At A Glance Author Anonymous Contact Anonymous@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Joanne Studio Passage Location Toronto, Ontario I have always been self-conscious of my breasts, not only because they can be considered smaller than most girls, but because of my nipples. You're probably thinking "nipples come in many sizes and shapes". Yes, this is true. However, I knew something was 'different' with mine. I thought that they might be slightly inverted, but when a doctor told me that they weren't, I decided that they were just shy, or flat. They only really protrude when I am very cold and spend the rest of the time snug to my areola. Again, I'll say that I was extremely self-conscious of this. For this reason, I'm choosing to post anonymously, leaving out my real name and IAM identity.
Ever since I noticed that my nipples didn't match up to those of the topless actresses on TV and in the movies, I've wished that there was something I could do to change that. So that lead me to do some research. I did a fair bit of research on both flat and inverted nipples and read the information that was available. Most of the information addressed the issue of breastfeeding with flat or inverted nipples. However, there was a little bit of information dedicated to the 'cures'. Since I didn't think that costly cosmetic surgery or suction devices worn inside my bra throughout the day, were things that I was up for, I pushed those thoughts out of my mind. Throughout my time reviewing experiences here on BME as well as reading the QODs, I had read a bit about the possibility of piercing inverted or flat nipples and the recommendations and additional risks associated with doing so. I knew that piercing these types of nipples carried a higher than average rejection rate, there could be prolonged healing, barbells were recommended over CBRs, and so on.
I began to wonder if perhaps piercing my nipples would help me to be more comfortable with my breasts. Eventually I began to consider it further and knew I needed to suck up my modesty issues and go for a consultation, to see if my piercer would even be willing to pierce my nipples. When I began thinking about a consultation I realized that I didn't know who I would get to pierce my nipples. All of my piercings, except for my navel years ago, had been done my males. I wasn't sure if I wanted to expose myself to a male piercer. Of course I knew that they would be professional, but I just thought I'd be more comfortable with a female piercer.
I knew that Passage, on Church and Maitland here in Toronto, had a female piercer – Joanne. I had been to Passage before, for tattoos, and had heard many good reviews about Joanne's work, both from my tattoo artist, friends and BME experiences.
Today, with some hesitation, I headed to Passage, with my boyfriend, to talk to Joanne about getting pierced. When I arrived at the studio and Joanne came out from doing another piercing it was mentioned that I wanted to talk to her. She said "Hi", I said "Hi" back and there was a little bit of awkward silence, in which Joanne realized that I probably didn't want to talk out in the common/counter area. Back in the privacy of her piercing room my 'issue' was brought to light. Obviously Joanne needed to see my nipples in order to judge whether or not they were piercable. I timidly pulled up my shirt and bra and Joanne told me that my nipples were in fact slightly inverted (unlike the doctor's belief), but that she had seen worse, and piercings were a possibility. She continued to state that there would be a higher possibility of migration and rejection, like I already knew. She also recommended that if I was thinking of piercing both, that I should only do one at first, to see how it heals or how long it lasts. I appreciated her saying this. It's always nice to know that you're going to a piercer who genuinely cares about doing a good job and isn't just out to get money, like some piercers are. After Joanne had said this, I asked her which nipple she thought I should have pierced. She recommended the left, even though I was hoping for my right. We discussed the gauge options, and settled with 14g, since 12g may have been too big for my anatomy. I also asked about the use of EMLA cream to numb the area. I thought that there may be a lot of tugging on my nipple, since it's pretty flat, to get it ready to be pierced. So before hand I had went out and bought crazy expensive ($12 for a small tube) EMLA cream. She had no objections to me using it.
I stated to her that I would go through with the piercing that day and we booked an appointment for 4pm. I was told that it was alright if I changed my mind and to call the studio if the piercing was a no-go for that day.
After I left the studio I went home and slathered my nipples in lots of EMLA and covered them with the provided air-tight bandages. I used the cream on both nipples just incase Joanne changed her mind as to what nipple was better to be pierced. A few hours later I was back at Passage, extremely nervous. Before Joanne was ready for me I slipped into the bathroom, pulled off my bandages and wiped off the remaining EMLA cream. While in there I kind of poked myself in the nipple to see if it was numb. Unfortunately, it wasn't. I figure that I put the cream on too early - 3 hours before - and it had started to wear off.
