At A Glance Author anonymous When Two years ago Artist Scrappy Studio USA Piercings ?? in the mall Location Elkhart IN The worst piercing ever was my nipple piercing. I've seen some great ones, but mine was painful and poorly done.
Briefly, my past piercings are as follows. I've never had the lobes of my ears pierced, but I have had the cartilage in both ears pierced at age eighteen, each lasting about six months. I've had my eyebrow pierced and gauged out once, lasting about two years. My eyebrow piercing was an amazing experience. I was living in Seattle at the time and was about to turn twenty-one. I had gone in to get a bridge piercing, and after thirty minutes of talking to the piercer about risks and complications with the piercing I decided I would get a different piercing. I was so impressed by her that I knew I needed a piercing from such a professional piercer. After having my eyebrow done for about a year, I decided having a nipple piercing would be entertaining for me. My roommie had one, and still does!, which partially influenced me.
In a rundown mall near my apartment was a piercing place, not quite a studio. I had gone in several times before for jewelry. The piercer had flirted with me on several occasions and encouraged me to get a nipple piercing. He was a young straightedge punk kid, probably around twenty or so. He was the only person usually working. One day, before I was to ride Amtrak for 10 hours plus, I stopped by for jewelry and on a whim ended up getting the piercing done.
I was a little nervous. I took off my shirt and the piercer placed the clamps on my nipple, after drawing the dots. He started to put the needle through and it was the worst ever feeling ever. Later he told me I jumped and that was what caused the needle to go INTO my breast instead of through it. He had to pull out the needle slowly and force it through the skin. The needle ended up going through the tip of my nipple, a tiny bit to the side of the direct center. He asked if I would like him to pull out the needle and "try again."
I said no because the pain at that moment was absolutely unbearable.
He put a hoop in and I left.
I did the appropriate after care, and tried to be very delicate with my new piece of metal. It was very very tender. My whole breast was sore. I had thought it was so sore because of the needle's path. I found out a few days later while the piercing was healing that it was not level either. As the hoop tried to flatten down instead of resting above, the skin tore. At the time, I was in a different town with no shops nearby. About an hour after the piercing, I had ridden from Indiana to Arkansas via train -- ticketed, not hopping. I was in Arkansas about a week. I couldn't take out the hoop myself because it was the kind that were closed by pliers. I wanted to rip it out and I was pretty nauseated by looking at it.
When I got back home, I asked my roommate to compare piercings to know if it was natural for it do that. She had hers for a few years. She looked at it and told me I needed to remove it as soon as I could. I had to wait a few days because it also was infected. I had been told there was a risk of abscessing if the skin healed and the hole was still infected. Even if a wives tale, I didn't want to even think about my nipple falling off. I probably should have gone to a doctor. I did so many salt soaks, slathered it with antibiotic cream.
Since I couldn't take out the piercing myself, I had to go back to the same guy who put it in. It managed to heal and I now have a scar about 0.7 mm, running down only one side of my nipple.
I don't know whether me jumping was to "blame" for the bad piercing or the quality and experience level of the piercer. Always remember that there is a chance for something to go wrong. I've shyed away from piercings since then, but have been considering a Marilyn piercing lately to replace my eyebrow piercing. There was nothing wrong with the piercing; I was just ready for a change. It's been about 2 years since the nipple piercing incident, and I think I'm ready to take a risk again. Did I mention how painful it was, the actual piercing and the healing? I've never heard another story like mine, which I'm glad for.
Good luck in all your piercing endeavors!