Let me start this experience off by stating that I have Von Willebrand's Disease (or VWD for short). It's been mentioned briefly in some experiences I've read here, but for those of you who have never heard of it, let me tell you a little about it. It is a hereditary blood disease, similar to hemophilia. It's common, but unheard of, affecting 1 in 100 people, most of which have no idea they have it. This disease's severity can range from mild to very serious. I, obviously, have had VWD all my life, and I am one of the lucky ones not to have it very seriously. I've had blood test upon blood test, all of which have told me the obvious--that I have VWD, but there are different types, and no one can decide which one I have. VWD really isn't a bother, but it can be annoying. I bleed more than the average person, and I bruise easily and I bruise a lot. I also get a lot of bloody noses and stuff like that. This also gets to be a pain, because I'm female--if you catch my drift. Doctors have said that people with VWD should be tested before undergoing any procedures (surgery, dental work, etc.) but the testing is basically them giving you this medicine that helps your blood to clot. Waste of money, I say. A few members of my family also have VWD (obviously) and they all have had body modifications done, with similar problems to me. Some background for you, and then I will move on to my eyebrow experience, I swear. I am the proud owner of an industrial, my tongue, my nipples, my right nostril (retired), and now my eyebrow, plus a few gunned earlobes, and all of my piercings (besides the gunned ones) have bled a lot. My piercer knows me by now, and after I get another few holes poked, we usually sit and talk as he mops me up. This I have gotten used to, and my piercer also has gotten used to it because now he jokes about it.
At A Glance Author Meg Contact Meg@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Rod Studio Vanity Location IL
Ok, enough science, because I'm sure I've bored you all to tears by now. On to the fun stuff! With all the piercings I've got, they've been pretty spur of the moment. Now, before this makes me sound like a horrible person, I am madly in love with BME and I research every piercing that even remotely appeals to me (and sometimes, the ones that don't appeal to me as much) so whenever I get a piercing, or even the thought in my head, I read up on it completely. I had been playing around with the idea of getting my eyebrow pierced for a while now, and it had been almost a year since I had gotten my last piercing, so yes, the itch was definitely there! (you know the itch.) I justified spending the money by telling myself it was for getting really good grades in college, and it's Christmas, and Christmas is a time for giving (even giving to yourself.)
So, fast forward a bit. I sat my mom down and asked her how she felt about me getting my eyebrow done, and she said she hated the idea but there was nothing she could do to stop me. I agreed, but told her all I wanted was for her to know, so she wouldn't get mad and not talk to me for a week (as per my tongue piercing experience). In the end, I got her blessing. Score. Now all I needed to do was wait for my best friend to get home from college and we'd go. So I waited rather impatiently for about 4 hours for her to get home, and in the meantime, read up on eyebrow piercings and the experiences people have had. This didn't help my nerves whatsoever. Pain doesn't bother me, it's the problems can come up afterwards, and throwing in the VWD to the mixture , just for some extra fun. Finally, my friend got home and we were off to the studio. =)
So, we get to the studio, and there were these obnoxious guys there walking around while one of their friends was getting tattooed. The guy getting inked was yelling, and his friends were yelling, and this didn't help my nerves at all. So, finally I got to go upstairs and talk to Rod. He was just finishing up a tattoo on a girl, and the two guys that were with her were talking to me and my buddy while he finished.
Ahh, finally it was my turn! I went into the piercing room and hopped up on the bed and watched while Rod got his equipment ready. (man, that could sound so dirty..haha.) I requested that I got pierced with a curved barbell, because I know rings are easier to clean, but A) I don't like the way a ring looks. B) I work with kids. C) This minimized the chance I'd get it caught on something. So he measured my eyebrow and marked me up and got the barbell and stuff ready and we were set to go. (Please understand I am skipping the prepping and the gloves and all the steps that we are all so familiar with. But just because I skipped them doesn't mean they weren't there, they were.) So finally, he asks if I'm ready, and I take a deep breath and let it out and I feel the needle going through my eyebrow. Not much pain, which was good, and I felt the all-too familiar warm feeling of blood running down my face. He fumbles around with the barbell for a while and then curses.
My heart drops.
Here I am, with a needle in very close proximity to my eye, and I hear cursing. I start to get worried, and my friend just looks at me and laughs because I have this corked needle sitting in front of my eye. I laugh a bit because she was laughing, and this eases my nerves a bit. (that's why bringing a friend is good, haha) I find out that whoever had bagged the needles put a 16g in a 14g bag, and I was to be pierced again, only this time with a 14g. This was fine and I wasn't upset at anyone, because it only hurts for a little while, right?
So, here we go at round two. He pierces it, gets the barbell in, and starts mopping me up a bit more. The tattoo artist came by a little before Rod first pierced it, and so him and my friend were joking around saying Rod beat me up real bad. I just sat quietly, chuckling to myself, not wanting to move so Rod could get the bleeding to stop. It slows down, so I get a chance to finally see my brand new piercing. I get up..look in the mirror.......
First thought in my mind, "Oh my God...those are some big balls!"
So yes, I can now say I am the owner of two big balls. *big smile*
All of us joke around a little more, and then my friend and I go. Off to the bowling alley to show my mother. *gulp* As we were driving there, the bleeding started, and luckily, Rod gave me a few paper towels as a just-in-case. Kudos to Rod for thinking ahead. So, I drove with one hand on the wheel and the other holding this paper towel to my cheek as blood ran down my face. Needless to say, my mom was not too happy, her friend wouldn't look at me, and I was under strict orders to cover it up with my hair when I was around my grandma for Christmas. (she saw it and didn't say a word. Guess she's warming up to the idea that I'm not the devil, even if I have some piercings.)
Aftercare has been pretty simple. First few days, it bled off and on. I banged it a few times doing stupid things like rubbing my eye or taking off my shirt, but it seems to be doing very well. I cleaned it with Dial for the first two days, and now I'm trying the LITHA method, which is working very very well. I soak it in the morning to get the naughty little crusties off and try not to bump into it, which I'm not succeeding very well at. *sigh* It did bruise, it was just blue and swollen at first, but then it exploded into bruiseville, and all above my eye was bruised pretty dark for about two weeks.
Here I am, just a little past three weeks with the eyebrow, and I've heard all the jokes about my big balls and everything. I absolutely adore my eyebrow ring though, and this is the first piercing where I have had minimal problems and not as much bleeding after the first few days. My mom warmed up to it, and my dad wants to get his labret done now.
I guess people put advice at the end of their experiences, so here is the moral of the story, ladies and gentlemen. If you're looking to get your eyebrow pierced, I say...go for it. Watch out when you're rubbing your eyes, taking off your shirt, and wrestling with people. Don't worry about the pain, it doesn't hurt that bad (well...as bad as it should with a needle getting poked into your eyebrow, haha) I'm happy to say that VWD hasn't stopped me from getting body modifications, and if I can survive it, then so can you!
Feel free to email me with any questions or whatever, I love meeting new people! Oh and I put some links on the bottom if you wanted to check out my eyebrow ring.
Thanks for reading!
[meg]
The link below this brings you to a pic taken the day after I got it. Sorry it's a little far away, but if you look close, you can see a little bruising.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v604/Megzilla/Eyebrow.jpg
The link below this brings you to a pic taken a few days ago. I think there's still some mild bruising...or it's the light. *shrugs* It's all gone now though.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v604/Megzilla/cooleyebrow.jpg