At A Glance
Author	vivica
Contact	vivica@bme.anon
IAM	drowning_dolly
When	Two years ago
Artist	Adrian
Studio	Planet Three
Location	Savannah, GA

I had wanted my eyebrow pierced since I was about 15 years old. I always thought they were such beautiful piercings, so shiny and happy. Anyway, as the age-old story goes, my parents and I continuously fought about whether or not I could get it done. Back then, they gave me the "wait until you're 18" line. When I finally turned 18, and still really wanted the piercing, my folks still refused to budge; they actually threatened to take my car away, etc. if I got it done.

April 2002. My dad went out of town for a week, so I started pestering my mom about getting my eyebrow pierced. She finally broke down and admitted she thought it was a "cute idea", but my dad would flip shit when he saw it. At that point, I really didn't care. I was almost 19 years old at the time, and I was hell-bent on getting this damn piercing. I had waited long enough. My sister also thought I should get it done, so, with our mother's reluctant blessing, we headed down to Planet Three in Savannah, GA.

This was my first experience at Planet Three, and I have to say it was one of my best body mod experiences ever. I was nervous as hell, but I had made it this far. This was to be my first 'real' piercing. At that point, I only had each lobe done once, via the horrible piercing gun at the mall. Anyway, everyone at Planet Three was really nice. I told them what I wanted, filled out all the necessary paperwork, and met my piercer, Adrian. I waited while he got everything ready, sterilized and whatnot, and finally he called me into the piercing room. I hate to say it, but I was shaking at this point. I wasn't sure what to anticipate; what if I backed out at the last minute? what if I passed out? I refused to make an ass of myself. Adrian told me do some breathing exercises to calm down, and we sat there talked for a bit, obviously to take my mind off the fact that a 16g needle was going to be shoved through my eyebrow. I was so nervous; I could not shut up the entire time.

Finally, it was time to get down to business. He brought out this metal covered tray thing with all the sterilized equipment in it. I signed the card inside to affirm that everything had been sterilized. (think litmus paper type test) He marked the placement on my right eyebrow, and we came to a mutual agreement about how it would look. Now comes the fun part.

I decided to lay down for the piercing, since I was so nervous and I was afraid I would shake or make some sudden movement in the middle of the procedure. It was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It was a very quick pinch, and a tiny, nanosecond of discomfort putting the barbell in. I sat up, checked myself in the mirror, and couldn't stop grinning like an idiot for the rest of the day.

I was really proud of my new piercing. My mom and my sister really liked it, as did my friends. Then, my dad came home a few days later. He went ballistic when he saw me. We got into a huge argument about it; he told me how trashy it looked, I cried, and my sister took me out and got me drunk. Eventually, he got over it, but kept hoping that I wouldn't get anymore ideas for more piercings.

My eyebrow was a bitch during the healing process. I did my best not to touch it unless I was cleaning it, but so many people were coming up to me and touching it before I could tell them not to. People kept "forgetting" that I had it, so it got bumped a lot. It had its good days and lots of bad days, but I did the best I could with it, and it finally started to look normal.

About nine or ten months later, I noticed that it was starting to migrate out. Of course, naïve as I was, I didn't know at the time what was going on. It was getting irritated more and more, and I noticed the skin around the piercing was getting thinner. I was incredibly upset; I didn't want to lose this piercing, but I didn't want to walk around with a red, droopy one either. One day while I was at work, I noticed the barbell was slipping down, so I tried pushing it back into place; this usually worked. However, this time, the whole barbell came out. I was horrified. I ran to the bathroom and tried to put it back in, and that's when I realized it had been completely pushed out, leaving a nice little scar where my piercing used to be.

I went home that evening really upset, and decided to go back to Planet Three and get my left eyebrow done. I didn't think I looked right without the piercing. I told Adrian what happened, and he suggested he pierce the left brow a bit deeper. That wasn't such a comfortable experience. It didn't hurt all that much, but I could definitely feel it a lot more than the first piercing. He talked to me about jewelry migration, and told me what to look out for, and what to do if it starts to migrate. I was really hoping this one would be a keeper. When the bruising around my brow subsided (yes, it was that deep), it looked really great. But again, people kept bumping it. I got it caught on clothes. One time my sister accidentally got it caught on one of those safari hats that have the string around it. That is not a fun time, believe me. After only a few short months, it started to migrate. I got really frustrated with it, which I know didn't help it heal. Finally, I broke down and took it out; luckily this one didn't leave much of a scar.

Even though they were a pain in the ass to take care of, I really do miss my eyebrow piercings. I am still contemplating about getting it done one more time. Now that I'm a bit older and more experienced, I should be able to take much better care of it. Overall, if you can take care of it, and make sure that you or anyone else doesn't touch it, and you don't get it caught on anything, you should be fine. The pain is so miniscule, you don't even remember it once the jewelry is in. If you're thinking about getting it done, I say by all means, go for it. Just make sure you take care of it, and really listen to your piercer.