Body modification, for me has been a growing interest for about 5 years. It allows me to have control over my appearance and creates a positive self-image for me which reflects the steps I have made within myself to become a more positive person.
At A Glance Author punkass Contact punkass@bme.anon IAM punkass When N/A Artist Lorna Studio Tattoo Zoo Location Victoria BC
I had been thinking about getting my nipples pierced for a few years but thought that it was a fairly major decision to make. I didn't think that it was the right modification for me to get for my first one, or my second even. I was 16 when I started getting pierced and I am glad that I waited the three years that I did before undertaking what I affectionately deem my "the trials of my nipple experience."
I had recently come into some unexpected money due to an insurance settlement and had decided that the next piercing that I would get would be my nipples. I was extremely worried about the pain due to the sensitivity of the area. I am not afraid of the pain of being pierced but I knew that this would be very different from my previous piercings of septum and ears. I had become friends with a piercer at a shop in my town and she had done my septum a few months previously so I didn't have to search for a piercer. I knew that Lorna was a skilled piercer doing and The Tattoo Zoo was a clean shop with a good reputation. I decided that 12 gauge was the right size for my nipples and made an appointment for a day in August.
I went up to the piercing room when I came in for my appointment and watched Lorna wipe down the table, the counters and her stand. We were chatting about random stuff, like usual and it really helped to keep my nerves in check. She brought out all the equipment and opened their clear blue autoclave packages. She had me take my shirt off and we marked my nipples. I took a look at them in the mirrors and lay back down starting my routine of deep cleansing breaths. We started with my left nipple because it is much more sensitive than my right and I wanted it done first. I closed my eyes and concentrated on my breathing and the sound of Lorna's voice. She clamped my nipple and rested the needle against it. On her count she pushed the needle through and I exhaled long and loud. The other nipple was basically the same except it felt like it hurt a bit more. I assume that is because my body knew what kind of pain was coming. I stay on the table for a bit and then put on a sports bra and went downstairs and paid. The familiar post piercing feeling had set in and I felt like I was walking on air. I took the aftercare sheet and prepared for a few weeks of nipple discomfort and crusties. Was I ever wrong.
The next morning when I cleaned them with glycerin soap in the shower I felt so sick to my stomach that I thought I was going to faint. I was all dizzy and woozy and had to sit down on the edge of the tub until it passed. Nothing in my life up to that point had ever hurt like that. I was so sore that all I wanted to do was lie down and sleep until they healed.
I followed my aftercare instructions to the letter; Glycerin soap and Saline (not contact solution), and they slowly started to heal. After about 3 weeks they stopped hurting so much and I thought that with proper care they would heal all right, and for a while they were.
To this day I am still not sure why they started acting up, there are a few possibilities and the one that seems most likely is that I was drinking far too much. Excessive drinking is rough on the body and if something is off with your body then healing piercings are almost sure to act up. About 4 months after my nipples were pierced they started to abscess. They were red and just above the holes there were bumps filled with fluid and some blood. I started soaking them constantly in sea salt from the natural foods store and taking long hot showers and flipping the rings up and down trying to release the trapped fluid and particles.
After a month of constant abscesses in either one nipple or the other all I wanted was for them to heal so I could take them out. I was fed up with the pain and the horrible way that they looked. This was nothing like I had expected. I knew that rejection and abscess were risks but I didn't know that they could go on this long. You can't take out piercings while they are abscessed because there is a danger of the piercing healing and the abscess being trapped with no way to drain. I waited and patiently followed the instructions of my piercer also going and getting a second opinion from another friend of mine who pierced at a second shop who said the same thing. Gradually the abscess decreased over 2 more months and my nipples were pretty much healed.
This whole experience however had caused the rings in my nipples to push out and you could see the ring faintly under the skin of my left nipple and the same with my right one. I was very reluctant to take them out after fighting with them so long to heal properly. But with the migration of the wrings so close to the surface of my nipples the danger of having them torn increased and I did not want that to happen. I waited 2 more months to make sure that they were fully healed and a few weeks shy of a year after I had them done I got them taken out. There was minimal scarring for the seriousness of the abscesses and I figure myself fairly lucky that they didn't do serious damage to the nerves of my nipples. I miss the way that the rings looked in my nipples but I found that they are just a sensitive as they were before, possibly even more so.
This experience has taught me to take much better care of my body while it has healing piercings. Things like excessive drinking and even seemingly innocent things like sleep deprivation and a bad cold can cause your piercings to act up. So take really good care of yourself, healing mods or not. You can always redo a piercing but you only have one body to work with.