Several months after I had turned 18, I made the decision to get my right nipple horizontally pierced. My usual artist "vanished" from under my feet, leaving me with no one I would trust doing work on me. I found a place that boasted incredible work, and eventually had my nipple pierced there.
At A Glance Author kelly Contact kelly@bme.anon When A week ago Artist John Studio Cadillac Custom Tattoo and Body Piercing Location LaSalle, IL Skip ahead about a year later, I was unhappy with my nipple piercing. It was crooked and too deep, both of which made me despise it. I found out from some college buddies that my usual artist had opened his own shop. What luck! When I had time to come home and go visit him, he said he would repierce it without any problems. Within two months, he moved to a larger building to accomodate two other artists. No big deal.
In late September/ early October of this year, I decided to talk to John (my artist) about actually making something out of my despised nipple. I waited until I could talk with him directly about it and in a one on one setting. I showed him what I had, and he agreed that it wasn't done correctly. He said that I should take it out, keep it clean, and come back when it was closed up, which could be anywhere from 4 weeks to 4 months. I followed his advice and took it out that weekend.
About 6 weeks later, I was planning on visiting John to get both my nipples repierced. On week 6, I stopped in on the way home from college and made plans to get it done. I asked about going vertical instead of horizontal. He said he would do it however I wanted. Thats when things took a turn for the worse. I came down sick with the common cold. If BME has taught me many things before, getting pierced while being sick could affect how my piercing heals. I waited until I felt back to normal. The cold took two weeks to get out of my system.
I stopped in two weeks after I was over my cold, and once again made things more final with John. He said it was a good thing to wait while being sick, and we made plans for getting my nipples redone vertically a week from Saturday.
That Saturday came as usual, nothing new. I grabbed my girlfriend and headed to his shop. I was so excited to finally get it done that I neglected to remember that he opens at 1:00 on Saturday, not 12:00 like I thought. We stopped and got something to eat, which is a good thing to do before getting pierced, eatting that is, and waited around for a bit.
John finally opened up, and we went right in shortly after. John was sitting in the back on his computer drawing up a tattoo. His assistant Mike was getting stuff ready to autoclave and such. John said he would be with me in a minute, so I decided to browse his portfolio of works. I found the picture he took of the tattoo on my right arm that he did in August. (Might I add that he did an excellent job on that too!)
He called me back, and had me sit on the table and take my shirt off. My girlfriend chit-chatted with Mike about what I was getting done. He (Mike) asked if I wanted bars or hoops, and I told him you probably shouldn't do verticals with hoops, and he laughed at my sarcastic comment. John got out everything he needed, clamps, needles, lube, the 14 gauge barbells. He did the usual of showing me that everything was sterilized in the autoclave bags. He marked where exactly he was going to place the new piercings, and measured them with a calipers to make sure there were about the same depth, location, ect.
He put new gloves on and opened the needles and clamps. He put the clamp on my right nipple first, the one I had done previously. When he was satisfied with the placement, he asked if I was ready. I told him I was as ready as I will ever be, and then he said that he was going to pierce after he said 3. Here's the bit of irony that is John. I figured 1, 2, 3. No. Just 3. No 1. No 2. Just 3.
I felt the needle go through, and that was it. The adreniline kicked in, and boy o boy, I was feeling good. He took the clamp of, and put it on my left nipple. He picked up the next needle, and said ready. I told him go, and again, just 3. Felt the same as before. A pinch, but not totally unbearable. I looked down and saw both of my nipples newly pierced vertically. Next came changing the needles to bars. The changing itself was more painful that the piercing because of the threads on the bars. He changed the needles out with shiny new bars, put the balls and, and said he was done.
As I got up to go look at my new nipples, he cleaned up, threw away the gloves and wrappers, and put the needles in the Sharps box. Thats one important thing to look for in a studio, Sharps boxes for used needles. As I came back towards him, he praised me for taking it like a man, unlike he did when he did his own. I put my shirt back on, paid and tipped him, and thanked him for the fine work.
Its been about a week now since I got my nipples pierced vertically. John did a marvelous job, and to the day, there has been no blood, no "crusties", no nothing. They are not the least bit sore. Once they become healed after a good amount of time, I would ideally like to stretch them out a little big larger, maybe up to a 10 gauge so I can get internally threaded barbells. Yes, I know some of you may say I should have gotten them done at 10 if thats what I wanted. But I look at it this way, if I stretch them up to 10 gauge, thats a new experience that you could read later on.