Well, this is my story...*laughing*
At A Glance Author bearcub Contact bearcub@bme.anon Artist Tails Studio Primal Piercing @ Ground Control Location Edinburgh, Scotland The actual piercing bit comes later, and I'm sure you can scroll down if you want the gory details, but before we get to the blood, fainting, ambulance journey, suturing and foreskin reconstruction, you might as well read the background...
I'm not what you would call your 'average' pierced guy. I'm not into any 'scene' in particular; this was just Something That Had To Be Done...
I'd had a tattoo done about eighteen months ago, for which I went to Tribal in the Canongate, also in Edinburgh - japanese script for 'bear', and dammed nice it is too - I'm very happy with it, just a small (2" x 1.5") monochrome job on the left upper arm. That, I thought, would be that - the itch satisfied, the urge satiated, the rebellious streak tamed...
ha.
I'd been contemplating getting a piercing for a while... I was used to seeing people around and about Edinburgh with various bits of hardware stuck in various places. Some looked nice, some didn't, and I had to restrain myself from approaching a stranger with a really botched barbelled eyebrow and asking where he had it done, to make sure I didn't go anywhere near that piercing shop.
I wasn't sure where on my body to get one, to be honest. I was lucky in that someone I worked with at the time was going out with Max, who worked at the time at Spacey's Bizarre Ink in Tollcross. Just the man, I thought - I'll ask him. I'd kind of made up my mind that I didn't want anything facial - it's a bit 'in your face' in both senses, and if it went even slightly wrong and it scarred, then even if I took the piercing out I'd be left with something I might not want to look at for the rest of my days. I asked Max about getting a nipple done. He said that yeah, they were okay, but they hurt like hell, took ages to heal, migrated if you as much as looked at them funny, and wouldn't I be better off with a PA?
"Erm, Max, isn't that, like, a ring through the end of your dick?"
"Yeah"
"Erm, I think I might have to think about that one, you know, not rush into anything, and oh my, is that the time? I have to go and... go and... yeah, that was it, I have to go and clean the bathroom at home.... yeah, that's right..."
"It's not as bad as you think", said Max, "It heals relatively quickly, it's not actually that painful, it's a lot less painful than getting a nipple pierced, and it's brilliant during sex."
"Yeah, but it's still a ring through your dick, right?"
"Aye, but you'll love it... trust me."
Now, it doesn't usually take eighteen months for me to make up my mind about something. I'd gone out with a girl who had a tongue stud and the first time she'd gone down on me she'd slid it down my urethra... just a little, maybe about a quarter of an inch or so, but far enough for the barbell to slip inside...
I believe my exact words were "mmmf! ahhhh! oh my! *squeak* *groan*", but you get the idea. Really rather nice, and it did get me thinking...
I'd also been visiting a few people in their homes doing a bit of market research for a job I was doing at the time, and one of them was in her mid-twenties, good looking, a few piercings on her face - labret, nose, septum, that sort of thing. Making conversation, as you do, I asked if they'd hurt at all, as I was wondering about getting a piercing. A bit at first, she said, but they soon settled down. I'd told her that a friend of mine in the USA had her clitoral hood done about five years ago, before it became as 'mainstream' as now, and my friend had said that it hurt to begin with, but then the increased sensations when she had sex or masturbated more than made up for it...
"Aye, mine was a bit painful too, but it's brilliant", she says...
"Oh, you've got one, too?" says I?
"Aye, here, have a look..." then she hikes down her shorts and undies and shows me... *laughing*
About a week and a half ago I had a day off work midweek, so I went to Ground Control. I'd heard good things about Tails, the resident piercer there, and it was generally recommended as being the place to go.
I waited in line outside the piercing room, and after a while (and, it turns out, two young mothers (with attendant young kids) had gone in before me and got clitoral hoods done.
(you can imagine the conversation...
"Mummy, why is it you're going into that room with that funny man with all the metal in his face?"
"Well, Mummy thought it would be good to surprise your Daddy by getting a ring through a bit of skin between her legs"
"But why?"
"Well, because... never you mind. Go and play with your doll". (the staff had rather thoughfully provided the kids with Chucky and Bride of Chucky dolls to while away the time)
So, after waiting about twenty minutes or so, Tails came out to see what I wanted.
"Whit are ye after, mate?"
"I'd like a PA"
"Braw - I've had nothin' but bloody baby belly buttons all day and it's drivin' me roond the bend"
He asked if I knew what it was, and I said that I'd looked stuff up on BME and a few other sites, and that I knew Max (turned out they were friends, too) and that yes, I had a fair idea about what was involved.
We went into the piercing suite, which was scrupulously clean, with a big autoclave and a torturer's arsenal of sharp metal things and other oddments on the wall. All the good signs were there - rubber gloves, disinfectant, a log book for the autoclave, that sort of thing...
"Well, a' we need to dae is tae freeze it wi' novocaine, and then ye piss off for half and hour and let me get ma lunch, and then ye come back and git it done - nae problem. Right - whip it oot."
*gulp*
After getting 10% novocaine sprayed over the head of my penis, and a little down the urethra, he said that it sometimes produces a bit of a burning sensation in some people, and that a rash wasn't uncommon afterwards, and to come back and see him if this happened. A wad of cotton wool was applied around the head, and I was able to stuff it back into my trousers and wander off for a coffee, and The Longest Half Hour of My Life.
