My boyfriend and I are interested in piercings, and one night we discussed what it would be like to have genital piercings. He found the whole thing a turn on, and admittedly, so did I! So I jumped on the net, and while browsing BME I became interested in the Christina piercing as they were so elegant, less common and easier to show off! I read a lot of stories, and heard that some people are'nt right for them and that they also had a high rejection rate. I decided to go ahead anyway.
At A Glance Author Plush Contact Plush@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Timm Studio Absolution Location Christchurch Despite making this decision, nothing happened for a few weeks – not because I was scared to the pain, but because I didn't want to have to expose myself like that! Pretty soon however, the desire for the piercing overcame my shyness and I rang Absolution to see if they were busy, and they told me to just drop by.
I grabbed my nearest flatmate, and headed on down. Timm has done all my piercings, and I would trust no one else with a sharp needle near my body. He told me he definably did Christina's and he led me into the piercing room to be examined. He quickly proclaimed it was possible, and I stripped of (warning my flatmate to keep his eyes of me!) Timm marked me up, and offered me a mirror to check the markings. I declined – I trust that he's got it right.
At this point, I wasn't unduly concerned – I had been more worried about getting my navel pierced, and I assumed this wouldn't be too much worse. I was joking with my flatmate, and Timm had to warn me to stop laughing or he would pierce crooked. I was expecting clamps or some giant needle but I was so distracted talking to my flatmate I didn't even see the needle, other then to check that everything was from a sterilised package.
I still wasn't nervous, and started breathing as instructed. Then I felt this searing pain and knew Timm had pushed the needle through. It hurt far more then my navel (thinking back I think I should have suspected that!) I swore and instinctively pushed Timm away as well as pulling my legs up to cover the needle. At this point I was almost in tears but it passed fairly quickly. Luckily I hadn't messed up the piercing by moving, and it was just the jewellery to go.
I knew this would hurt as well, but wasn't expecting it to be as bad as it was – I swore again (loudly) and hoped like hell it was over! It was, thankfully. Timm asked if he could take a picture for his portfolio as he didn't have one already. I obliged – and am looking forward to the film getting developed so I can see that!
I payed $60 for the piercing, and Timm handed me a bag of sea salt, and instructions for saltwater soaking twice a day for a few months. I went home, mindful of the high rejection rate and the piercings reputation for rejecting. I swore to myself that I would keep it clean and ensure that I got to keep it!
However, that lasted all of 5 minutes. Right from the start, I neglected to do the salt water soaks. The only cleaning she got was hot water in the shower.
This worked fine for a week or so, then I noticed that the top of the piercing had become quite mushy and weepy. I wasn't too concerned, but the thought crossed my mind that I should start cleaning it. However, I still didn't and by the next week it was red, weeping, and painful. I could only wear track pants and loose underwear as anything touching the piercing was extremely painful. Adding to this, my boyfriend couldn't keep his hands of it irritating it further.
I STILL never got around to cleaning it (stupid!) but slowly it started to improve.
Now, three months later there is no pain, no weeping, and the wounds look completely healed. I think I almost need a new (shorter) bar put in, as the current one is quite long. I was expecting this to happen however, and am going to go get it changed when I am sure that the piercing has fully healed. For the record, if you plan on getting ANY piercing, please do follow the aftercare routine. Your piercer is a professional and know what they are talking about! Listen to them, don't make my mistake.
My next project is getting two more Christina's – one on either side of the first one, on an angle to make a V with the original still in the middle. This time though, I will be taking FAR better care of it, as I do NOT want to go through the same painful healing as last time!