercing certainly fits the ticket here, it honestly took me a while to warm up to. In retrospect, I can site three main reasons which clearly were keeping me from going through with it; 1. Could I flip it "up" right away so I could go to work? 2. How bad was it going to hurt? and 3. Is there really any way this is actually going to go in straight and not look ridiculous?
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Lil' Josh Studio Skinquake Location Bloomington, IN So it was on a Friday afternoon that I eventually made my way over to see my piercer, Lil' Josh. Even though I've had a couple of other piercing done by him, I was still very nervous about going through with this one. But I figured, hey, if it doesn't work, I'll just take it out and it won't be that big of a deal. However, I still found myself shaking as I filled out the paper work. He asked me what kind of jewelry I wanted and I said that my ideal would be a circular barbell that was small enough I could still flip it up. He had one that looked about right in a 16 gauge, but knowing how hard it is to find 16 gauge retainers I asked him to use a 14. He went off to get the ring cleaned and get setup and I stood there for several solid minutes psyching myself up about how bad I knew this was going to hurt. In retrospect, I have no idea why I thought this would hurt worse than my cartilage or genital piercings, but for some reason I was sure it would.
Eventually he brought me back and had me lay down on the table. He asked if I was nervous and I couldn't even lie, my knees were shaking. We made small talk while he took his time cleaning the area, and marking off the spot the ring would go, alternating back and forth between forceps and just eyeballing it. That's why I keep going back to Lil' Josh; because he's very meticulous in his work and very careful in terms of getting things just right before he jams a needle into your flesh plus he's really just a cool guy.
Finally he was ready to do the piercing; much to my surprise he got out a new pair of forceps just for septum piercings. I had never heard of these before and was thrilled to see them because I suddenly felt much more certain he's be able to get it straight and I relaxed. He told me to exhale slowly and I braced myself, however, I realized quickly that it wasn't really any more painful than any other piercing I've ever gotten. The pain was maybe a 3 1/2 on a 1-10 scale. Immediately I was overcome by that "ahhhh..." feeling I always get when a needle goes in. Putting in the jewelry was kind of tricky because of the blood. Apparently it bled a good bit and therefore he had to poke around a bit to find the hole, which probably was more uncomfortable than the when the needle went through. He had me sit up to put the second ball on because it was so small and he said he didn't want it to drop down my nose.
He asked me if I was okay, maybe because by that point I was overcome with a contented smile. I took a look at it in the mirror and was sooo happy. He got the piercing just right and perfectly straight, calming one of my greatest fears about the process. However, I was still afraid that it wouldn't flip up because it's so small. I asked my piercer if he thought I could just put a retainer in if it didn't go up, but he just assured me that it would, and I just resolved myself to see about it some other time. Later upon closer inspection I determined that the piercing is actually straighter than my nose, which is really just a bit asymmetrical, but I'm still very pleased with it's straightness. Within probably 5 minutes it has also completely ceased to throb and turned to a very dull, almost unnoticeable kind of discomfort. I was surprised when he handed me some paper towels on the way out because I wasn't even aware that it was still bleeding.
By the time I got home it had stopped bleeding and even the dull nagging kind of feeling was almost gone. When I went to clean off the blood I decided to see if just out of curiosity it really would flip up, and sure enough less than an hour after I got it I was able to put it up and keep it up for most of the evening. Within 3 days it moved freely in my nose and was just barely sensitive to the touch. In terms of healing, appearance, and professional hidability, I really don't think this piercing could have gone any better. The look of septum piercings isn't for everyone, but if you think it might be for you then I say go for it, there's nothing to be afraid of.