I've been interested in Body modification since I was in grammar school, but it wasn't up until last year that I started to become interested in genital piercings. When I first heard about genital piercings, I thought I would NEVER get one, nor did I find the idea appealing at all. Though, one day, a close friend of mine got both her inner labia pierced and when she came over to show me, I immediately fell in love with the idea. I thought about getting it for a while, and after I decided it was something I really wanted to do, I began to think of how I was going to go about getting it done. Because I'm underage, I can't get a genital piercing even with parental consent[at least where I live], nor do I have a fake I.D or any willing friends that would pierce me, so I decided that I would do it on my own. All the piercings I have are self-done[ears, septum, tongue, nipples, etc.], so I do have experience with piercing, although its not professional, and I was relatively sure I could pull it off.
At A Glance Author Kaitlin Contact feedusafetus@gmail.com IAM Bloodlust When Three months ago Artist Myself Studio My bedroom Location Los Angeles, California I researched the piercing a lot to make sure I wasn't getting myself into something I couldn't handle. I surfed the web for pictures of the piercing process for placement, talked to a few piercers, emailed a few people who also have self-pierced inner labia, and tried to gather as much information as I possibly could beforehand. BME was great for research, the extensive experience section opened a new realm of information that was definitely of help. After I felt confident I could pierce myself and do a good job, I ordered what I would need from painfulpleasures.com, a 14g piercing needle, two stainless steel cbr's, and Pennington forceps.
The day I received everything in the mail I wasn't quite mentally ready to pierce myself, so I waited a few days. When I finally did muster up the courage, I set everything I needed out, cleaned all the jewelry and got a few cubes of ice. I tried to numb the area with the ice, but if anyone's ever put ice on such a sensitive area, they'd know it's not very comfortable at all. I figured the pain of the piercing would be so momentary that numbing it with ice wouldn't even be worth the discomfort.
After removing the ice, I marked the area and clamped the right side of my inner labia. The clamps didn't really hurt, but they weren't comfortable. I placed the needle near the marked spot, and after a few minutes of mental preparation, I took a deep breath, and pushed. The pain was sharp but it wasn't as horrid as I had expected. I removed the forceps and threaded the cbr through, and after a couple minutes of struggling, managed to snap the ball in place.
I waited a couple minutes to calm myself down from the excitement, and the did the same for the left side. The left side seemed to hurt a bit more, but still wasn't bad. I threaded the cbr through and again spent a while trying to get the damn ball in. Finally, I had gotten the piercings I had coveted. I was very excited, I looked at my newly decorated labia for a while and absolutely loved it. The placement was perfect and they weren't crooked at all.
The healing process was probably one of the easiest of all the piercings I've had. Walking hurt when things got arranged in the wrong place, my friends constantly made fun of me for looking like a cowboy at times. Running was definitely a big no-no, and going over speed bumps was not fun either. But the piercings only hurt for about a week, give or take a few days, and afterward I could do everything normally. The wait is short and well worth it.
I've had my inner labia pierced for about 3 months now, and I still love them. I recently stretched them both to a 12ga just to make sure that they wouldn't start to tear because the skin is so thin in that area. I've had no problems with infection, and they're not bothersome during sex or anything really[my boyfriend says that the rings actually feel good during sex]. They don't get in the way, but every once in a while, they'll get twisted in the wrong position when I'm walking which is slightly uncomfortable but nothing that can't be fixed. I'd recommend anyone thinking about getting their inner labia pierced to go for it! I absolutely love mine, they're easy to heal, easy maintenance, and they look great. The pain isn't even a factor, it's so quick and it's definitely worth it. I plan on getting one more on each side and my VCH in the not-so-distant future.
Just for the record, I am not trying to condone self-piercing, but if it comes down to that, do your research, be careful, and be sanitary.