At A Glance Author Rachel Contact userlo8276@aol.com When A week ago Artist Josh Studio Exotica Location Orlando, Florida I've always been interested in piercings but, due to a couple of very anti-mod parents, I had to wait until I turned eighteen. So, exactly eleven days after my eighteenth birthday, three friends and I went to go get pierced. I was a little put off by the piercers somewhat evasive answers to my questions, but not so much that I didn't want to go through with it. I decided to get my right eyebrow, the piercing I had been considering for the longest. I had read a lot of experiences on BME, so I wasn't nervous. It bled a lot and was pretty swollen for the first hour or so, but the pain was minimal. I waited around for my friends to get pierced, paid, and left.
The next few weeks went fine, although I wasn't sure how I felt about the piercing. I thought the barbell (14g) was a little big. But I got used to it and even grew to love it. I couldn't even imagine how I would look without it.
But my enjoyment was short-lived. I noticed that the holes were growing closer together, one of the signs of migration. They were also jagged and, if I looked closely, I could almost see the bar through the skin. I decided to ignore it for a while (it wasn't that bad yet.) Then, last month, I woke up with a pimple-shaped bump on the top hole of the piercing. I looked in the mirror for a long time, trying to decide what I should do. Eventually, the signs of migration became too much for me to ignore, and I took the barbell out. I almost cried. During the next few days, I felt absolutely naked without it.
Because I go to college four and a half hours away from home and don't have a car, I thought it would be a while before I could get it repierced. I ended up only having to wait about three weeks because some friends of mine who live in Orlando were going home.
I ended up calling two of the friends I had gotten pierced with before. We all agreed that our experience at the first piercing place had been unsatisfactory. One of my friends, who had done a lot of research, suggested Exotica. It had been voted the best piercing place in Orlando, so we felt we were in safe hands. I called to see how late they stayed open, because one of my friends was closing at work, and they said that they closed at midnight.
So, at about 7:30 on Saturday night, we headed over to Exotica. For some reason, I was feeling really nervous. I couldn't figure out why this was. We talked to Josh (one of the piercers) and told him what we wanted. He explained aftercare to us and we waited for him to set everything up. We looked through tattoo designs and at pictures of all the people they had pierced while we waited. I was still nervous, but the atmosphere was extremely friendly, so that helped to expel some of it.
Soon, Josh was ready for us. We all went into a back room and I decided to go first. I sat on a black chair/bed that reminded me of what they have in the doctor's office. Josh said something about the two most important things about getting pierced, but I can't remember them. I think one of them was to breathe deeply. We joked around for a little bit before I was ready for him to do it. I decided on the left eyebrow this time. Josh explained that he didn't use clamps because it was less traumatic to the tissue. I was interested to feel the difference of being pierced with and without clamps. The truth is, it hurt. A lot more than I expected it too. But the pain was nowhere near unbearable. It was more like a burning, really. But it didn't bleed and it was less swollen than the my other eyebrow had been.
I looked in the mirror and liked the placement. Then I waited for my friends to get their piercings (one was getting both lobes and a tragus, and another was getting a rook.) We paid on our way out. I would have tipped Josh more, but I was out of money. He did a really great job. would recommend both Josh and Exotica to anyone in the Orlando area who wanted a piercing.
It's been two weeks since I got it done, and it's doing fine. It was hard to sleep on it for the first few days, but now I can sleep on that side of my face with absolutely no problem. There's a lot less lymph than there was the first time I got it done.
I would recommend both Josh and Exotica to anyone in the Orlando area who wanted a piercing.