I wrote on BME a few months ago about my experience with my gorgeous, now sadly retired centre labret, which I had to take out when it became apparent my gums were really suffering for it. Well, ever since then, I'd been waiting for my next 'piercing call', that moment when you just HAVE to go and get the piercing you've been considering for months, and you can't wait a second longer. It came one Tuesday in October, and I went along to my local piercer and asked her to pierce me an off-centre labret, and my right nipple.
At A Glance Author anonymous When A month ago Artist not sure of her name but she's well cool Location Sheffield The labret was first, to get it over and done with as I knew what to expect from my last one. The nipple came next. She drew down the blinds, marked out the entry points as I sat on a chair, sprayed this freezing spray on my right nipple which made it go erect, and warned me that the clamp might hurt more than the piercing itself. I know this is the case with many people, but in fact, I found the opposite to be true. I didn't feel the clamp, but I felt the needle all right – it felt like someone was gouging a deep hole out of the centre of my breast! A small pearl of blood formed on the left point of entry, but not the right. The pain didn't last too long though, and soon I was leaving the studio, having had my nipple covered in protective gauze to avoid it catching on my bra.
As for aftercare, I did what I do with all my piercings; made up a jug of salt water and cleaned the nipple two or three times a day. I was also careful in the shower to avoid shampoo, conditioner and shower gel seeping into the piercing, and the warm water was great for soaking off the crusts that build up from leaking lymph fluid. I loved the piercing because I felt it was different from my facial ones – secret, hidden, just for me, and sexy. It also made me more aware generally of my breasts and their sensitivity.
However, the problems with my nipple piercing soon became apparent. When deciding whether to get your nipple pierced, do consider its size. I didn't, as I assumed anyone would be ok with a nipple piercing, and this proved problematic. This is because when erect, my nipples are absolutely tiny – the areola and the nipple merge together into one small dot which makes it quite impossible to distinguish the nipple from the areola. As became apparent when they were flat, my piercer hadn't actually pierced my nipple at all – she'd pierced my entire areola, from one side to the other! I don't blame her a single bit; in retrospect, it's very easy to see how she did it, if you see my miniscule erect nipples. After examining a lot of other nipple piercings on BME I'm actually amazed at how tiny my nipples are, and I'm not sure if they're even suitable for piercing at all!
Another problem was that the bar length hadn't allowed for the swelling I experience in my breasts just before my period, so remember to ask for a longer bar if you know you get breast swelling around then. I simply went along to a piercing shop and bought a slightly longer bar, which I swapped my other one with at the 4 week mark. This seemed to work better for a while, but then ANOTHER problem came to my attention. On the right hand side point of entry it seemed that something rather like a blood blister was forming. I could also feel a small ball of scar tissue just underneath that side, whereas on the other side it was fine. In short, it looked like the right side of the piercing was rejecting. The whole piercing overall was also slightly uneven, only looking completely straight when I raised my right arm in the air – a fact which didn't annoy me at first, but, coupled with the other burgeoning issues, began to be more and more of a problem. I reasoned with myself that I didn't want a crazy looking right nipple all my life – I knew deep down that the sooner I took it out, the better the chance it would have for sorting itself out and healing properly. So, just before my shower this morning, 6 weeks almost to the day since I'd had it done, I took it out. I washed the area down with just warm water in the shower, and carried on as normal, minus a piercing! As a consolation prize I'm planning another off-centre labret to join my current one – and who knows, maybe I'll get my other nipple pierced in the future. I'm going to ask to make the entry dots myself though – I know just how miniature my nipples become when it's cold!