After I appeared from the bathroom my boyfriend, Joanne and I headed into the piercing room. Joanne had me sit down while she explained the procedure and aftercare to me. I then filled out a consent form, ensuring I was of age, was not under the influence of drugs/alcohol and so on. When that was finished, I headed towards the piercing table. I wasn't sure if I should remove my shirt and bra right then, or if there was anything else to discuss. I said "Do you want me to take off my shirt now?" and she said yes, unless I was planning on wearing it for a long time - joking about piercing me through the shirt, while it was on. Once I had removed my shirt and bra Joanne put on gloves and cleaned the area with iodine. She asked me to stand up perfectly straight for marking and to try to relax. I commented that I would pretend I was wearing a parka, so that I wouldn't feel so awkward about standing half naked with someone marking my nipple.
When Joanne had chosen an appropriate barbell length and made markings that she was satisfied with, I was asked to look in the mirror. I agreed that the markings she had made looked good. With that I laid down on the piercing table. Joanne asked if I preferred when my piercers gave me warning before piercing me. Excluding the soon-to-be nipple piercing, I had 14 current piercings, and had more in the past that had since been removed. I told her that I didn't like the whole 3-2-1-pierce thing and asked her to just pierce me whenever she was ready. It took a minute to clamp my nipple, but there was no yanking and pulling like I thought there would be. When I was clamped Joanne proceeded to tell me a humorous/ bad story about a piercing she had performed years ago at another studio. While she was doing this I was thinking "If she pauses while she's talking, I know it's about to happen". There was no pause, though. Joanne pushed the needle through while telling the story, which I thought was amazing. I was pretty distracted and though it was painful, it wasn't that bad. I think the EMLA may have taken the edge off slightly, even though I'm sure that it had started to wear off. I've had bad jewelry insertions before and was telling Joanne about one that stood out in my mind as she quickly and painlessly slipped the needle out while following it through with the barbell. She screwed the bead on and held gauze in place for a minute to stop the bleeding. Then I stood up and looked in the mirror. I thought the piercing looked pretty good and it made my nipple stick out a little more than it had before.
Once I had a look at the piercing, Joanne taped some gauze over the piercing incase I bled some more. I carefully put my bra and shirt on as quickly as possible, so not to stand around longer than needed with my boobs exposed. One final time Joanne stated for me to do either sea salt soaks or clean the piercing with Glycerin soap... whatever I had the most success with for my previous piercings.
When we were all ready, Joanne, my boyfriend and I headed out to the counter to pay. Some people price shop when getting piercings. I do not. I will go to whatever studio I feel comfortable with, even if it is more expensive than some of the other studios. My nipple piercing was approximately $72 at Passage, including tax. I gave Joanne a $20 tip, thanked her numerous times for making the experience a good one and headed out of the studio.
That afternoon my boyfriend and I went to his tattoo appointment at another studio and shopped a little bit. While doing so I kept wondering how my piercing was doing, concerned that maybe the nipple was trying to pull back into it's desired position and taking the beads along with it (sinking into my skin). When I got home I took the bandage off. I did so very slowly because the gauze was stuck to one of the beads because I had bled quite a bit. Once I cleaned the blood off, everything looked fine, no beads sinking into the skin and no additional bleeding
It's been 7 hours and I'm pretty sure it was worth it. While getting pierced I told Joanne I'm going to keep telling myself that the piercing isn't going to last, so that if it doesn't reject, I'll be extra happy as opposed to thinking that the piercing will be permanent and being disappointed if it rejects. If I do manage to keep the piercing I would like to get smaller beads for the barbell as these ones look pretty large compared to my nipple. Also, if the piercing heals well I think I'll get the other one done, so that I look a little more symmetrical.
If the piercing doesn't work out, I guess I could re-think the possibility of cosmetic surgery... or learn to accept my body, including any perceived flaws I think it may have.
Thanks again to Joanne at Passage!