Other than my earlobes, I'd never had any kind of body piercing before, but I have a friend who is very familiar with the artist I went to, and I was confident in his abilities. I ended up getting 6 piercings that day. (I tend to do things a bit on the extreme side.) I got a 12G barbell in my hood, 12G barbell vertical nipple piercings, a 14G labret, a 14G monroe and a 14G bridge, or Erl piercing.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Aaron Studio Saint Tattoo Location Knoxville, TN The shop was very clean, 100 on the health inspection, and I can't even count how many times the piercer changed gloves during the procedure. I started with the hood. I figured after that it would be hard to chicken out on the other stuff. My piercer was extremely professional, and made me feel totally comfortable during the entire procedure. I promised myself I wouldn't jump when he did the piercing...I made a noble effort, but I scooted my butt back about a foot when he did it. Luckily he was quick, and was done before I had managed to flinch. The second the jewelry was in it felt fine, and a cool saline rinse felt great.
After that we moved onto the nipples. At this point my friend was allowed in to observe. I went for vertical, because I prefer to be a bit different, and I'm glad I did! They look fabulous! The piercer slanted them oh so slighty so instead of being straight vertical the bars match the slope of my breasts, which is quite flattering. Pain wise, the nipples were pretty minimal, (after the hood, I wasn't bothered a bit.) The procedure was super quick and again, once the jewelry was in there was no pain at all. (Actually, the jewelry going in was the best part, felt very smooth and cool.)
After that he did my labret, I had chosen to get cubic zirconia bezel set gemstones for my lip piercings. They're a bit larger than I ultimately hope to have, (about 2.5mm) but this was just 6 weeks ago, so the custom tips I've ordered are on the way. The labret hurt pretty bad, something akin to getting punched in the face...except with a needle. Partially my own fault because I opted to get my lip piercings approx 1/4" from my lip line, which seems to have a lot more tissue to punch through. It hurt, but only for a split moment, and then once again the cool jewelry and saline wash was applied and the pain was gone.
The monroe was also roughly 1/4" from my top lip, and also hurt quite a bit while being pierced, but a second later the jewelry was in and saline applied. Again, no more pain. I had them positioned assymetrically, and plan to have 1.5mm pink cubic zirconia as soon as my order gets in.
Luckily, all the barbells used were titanium made by Industrial Strength Body Jewelry, which makes a large selection of jeweled ends that can be mixed and matched, so I never have to change out the posts, just the tips.
Finally, it was time to do my bridge. I wasn't sure I was going to get this one when i first went into the shop, but I was convinced it would look great, and my friends agreed, so I went for it. I'm glad I did! Its easily my favorite piercing, and really didn't hurt at all compared to the others, which makes sense because it was just a bit of skin. I'm glad my piercer took his time marking this one out, because nothing could be much worse than a crooked bridge piercing. He marked it three or four times before he was satisfied, had me double check his handiwork, then placed the clamp just right before sliding in my new addition. The bridge was barely a pin-prick and then I was done!
I gratefully paid my piercer while he gave me the basic care instructions, warm sea-salt soaks and a sea-salt compress for the bridge for 5 min, twice daily. Don't touch with unclean hands, don't use soap, don't get make-up on it, don't drink alcohol unless you use a straw, rinse with NON-alcohol antiseptic mouth rinse after eating and drinking, etc, etc. I have been following the rules for 6 weeks now and everything seems to be doing great, I think I'll need a couple more weeks to heal, but no complications whatsoever. Just a few crusties around the edges that I gently wipe off after the soaks twice a day. The hood piercing seemed like it was healed from day one, never given me a bit of trouble.
Morale of the story, go to a professional with a clean shop and lots of experience, hopefully a personal reference or two and you'll not regret it! I would definitely do it all over in a heartbeat for the results I got. I cannot stress enough, follow the cleaning instructions religiously, it is worth the time and effort to make sure you take care of your investment!