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CallaFirestormBW -> RE: Nipple Piercings.... (1/27/2009 8:02:14 AM)
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I had mine pierced during my training. I had a nasal septum piercing and both nipples done at the same time, and I'll say to this very day that I'd have my nipples pierced 100 times before I'd -ever- let anyone do another septal piercing on me!
Everyone is different. With some folks, the nipple piercing is only nominally painful. After the septal piercing, the nipples were like taking candy from a baby. If you like pain or have a below-average number of nerve endings in your nipples, it may not be anything worse than a pinch. OTOH, I've pierced a couple of people who have had normally to highly sensitive nipples, and they said it really HURT.
The best way to find a good piercer is to ask around. Ask people about places that you're considering, and see what the scuttlebutt is. Where I live, I hit some of the other alternative shops (smoke shops, erotic toy shops, etc.) and talk to the staff to see what places have a good reputation and which ones don't. Go in and watch for a while at some of the local studios to see how they handle their piercing clients, and ask for an 'aftercare information sheet' and about anything else you should be aware of before getting pierced (for example, I'm on some medication that slows clotting, something my piercer needs to know so we can manage bleeding more diligently... or so that I can prepare by taking 5 days prior to a piercing to be off my meds.)
I also let my neurologist and immune specialist know when I'm getting work done... it may make no difference at all, and honestly, they're not keen on my decorative bent, but I figure it's my body, and has so many things that bug the crap out of me (like nerves that don't work!) that I'm going to get it decorated the way I see fit -- and better they know than it comes at them blind... I also hooked them up with my piercers, tat artists, cutters and brander, so they could educate my docs on handling a med case with piercings, brandings, cuttings, and tats -- and could help with prophylactic antibiotics for extensive projects, cuttings, and especially brandings (where the risk of infection is -really- high), because of my health issues.
Most of the piercing I do is for private individuals, and I'm not what I'd consider to be a 'professional' piercer (I also tend to do a lot more temporary/play piercing than permanent piercing), but these are some specifics I look for when I'm scoping body mod artists. - Does your piercer use sterile, new needles
- Does your piercer have gloves? Skin cleaners that are effective and safe for those with iodine sensitivity (or both iodine-based and non-iodine-based surgical cleansers)?
- Does your piercer wash or sanitize hir hands before putting on gloves? Does xhe wear gloves to clean the chair/table/piercing area, change gloves to lay out equopment, and change them again to do the piercing?
- What blood-borne-pathogen safety measures does your piercer take? Has xhe been trained in sterile-field procedure, human pathogen/biological waste management? Is the piercing area set up with a 'sharps' container and biological waste container for bloody and bodily-fluid wastes?
- Did your piercer attend a course specializing in piercing techniques OR has xhe had an appreticeship with 10 or more piercings specific to the area you want to have pierced? If not, has xhe fully explained hir experience level and are you comfortable with that? (I've had some awesome body work done by folks in training, but it can be a shock to find out -after- the fact that the person was in training and really didn't have experience with the work I wanted done.)
- Are aftercare instructions provided and discussed BEFORE the procedure and are you given a chance to make sure that you both understand them and have the time and resources to follow them? Does your piercer have a record of hir experience with infections, migrations, or other poor outcome for hir clients and is xhe willing to share information about hir history in that area with you?
In this day and age, sterile, individually packaged needles are inexpensive, and there is really no reason to use re-useable piercing needles. Some places still stick with the idea of sterilized needles, but I wouldn't put my tits, my daughters' tits, or one of our servants' tits in their hands. Same goes for jewelry -- each customer, new, sterile jewelry. Don't bring your jewelry from home for a new piercing -- spring for new, sterilized jewelry. Your immune system will thank you.
Stick to surgical stainless jewelry for new piercings. I know that some folks say that other metals like gold, titanium, and niobium (and the new PTFE rings) are fine, but it's been my experience that infection, migration, and rejection, as well as sensitiziation/allergic reaction are substantially more common for body piercings where surgical stainless isn't used during the initial healing period. It's not as flashy, but most peoples' bodies are comfortable with it during healing, so the tendency to reject it is going to be reduced.
If you scar easily, keep an eye out for keloid formation. Folks who tend to develop keloids don't usually pierce well -- and the extensive scarring can make even failed/migrated/rejected piercings a life-long memory.
It takes between 2-6 months for nipple piercings to heal. The range seems to revolve around the size of the nipple more than anything else... larger nipples take longer to heal, which makes sense. Good sanitation and nipple care is crucial. Listen carefully to your piercer about care, and if your piercer doesn't give you a solid run-down before you have the piercing, go somewhere else.
OH.. and during the time when your nipples are healing, you can't have any pressure, weights, pulling, twisting, yanking, sucking, licking, or oral/ring contact to that nipple -- especially doing any of those things to the ring. The first part of the list will cause stretching and slow the healing process, and the oral/nipple contact will almost -guarantee- a major infection. Human mouths, even after Listerine, are FILTHY things.
If you -do- develop an infection in the nipple, see your PIERCER or another recommended piercer. Localized hot-spots, extreme tenderness, redness, swelling, and discharge can all be signs of an infection. The sooner you see your piercer, the better off you'll be. Xhe can confirm infection, and recommend a doctor who knows how to handle piercings. If you feel feverish, weak, achy, etc., or if there are streaks running from the nipple towards your chest, see your piercer NOW and get a ride to the emergency room... no, not later... 10 MINUTES AGO. Those are signs of a serious infection. Whatever you do, don't take the piercing out -- and don't let anyone in the ER take the piercing out either. That will trap the infection inside the wound, and will spread more bacteria as the healing skin is torn open when the ring is removed. When you get antibiotics, take -all- of them... you'll feel better in 24-48 hrs, but don't stop taking the antibiotics or you can end up with an antibiotic-resistant recurrance... NOT pleasant. An IV with Vancomycin or Methicillin is NOT a pleasant proposition and these infections frigging HURT (yup, BTDT, but not from a piercing... from a mosquito bite I itched open while swimming in a river).
OH -- as far as liking them... I didn't mind mine, and never had a problem with partners... but I made a HUGE mistake in getting the little arrowhead points put on my capture rings--when I was clothed or, worse, wearing a bra (like for work), the arrowheads would get twisted around and poke me in the nipple all day long (very uncomfortable, and nothing I could do about it!). I eventually removed them for surgery, lost the rings, and took too long going to get a new set. Now I'll have to get them re-pierced, so I'm waiting for my daughter to finish her training and I'm going to let her do mine, and re-do my pinnae cartilage piercing as a 'test dummy'. *grins* I will NEVER EVER EVER get the septum piercing re-done, though. You couldn't pay me enough. (Ok, you probably could, but it would have to be enough to buy and outfit a little farm and keep us up and running for 5 years!)
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