This is a rather lengthy account of how I got my outer labia pierced. It covers not only the piercing procedure, but also four weeks of the healing process. Hopefully my experience will be informative and helpful to others.
At A Glance Author Meghan Contact meghan@bmeworld.com IAM Meghan When A month ago Artist Ron Garza Studio Glory Hole Location Austin, TX
In retrospect, I don't know why it took me so long to get the labia piercings. I had intended to do it for years, but I never got around to it – there was always a reason not to go through with it. So when my boyfriend left home on a seven-week tour, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get the piercings and let them heal undisturbed. I decided to do it on March 8, 2003; that way, I'd have two weeks to heal before I saw him (when his tour came through San Antonio), then another four after that until he came home.
While I had some ideas how I wanted the piercings done, I went into it knowing that there would be some decisions made at the shop – mainly about the placement and jewelry. I went in with a final goal of four (two on each side), but I decided that because this was my first time getting labia piercings, I would just get two and see how they went. I'm not a gauge queen, and I didn't intend to stretch the piercings once they were done; I decided I should get 10ga piercings, because they would be thick enough to heal well but not so large and heavy that they stretched the piercing.
Three years earlier, I had gone to Ron Garza for my vertical clitoral hood. I wanted him to do my labia for a few reasons: he's an excellent piercer, he's a good friend, and I know he doesn't give a rat's ass about my thigh cellulite. I've seen him do all manner of procedures, and he doesn't ever falter. I respect him, and I trust him.
The big evening arrived; after I showered and shaved, my friend Shani picked me up and we headed downtown to Glory Hole. Ron showed me some 8ga circular barbells and suggested we use those. I didn't think getting pierced at an 8ga would be any worse than a 10ga, and the jewelry didn't seem heavy enough that it would stretch the piercings. I chose the 8ga.
Ron had me go into the piercing room so he could check out my anatomy; we decided to place them a little higher up, closer to my clitoral hood than to my vagina. He bustled about, making preparations, while I sat on the table and Shani kept me distracted. There was a minor snafu in that the shop had no 8ga needles; Ron said he could use some of his own 8ga needles from his "private stash," or we could pierce at a 10ga and then stretch. I've had nothing but trouble with stretching fresh piercings, so I wanted to just pierce at an 8ga and be done with it. We decided to videotape the piercing procedure for posterity; I thought it would be funny if we wrote a little message to my boyfriend with the gentian violet when we did the markings. (This is why my crotch says "Hi Erik" in the procedural video.)
Once everything was ready, Ron positioned himself and held the needle to my skin. For some reason, I thought he was just looking at placement, then I realized that he was about to pierce. I wasn't ready, so Ron stopped. He noticed that my leg was quivering and made sure I was okay. (I think my leg was shaking because I had them hanging off the sides of the chair – I would have preferred gyno stirrups, like I had when I got my hood pierced.) After a few moments, I decided it was time to go. Ron promised it would be fast.
I took a deep breath in, and exhaled slowly as he pushed the needle through. My exhale consisted of the words, "Fuck mother fucker!" It was very intense, and I could feel every millimeter that the needle moved through my flesh. But once the needle was through, that was it. I was expecting that familiar post-pierce burning sensation and tightness, but I didn't feel a thing as he slipped the jewelry into place. He asked if I wanted to do the second one right away, while I had my energy, and I said I did. Again, I took a deep breath in, and did a slow exhale. Another string of curses slipped out as he pierced me – it was just as intense as the first one, and even though it was very fast, I could feel every bit of it. This time, as he put the barbell through, it felt like the lost the connection for a moment; the jewelry almost felt sharp as it moved through me. I think it was then that I kicked Ron in the leg; he didn't flinch at all as he finished inserting the jewelr y. (Sorry, Ron.)
I didn't feel a thing as he screwed the balls on the barbells. Even though the jewelry was moving, my labia didn't feel sore. Ron cleaned me up; there wasn't much blood at all. I got dressed, put a pantyliner on to catch any blood, and Shani and I went on our merry way. I admit, I was waddling out of the shop. (Part of it was the strangeness of wearing a pantyliner for the first time in about ten years.) We went to make a tattoo appointment for me at another shop, then had dinner and saw a movie. I wasn't really conscious of the new piercings except for once, when I put my foot up on my seat at the movie – I sort of squashed the right piercing with my thigh. Even that wasn't too bad. I decided not to deal with them when I got home, and just went to bed.
Day One: I expected to wake up with copious amounts of blood and throbbing soreness. Color me surprised – there was some blood on the pad, but not very much, and there was no soreness whatsoever. I didn't even feel the weight of the jewelry. I'd been told that lots of women retire their labia due to healing issues, so I was relieved that it wasn't the case for me. When I showered that morning, I didn't clean them, lest that make them bleed, so I just left them alone.
