After regularly surfing on the BME-site for a long time and looking at the piercing and tattoo pictures, I decided to give a little input back to BME.
At A Glance Author Steven Contact Steven@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Lucas Studio Pirate Piercing Location Turnhout, Belgium It's been 3 days now since I got my septum pierced at 3,2mm (which should be about 8ga for you non-metric people).
So last friday I had to visit my cousins wife at the hospital since she gave birth to a really beautiful daughter earlier that week. Coincedentally, my former sister-in-law was in the same hospital too, since she had a baby that same day! I paid them both a visit and it felt like I missed a busstop in life... I'm 27 now and it seems like I'm still the same 'kid' from 10 years ago, while everyone else is growing up. So far the prelude.
"Ah well", I thought: "Since I'm already in town, I might as well say hi to my friend Lucas. Maybe he can even give me a hand stretching my lobes a bit more?" Lucas, by the way, is a professional bodmod artist who I got acquainted with whilst playing in the same band some time ago. He has loads of experience and has worked in some well known shops in Belgium and has had the pleasure of working with and learning from some great artists! He has opened his own shop Pirate Piercing recently and on earlier occasions he has 'equipped' me with my venoms and a smiley. And of course he has answered all of my stupid piercing related questions (which are A LOT, trust me).
I had been thinking about getting my septum pierced earlier, since I like to see it on other people and because it's an easy to hide piercing, considering my desk job. I had talked about it with Lucas before and he advised me to get it in at 3,2mm or even 4mm, so I could easily wear a retainer straight away. The only thing holding me back was the excruciating pain I expected... Since I was feeling a bit down (see intro above), I was thinking I could use something to cheer me up. Then the decision kind of popped into my head and I thought: "Screw it, I AM getting my septum pierced!"
I got to Lucas' shop about 15 minutes after I got out of the hospital. I was immediately greeted by his gorgeous girlfriend Anna. She changes haircuts and haircolors (which are always a pleasure to the eyes) more often than I change clothes and I do consider my personal hygiene quite OK. Anyway, she asked what I'd like and I proudly announced to her I came to get a hole in my nose. She took a look into the back area where Lucas was drawing outlines on someones leg to cut out a pattern later on. She asked if he could hook me up after he was done drawing, so I wouldn't have to wait, since the cutting on the other guy would take up some time. "No problem", he said.
A few minutes later I sat on one of his piercingtable/chair-things with my head tilted a bit back and he was marking my nose with a pen. I had decided to get the piercing done at 3,2mm, because Lucas had a lovely black bullethead retainer that could make it practically unnoticeable to other people. "This is so gonna hurt...", I mumbled. "No it's not", Lucas said: "It's gonna be more OK than you imagine." After he was done with his markings, he took out some sterilized clamps and placed it in position. "Hell", I said: "I can feel the tiny teeth of those clamps stinging!" "Errm... These are clamps without little teeth...", Lucas replied. Then some other less appropriate words came to my mind. Lucas got the needle out. "Breath in... breath out", and before I was even breathing out the needle went in. Considering the pressure of the clamps, the needle felt like a walk in the park. When it was through, Lucas removed the clamps and followed the needle through with the retainer I choose. After popping the o-ring on there, I was almost ready to go.
I wiped away a tear or 2, which Lucas told me were quite normal when you get your septum pierced (and I was OK to blame it on that). After that he stretched my ears a bit more. I always like the stretching done by someone else, since it takes them only a few seconds and when I try to do it myself... Well let's say it takes a tad bit longer. Anyway, Lucas explained me the easiest way to keep my septumpiercing clean was with a q-tip with some spray on it (the spray is basically water with seasalt and a zest of chloride). So on the way out, I grabbed some of that spray and paid my debt to Anna.
After the ride home, I walked into the kitchen with a triumphant smile on my face. "So mom, how do you like my new septum piercing?" "What piercing?", she replied: "I don't see it?" "Perfect!", I thought.
Now it's about 3 days later and I've been cleaning it for about 3 times a day with that spray. I try to leave it alone and till I got home I haven't had any trouble with it. That's right, until I got home... After my first working day with my sparkling new septum piercing, I walk into the door where I'm greeted by my lovely labrador Zendor. When I bend over to say hi to him, he jumps right up and headbutts me right onto the nose... This actually hurt a lot more than getting the piercing itself! Immediately my nose started swelling on the inside... This wasn't too great, since I still had a 5 mile run on my schedule for the day. I decided to go running nevertheless. Luckily for me the swelling almost went away immediately when my lungs opened up so I could breath properly during excercising! When I got home and started stretching my legs, my nose started pounding again... But when my heartbeat got back down, I used the spray I got from Lucas' shop and now it feels quite OK. I imagine I won't feel a thing about it tomorrow after I wake up.
So, a short recap: no it didn't hurt, yes it's easy to hide, yes it seems to heal quickly and be careful with your pets! Furthermore, I can only advise you, that if you live nearby or if you're in the neighborhood and want to get pierced, definately give Lucas and Anna from Pirate Piercing a try!