Have the obligatory "I'm not a doctor" rhetoric and all that jazz. Although, doctors tend to be very poor references as far as body piercing goes. There is a lot of negative stigma associated with body piercing and doctors often give out poor advice in regards to healing piercings or dealing with possibly infected piercings.
Find a qualified piercer with a brain and a clean studio. If your piercer has never heard of the word "autoclave" then you should be running away as fast as your little legs will carry you. An autoclave is an instrument that looks kind of like a 1foot cube steel pressure cooker that can completely sterilize instruments, jewelry and other interesting things. If you fail to see these things, or see something that makes you uncomfortable (children aloud in the shop, smoking aloud in the shop, improper jewlery being offered for fresh piercings, etc). Turn around and walk out the door. This is your body and if you don't trust this professional, then go find one you do.
Talk to that piercer and find out if your are anatomically suitable for your chosen piercing(s). Fun fact about vaginas especially, they come in all shapes and sizes. Seriously. What works on one pussy piercing wise may not work on yours. Case and point: I would love to have a vertical clitoral hood piercing, but the anatomy of my hood makes it impossible for me to receive this piercing. Your qualified piercer will be able to tell you if you're good to go. Your piercer will need to see the area to be pierced, measure you, and do jewelry placement. Don't be embarrassed, just shower beforehand. Piercers who do genital piercings see vaginas all the time.
Chose your jewlery (see below). Your piercer will fit you. Once you get pierced, you may experience some localized tenderness or swelling. Follow your piercers advice or just leave it the hell alone. Your body is good at healing itself without your intervention. Never use scented or harsh soaps on new piercings. Once your piercing is healed, you can switch your jewlery for either better fitting jewelry, which I would absolutely recommend. The better fitted jewelry will be less likely to snag or be in the way.
Gauge refers to the width of the jewelry. A larger gauge will generally result in a sturdier piercing that is less likely to migrate. I would not suggest getting any genital piercing with jewelry smaller than 14 gauge. Like bullets, the gauge measurement goes to a smaller number the bigger the jewelry is. (So 00 is gigantic). The "Fancy navel ring" is a great example of exactly the kind of jewelry you do not want to put in a fresh piercing. Straight barbells are often used for tongue piercings. Curved barbells are great for VCH's, nipple piercings and belly button piercings. The labret is for..labrets. And the nose ring is for your nose. I believe these are normally referred to as nose screws. Captive rings and circular barbels are poor initial jewelry for most part because they move very easily. This movement can tear the new fistula or pull crusties into your piercing and then you will in your very own world of pain.
In a fresh piercing, you will always want a non-porous material. Surgical stainless steel, titanium and glass are all acceptable options. Materials that should never be used in a fresh piercing include acrylic, large or heavy jewlery (no matter the material), gold or gold plated, silver or silver plated, natural woods or stones. Those materials are porous and can absorb and trap bactera in the fistula (actual piercing path). This is bad and can lead to nasty problems down the road. After your piercing is well healed you can switch to a material you prefer.
Be aware, most of the population has some level of nickel allergy. Never use "earring studs" in any kind of piercing except for your ears. These are often cheaply made and contain nickel. The allergic reaction you can experience will act a lot like an infection.
Piercings that are irritated are red. You may also notice the piercing moving or migrating. Some migration may be expected, your body will "place" the piercing in a more appropriate place if it's not sitting right. If your piecing starts to move a lot, your body is rejecting it. Remove the jewelry, or it may grow through your skin. Migration and rejection is common in piercings that were placed badly or have sustained some amount of trauma. There is nothing you can do to stop migration. Migration is usually experienced with surface piercings (like eyebrow and belly button piercings). Also keep in mind that many piercings will weep or leak a clearish or slightly yellowish fluid. This is normal, in deeper piercings like nipple piercings this may happen for years. This is the bodies way of removing "trash" (dead skin cells and other debris) from the piercing. Just clean it with your regular showering routine.
Piercings that are infected are red, hot to the touch and will be weeping green, white or yellow pus. You DO NOT EVER want to remove jewelery from a piercing you suspect is infected. The reason for this is the jewelry itself keeps the piercing open and allows the infection to drain. This is important. When you remove the jewelry you trap the infection under your skin/in your nipple/in other really uncomfortable places. This allows abscess to form. You don't want to have an abscess, they suck.
More on this entry later.. I just see so many terrible piercings. I had to go through pages of google images to even find an image of a properly placed set of genital piercings. This is not hard!
Comments
Post a Comment