Piercing my own nipples

At A Glance Author Elissa Contact Elissa@bme.anon Artist me Studio Marike's house Location Corvallis, OR

In March of 1999, my best girl friend and I were talking about getting our nipples pierced and tenuously decided we wanted to go through with it. Our friends were all excited about it when we told them, so we kind of got pressured into it with no opportunity of changing our minds. But since we were both underage (15 and 16), no legitimate piercing studio would do it without parental consent. Parental consent was out of the question, obviously (nipples? how shocking!), so we went to a store downtown and had some over-18 hippie buy us two 14 gauge hollow needles and two straight barbells. The home method also seemed preferrable because of the cost difference, which was about $40. The only fears I had before were that my parents would find out, which wouldn't be cool, and that my nerve sensation there would decrease.

We went back to her house and locked ourselves in her bedroom, put on loud music, and iced up our nipples. Pushing the needle through my nipple was the hardest part for me, because we didn't have clamps and so had to use our fingers. We both have fairly large nipples, so this worked okay. When starting to poke it in, it didn't hurt very much, but as the needle progressed through the nipple, I felt dizzy and nauseous from the pain. I had to sit down several times, actually, and wait until the feeling passed. I actually even have a fairly high pain tolerance, so I don't recommend piercing your own nipple(s) to the faint of heart. I had to go slowly, so the entire piercing process took about half an hour. I didn't know that you're supposed to leave the needle in and stick the jewelry in the end, then pull both through at once, so I pulled the needle out, then stuck the barbell through. That hurt. After the jewelry was in, it still was sore, but felt good in a weird way, too. I was thrilled.

The piercings turned out a little crooked, but not noticably. The worst part of the experience was definitely the pain. It also scared me to see blood running down my stomach, but that was expected. The original plan was to pierce both nipples in one day, but after one I was wiped out. The next month, my then-boyfriend helped me pierce my other one. Actually, I pushed it through while he sat on the floor looking sick. The second one was more painful than the first by far. I'm not really sure why, except for the second one ended up farther in towards my actual breast than the first. (does that make a difference? I would really like to know, actually.)

The healing process only took about three weeks for me, but I heal quickly in general. There was no infection or initial swelling, and I treated them with that ear care solution stuff twice a day until they were fully healed. They weren't able to be played with until about a month after the piercing, because I was afraid of tearing the new skin, which is thinner than it used to be. At one point some kid yanked the left one really hard with his teeth, and it tore a little. But it healed back pretty fast.

I actually got in trouble at school for showing people my breasts (indecent exposure!) and my parents were called. I don't recommend it. I was nearly suspended, and, at any length, had to have a long chat with the principal of my school. My parents took away my allowance, which sucked, but motivated me to get a job, so all in all, a positive experience, right? :)

In retrospect, I have no regrets about going through with it. Now when my nipples are played with or sucked on, the sensation is much enhanced. If they are yanked or twisted inordinately hard, it's a sharp pain, but they can be bitten and pulled gently with no trouble. I think that's about as painful as I can go, though. The other week I tried piercing my hood myself, but only got about a quarter of the way through before giving up in a cold sweat. I think the tongue will be next, although I'm going to get that done in a professional studio for sure. (I'm 18 next month. Finally legal!) Anyway, write me if you want to ask any questions or anything. I would be happy to write back and tell you what I know, which isn't much, but maybe I can help a little.

If you feel faint while you're piercing yourself, sit with your head between your legs until the feeling passes. Have something comfortable to sit on and put music on or something, otherwise it's really bad.