I got my septum pierced right before Christmas of this past year. I had decided on the Friday before (Christmas was on a Tuesday) so I would have Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday for my piercing to heal before I had to return to work. I had a pretty important office job, and facial piercings were not allowed. I knew I would have to be able to hide my piercing by that Wednesday.
At A Glance Author Megan Leigh Contact meganleighjones@gmail.com When Three months ago Studio undisclosed Location Northern Louisiana I chose a shop in my hometown (I will be happy to give the name to anyone who wishes to email me from this area, but don't wish to disclose it publicly).
I went in and told the guy I wanted to have my septum pierced (for technicality's sake, I didn't want my actual septum pierced - rather the "sweet spot", but I digress) He seemed pretty impressed about it. There are a few people in this area that have them, but it's by far not one of the most common. I had never had any work done in this particular shop before, but I had a close friend who had all of her piercings done there and highly recommended it. Little did I know, they had a relatively new piercer. By the time I discovered that, I was committed. I am also a pretty good sport about piercings and knew he needed experience to improve, so told him to go ahead.
He went and got all the proper utinsels and came back. I asked him if it was goign to hurt and he - very honestly - told me that most people told him the worst part were the clamps (as if I don't hear that all the time) and they hurt like hell on this particular piercing. He got two different types of clamps out and examined my nose. He decided on the clamp that would least painful for me and cleaned my nose.
With my nose clean, and a nice audience (I had agreed to let them video tape me, under the agreement they would delete it if I cried, ha), he clamped my nose. The clamp wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected, and then he poked the needle through. I heard an awful popping noise, but the piercing wasn't much pain at all.
NOW is the not so great part.
When he put the ring in, the hole somehow closed on one side. He got a taper and tried to reopen the other side, but it was to no avail. By now, he is shaking and obviously getting nervous, and my nose is bleeding profusely. He seemed to be getting careless trying to reopen the hole and was starting to grab at my actual septum so I asked him to stop, I cleaned off my nose and face, he changed gloves and I told him it was no big deal just try again.
If I remember correctly he got a new needle and reclamped and basically repierced the hole. By then, my nose was bleeding and throbbing, BUT my septum piercing was complete. Of course, the ball took longer than anticipated and my piercer said I was the coolest person he had pierced, a "trooper" =).
I don't discredit the shop or the piercer, but I feel the experience was much more painful than it could have been. The original piercing of it was not painful, but getting the ring in was. I was pretty dizzy and shaken when I left, and I had dried blood everywhere. My nose bled off and on for the rest of the night. BUT on Tuesday i was able to change the ring. I DO NOT RECOMMEND DOING THAT! GO TO A PIERCER IF YOU NEED TO CHANGE YOUR JEWELRY IN ANY PIERCING PREMATURELY.
I had expected to flip my horseshoe ring up, but the opening between the balls was not large enough. My piercer used a 16g, which I am very happy with. However, I warn you - it might be difficult to find 16 septum rings. I had to use an eyebrow ring as a retainer until I could get a horseshoe ring with a small diameter and I used opening pliers to make the slit big enough that it could be flipped up.
Healing was easy as pie with this piercing (I Didn't expect that at all, as I had alot of trouble with my nostril piercing) I soaked all my jewelry in H2Ocean and I cleaned my piercing every day with my h2ocean and when I washed my face in the morning and at night I cleaned my piercing with antibacterial soap.
It's been two months and my septum is still sore if I touch it or push it, but it's nothing I notice unless I make a conscious effort to.
It's by far my favorite piercing, I think it looks fabulous - PLUS it is very easy to hide when necessary.
I'd recommend it to anyone!