When I got back, he'd got everything ready - the piercing needle, the receiving tube and other stuff. He asked me to drop my trousers and sit on the bench, and after another look, he said that I have a "bit o' a high urethra there, mate", which meant, seemingly, that if you imagine the penis (horizontal) when viewed from the side, there's quite a vertical distance between the underside of the head (where the ring goes in) to the urethral opening itself (where it comes out). He said that this wasn't a problem, it meant that I would just need a slightly bigger ring than most. He also said that this was actually a good thing, as it meant that the ring would produce more heightened sensation, and that more of the actual flesh of the penis was pierced, meaning the ring was far less likely to migrate out.
"D'ye want tae watch?"
"oh aye..."
The needle went in down the urethra, and then in for a bit, before the head was flexed up, things were lined up, and with a sharp tug, the needle came out the underside of the head. It didn't hurt, just a tugging sensation and a delicious (there's no other word for it) sensation, half-pain, half-pleasure.
The needle was removed, leaving the receiving tube in place, and after putting the end of the captive bead ring in the tube (12ga) the tube was withdrawn up through the urethra, bringing the ring with it... the bead was put in, and that was it...
"Yir bleedin an awfy' lot, but it's no a worry"...
A note. Do not get your penis pierced if you are at ALL queasy about the sight of blood. I've donated blood a dozen or so times, and it seemed this was about a pint, too...
Tails then said that he was once doing an ampallang on a guy and the spray of blood shot past his left ear and left an "awfy interestin' pattern" on the wall behind.
Like most men in the UK, but unlike the majority in the US, I'm not circumcised, which Tails explained meant that the hole on the underside had to be slightly to one side of the frenulum (the 'stringy bit' on the underside linking the head of the penis to the foreskin) otherwise, well, bad things would happen. In my case it's very slightly to the left as you look down from above. Not a problem.
It was bundled up in more gauze, which was taped in place with whatever the hell it is they use to do such things...
After much sage advice about aftercare ("jist dinnae fuck aboot wi' it much")... really though, he was very careful, explaining about washing with saline, and that the normal flow of urine would keep the area clean, and use lavender oil as an antiseptic. He explained that sex wasn't on the cards for at least 4-6 weeks, but that masturbation was safe (and indeed, why not give it a test drive as soon as you think you can?) and that it was important to find out, when you got an erection, whether the ring nipped the head at all.
This, actually, was something I hadn't read about. Since penises vary not only in size when erect, but are also very different from one person to another in the way they change shape and size between flaccid and erect states, a piercer (since he's piercing a flaccid penis) can't be 100% sure that the ring (which might look okay when you're getting pierced) is going to be a good fit when you're erect. I was told that if it pinched at all, to come back and get it replaced, and that it would be free, and not a hassle at all.
I walked home (another note - don't, whetever you do, walk more than about half a mile after getting it done... get the bus, a ride from a friend, whatever, but don't plan on walking far, otherwise you'll continually be checking your crotch to make sure you're not doing a John Wayne Bobbitt impersonation. As a consequence, everyone else on the street, watching you stare at your crotch every five seconds(padded out by about a hundred yards of gauze and making you look like you have a small cat stuffed down your pants), will naturally assume that you're some sort of pervert. Which, I suppose, you are, after just had a steel ring pushed through your genitals :)
I got home, and after a while, the bleeding wasn't too bad when I replaced the dressing.
Yet another note: when you first urinate, you will think you're passing a porcupine coated in tabasco sauce down your dick. There is No Way To Avoid This. Grin and bear it. Drink lots and lots of fluid, otherwise your urine will be more concentrated and it'll hurt more... Pee often and pee clear, and it'll be for the best.
Oh, and when you look in the toilet bowl you'll wonder whether you've got any blood remaining in you. Be warned. Do not get a PA done and then pop round to use your Great Aunt Ethel's pristine white marble bathroom - she will not thank you for it.
The discomfort gradually faded (not pain, really) and after the first two days, I was walking normally, peeing normally (if still a bit painfully) and plucked up the courage to masturbate (well, desperation overcame me, really)... Result?
Fucking brilliant... a little painful, and hopefully the last time I'll ejaculate pink semen, but the sensations are unlike anything else... mindblowing... :) Can't wait to try it out in a more, ah, sharing way...
Well, it's been nearly two weeks, and though I've been pretty careful with cleaning, it's been very well behaved... no infection, no redness, no anything. A slight leakage of serum (very normal), and that's about it. The underside of the penis was a bit bruised for a while, but Tails said that this was pretty common, especially when you bleed a lot.
And, am I happy? Deliriously. Queues (Americans please note - they're like lines, but immensely more well-behaved, organised and courteous) of the most attractive, nubile young women form up to ask about it, though that wasn't my reason for getting it done... yeah right...*S*
Seriously though, I did this primarily for me. It's a very personal thing, and everyone has their own reasons for getting a genital piercing, but I'm really glad I had this done. Tails was, once you got used to the accent, really good, very careful, and really knew his stuff. He took the time to make sure I knew what was happening, explained everything really well, and I'd recommend him to anyone wanting anything pierced...
I'll keep this updated (if the fine folks at BME will let me) and let you know how it goes, and I'll certainly be following this up with a few photos, probably in a couple of weeks.
And to all fellow Scots, when you're asked the reason why you got your PA, explain that when you wear the kilt you need somewhere to keep your keys...