| At A Glance | |
| Author | Elizabeth |
| Contact | Elizabeth@bme.anon |
| IAM | purrtykitty4m |
| When | N/A |
After my first follow-up to my outer labia experience was accepted and the review team's comments were sent out. I noticed a trend in most everyone's remarks. Some people were not aware that you could have such problems with genital piercings, and those that were aware that it was possible, had never actually come across anyone with them. So I more or less felt like a bit of a freak and not in a good way either. Why was this happening to me? I went to a great piercer, I take extremely good care of my piercings especially my prized genital project. I'm extra careful when I move or have sex. I watch my diet, I don't do drugs or smoke, I'm never sick ... WHY!
Well, to understand why, I had to really understand what it was that I was dealing with. That I already knew, I had granulomas, but I didn't know much about them. After a lot of research and a medical terms dictionary on hand, I found out more about them. To put it in the simplest of terms;
A granuloma is an excess of granular cell growth. It's a red or dark pink growth which forms a raw-looking layered bump. Capillaries can often grow into the tissue, causing it to bleed when disturbed. This can easily hinder the healing period, delaying healing either minor or majorly. Piercings in moist areas which are also subject to pressure (genital, navel and tongue) and stress are most often affected.
Just been pierced
Once I had the knowledge of what I was up against I started the treatment for it. Now some are probably wondering why I didn't just go see my piercer about it and see what she had to say in the first place. Well, to be honest I was foolishly afraid to tell her. I had just gotten her to agree to do a Christina piercing for me on the terms that she knows I had experience with genital piercings, I had previously healed 2 and was on my 3rd and 4th genital piercings, so she felt I was responsible enough to handle a rejection prone piercing. I felt that if I went to her with this problem she might think twice about the Christina. So I kept quiet about it since I thought that it was something that I was doing wrong.
On my quest to find a remedy that actually worked I came across many different things. Some recommended by piercers I talk to online, some were random tidbits I found in medical home remedy books, others were experiments of my own accord. And when I say I tried everything, I damn well came close to it. First I started with the basics, lots of sea salt soaks, I soon figured out that your basic soak wasn't doing anything. I then moved on to soaks with a slightly saltier content and very high water temperatures. This actually worked fairly well, unfortunately for me, it only worked if I could get in no less then 3 of these crotch scolding soaks a day at 5 minutes each time. Because of work, this just wasn't feasible and I was lucky if I could get in 1 soak a day. So I moved on to various other hopefuls like vitamin e oil massages, Helichrysum water and straight 100% tea tree oil. I tried out Dr Bronners tea tree oil soap and when that didn't work I moved on to his lavender oil soap, both lovely, but just didn't do the trick. I tried bacitracin zinc ointment, H2Ocean, the LITHA method, Satin, Provon, and rubbing alcohol to no avail. I tried using peroxide to 'melt' the evil thing, after that didn't work to well I began thinking maybe if I just sprinkled holy water on it that would do the trick. I tried walking like a cowboy with saddle burns. I tried different kinds of underwear, even went commando for a while. I cut out wearing jeans all together and stuck to soft, lose fitting pants. I even gave up sex, though my abstinence only lasted a short period of time. It was either deal with pissy piercings AND a pissy boyfriend or just pick one and deal with the other. None of this seemed to work though.
Both of the outer labia piercings where done in mid May of 2004. At this point we were approaching December of that same year and I still had the granulomas on both piercings. Though the bump on the right piercing was steadily going away. Due to some unfortunate circumstances I had to have my triangle repierced and I also thought that would be a good time to get my Christina as well. I finally gave in and told my piercer about my problem over an email, because, well she would have seen them while she was down there anyway. To my delight she responded back that she too, the great genital piercing expert had also had granulomas on a few of her outer labia piercings. This made my spirits rise, I felt like I had renewed faith in myself. I didn't feel like such a freak anymore, I had actually made contact with another person with my exact problem, I didn't feel like I wasn't taking good care of my piercings, that it could happen to anyone. She suggested I try a few different things, sea salt soaks were of course mentioned, so was a "tie off" method, though none of my bumps were actually large enough to tie off, they were just large enough to taunt me. She also mentioned something new, emu oil. I immediately found a website selling emu oil and got some and began using it right away. This was however before I knew that my piercer already carried the oil. After about a week of using the oil I saw a slight difference, nothing eye popping or worth celebrating over, but a small change nonetheless. Not long after that I made my appointment to go and add some new shine to the mix. After I was pierced and ready to go. My piercer and I got to talking, and we were comparing the different emu oils we each had. She explained to me that, just like body jewelry it comes in many different grades/qualities. She gave me some of the emu oil that they sell to try out and see if it made a difference.
That there was the beginning of a big change, and one worth celebrating over. The emu oil that I had gotten from my piercer was indeed a much higher quality then the one I had been previously using because it was refined a different way. Within a week of using the new emu oil the granuloma on my right outer labia went away and the piercing healed! My left one however was a bit more stubborn. I continued with the emu oil and it kept the evil bumps at bay, but didn't really shrink it any further. I still needed something to help combat it. I decided to waged an all out war on this piercing and began with the other treatments I had previously been using in combination with the emu oil. I even stretched the 12ga piercing to 10ga, which worked for a while, but the bumps came back with vengeance, so back down to 12ga I went.
Taken shortly after the right piercing healed. Left one still healing, outer bump still visible.
It was a conversation, in passing with a piercer who had a granuloma on her navel piercing that gave me an idea. She mentioned using a prescription strength hydrocortisone cream with much results. Not having a prescription strength tube of cream lying around I decided to give the regular old over the counter kind a try. Much to my surprise, after using it for a few days in combination with the emu oil the bumps on both side of the piercing began to shrink. For the sake of science, I stopped using the oil and cream and the bumps came back. I tried using just the cream and it didn't really do much, and I'd already been using just the oil on its own. But it was the combination of both that eventually got rid of the granulomas and allowed my piercing to heal.
Both healed and both stretched to 8ga.
Once the left piercing had finally healed I was left with the aftermath. The left piercing had played host to the granulomas for so long and kept the healing process going well past the average healing period that the piercing migrated. Which didn't make me a happy camper at all. I tried to ignore it, I even treated it just like the other one and stretched it to 8ga. But I just couldn't ignore it for long. As I sit here typing this, on June 26, 2005 (1 day before my birthday no less!) I've come to the decision to remove the piercing and have it repierced. I battled with the decision for over a month. "My healing experience was not the most desirable, so why would I want to put myself threw it again," thats been my biggest battle. Well, for one I love my outer labia piercings, I know what to do the second time around, I know how to fight this before it starts. I've also gotten fond of stretching these piercings and a shallow, lower outer labia piercing is just asking to get torn or ripped out. I think its safe to say I rather have it repierced then ripped out, all other intentions aside. If there comes a time when you must make a choice between what is right or what is easy, just remember to do whats best for your body, even if that means putting some of your intentions aside.
The right piercing can stay open several hours without jewelry, the left can't.