I have been doing my own piercings for some time now and have a good few friends who put enough faith in me to pierce them. It's all been a learning experience and until this episode I had encountered no problems.
At A Glance Author Ezzy Contact ericachambers30@hotmail.co.uk When A week ago Artist Myself Studio At home Location Brighton UK I use sterilised and professional piercing equipment and read anything I can find about all procedures before I attempt them. BME is an awesome sight for advice, pics and warnings!
On a Sunday night I decided to go ahead and pierce my right cheek. Something that I had been thinking about for a few weeks but was driving myself mad being undecided about the placement. I used a skin marker pen and ended up covered in blue dots until I was happy. I then went ahead and found it to be an easy piercing, much like labrets but with more travelling distance through flesh!
I then went into work the next day with nothing more than a slightly swollen face. All seemed well so I decided that i would go ahead and do the left side once I got home that evening.
I developed a headache at work and took a few aspirin not really thinking anything of it. Harsh office lights suck!
I got home and went about sterilising the jewellery that I needed and got everything ready. I use a household food steamer with heat proof plastic trays to hold the various bits of jewellery. I always have tissues and cotton swabs nearby for any necessary mop up & I use sterile wipes on the area that I am targetting.
Using a brand new unopened introcan needle, I did the piercing straight through the mark I had made which was parallel to the piercing I had done the night before.
When I had the needle through I quickly threaded the jewellery through and was done. Almost instantly my cheek became very swollen and firm to the touch, I knew there was something wrong right away, then I felt the blood pour down my face and fill my mouth! Luckily i'm not a panicky person so I simply went to the bathroom and spent over half an hour bleeding and spitting into the sink. This gave me plenty of time to think so I grabbed a bowl and a towel and went to my PC to get the telephone number for the NHS helpline.
The NHS helpline was quick to answer and had to ask me lots of questions in order to prioritise my call, bleeding into my mouth did make this difficult and I had to apologise to the operator for continuous spitting! As the bleeding was quite profuse i was put through to a nurse right away. She asked me lots of questions and advised me to go to A&E if the bleeding didn't stop within the next 15 minutes. She also confirmed my suspicion that the aspirin I had taken may have been the cause of my excessive bleeding.
Whilst I was on the phone my partner fetched me a block of vacuum packed frozen salmon which I then wrapped in the towel and held to my face in an attempt to stop the bleeding. This seemed to work and eventually the bleeding started to slow down. After about an hour it stopped altogether although I was apprehensive about putting my hand anywhere near my face in case I started it off again.
Due to the excessive internal bleeding within my cheek I had decided to leave the piercing in as a drain, if I had removed the piercing this may have resulted in the holes closing up before the bleeding had stopped inside my face. The nurse that I spoke to on the phone confirmed that I had made the correct choice in this.
My face was quite extensively bruised which was fun to explain to anyone that asked at work! Typically my work Christmas party was that week and all I can say it it's a good job i'm good with makeup as well! With some good foundation and some awesome new blackline balls with clear crystals to put on my new piercings, I went to the do at the posh hotel looking stranger than anyone else but no less than anyone expected of me!
I just wanted to share this experience with anyone that is interested in the hope that if something similar happens, someone would have read this or similar advice and will be of help in a similar situation. Any piercer should have First Aid knowledge and if you only pierce yourself this should be no exception.
I lost at least a pint of blood, anymore and it would have been a hospital trip! I would never tell anyone not to do their own piercing if they know what they're doing, all I say is have a contingency plan!