Aside from sitting down a little more carefully, my daily routine didn't change. I was lugging a full laundry basket around and running errands all day, and I didn't notice the piercings at all. I did notice the pantyliner, however, which was annoying as hell. That evening, I realized that I could cut the liner in half so it was under the piercings, but didn't extend back between my legs.
Still, I hoped that the bleeding would abate quickly and the liners would be rendered unnecessary. And my goal of having them functional enough to use two weeks later seemed perfectly reasonable.
Day Two: Not much blood overnight – less than you would expect from light spotting at the end of your period. I did bleed a little more than I did the day before, probably because I was at work and getting up and down a lot. I didn't feel them unless I put pressure on them; I still had to be careful sitting down (and getting into my car), but other than that, I didn't really notice them that much.
Day Three: I only had a trace of blood for the entire day, so at this point I officially gave up the pantyliners. I also took the piercings for their first test drive – I knew that using a vibrator with a hood piercing was awesome, but I didn't realize that the labia piercings would enhance the experience. The position of the barbells is against the sides of my clitoral hood, which is super-nice.
This was also the first night I slept without panties on; I'd been wearing them to keep the piercings from dangling around while I slept, but I wanted to see how they'd do without the support (since I don't sleep in panties otherwise).
Day Four: No soreness resulted from sleeping without panties, and there didn't seem to be any bleeding throughout the day.
Day Five: The lymph began on day five, and at that point I decided it was worse than the soreness when I first had them done. Lymph is like glue, and it accumulated around the exit holes; every time I moved, the jewelry would tug at my skin. Definitely not a pleasant feeling. This was the day I had the most trouble sitting comfortably.
I also had a minor disaster when I got home from work – I was changing clothes and a barbell fell out. The ball vanished somewhere during the evening. I tried to put an 8ga barbell through the piercing, but it was too short. Luckily, I wear an 8ga circular barbell in my ear, so I decided to put that one in my labia until I could get another ball. I might have just left that one in, but it didn't quite match my other labia jewelry, and I didn't like it looking so lopsided. But then I found the ball a little later and put the original barbell back in. Note: repeatedly changing jewelry in a labia piercing that's less than a week old will not be particularly pleasant.
Day Six: I think this was the best day since I got the piercing. The lymph wasn't nearly as bad, and even with the jewelry swapping the day before, it was actually less sore than it had been.
Day Seven: This was a day of much physical activity: trying on clothes in a changing room, walking around, jumping on people, getting up and down frequently. I didn't think of the piercings once during the entire day, until I realized that I hadn't thought about them. This was a good sign.
Day Eight: There were three firsts on day eight. One, I accidentally snagged a barbell on my panties while undressing in a hurry, and it didn't hurt a bit. (Compare that to the utter agony of catching a week-old nipple piercing on a towel – ouch!!) Two, I did an hour workout of Pilates, yoga, and ballet, without hurting the piercings. Three, I shaved my girlie-bits with the barbells in, and it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. Normalcy, here I come!
Days Nine through Thirteen: Minimal lymph. No discomfort. Rock on.
Days Fourteen and Fifteen: Time for the piercings to make their debut! My boyfriend and I spent two fantastic days together ... and I'm pleased to report that the labia piercings are almost as useful as my hood piercing during sex.
Day Sixteen: After a weekend of play, the piercings were fine. No lymph. No soreness. They could be tugged without discomfort. I didn't have to sit down carefully anymore.
Day Twenty: Strange complication – after being fine for days with only the slightest bit of lymph, I developed an abscess on the outside of the left piercing. At first I thought I was getting a ring of tissue developing around the piercing hole, but it was more painful than should be expected. After some rumination, I realized that it was an ingrown hair right at the piercing site. The barbell was irritating the sore.
Usually if I get ingrown hairs, I make a small cut on the abscess to drain the fluid and get access to the hair for tweezing. I didn't want to try it with this one; I worried that by making the cut, I'd be making the exit hole for the piercing larger. So I soaked it with warm salt water and hoped for the best.
Day Twenty-Two: The ingrown hair crisis had abated by this time – I'd continued to soak it every few hours, and eventually the abscess disappeared. This was the day of my tattoo appointment, and was sort of the point where I stopped worrying about my labia and started concentrating on my tattoo.
Day Twenty-Eight: Four weeks after I got them done, the piercings weren't completely healed but were well on their way. There was occasional lymph, but no soreness or other problems.
I'm very glad I got these piercings. At this point I don't know if I still want to add more, or if I'm happy with them as they are. Time will tell.