Healing time?

Wednesday March 5th, 2008 @ 12:51 AM

Filed under: Nipple

I have 3 questions. In order of importance;

**** 1)It’s been 3 weeks since I had both my nipples pierced. They’re doing great and I haven’t had any problems so far,other than the ball almost coming off the end at one time. How long until my husband can :ahem: play with them and such?

2)Should I keep cleaning them everyday forever or just watch then and see if they need a cleaning?

3)I had a little stud put in the side of my nose at the same visit. That hurt worse!! I have a small bump near the ‘fake diamond’. not sure if it’s a zit or something built up? Should I wait to see if it goes away? clean it with something else? or go see the piercer and have it checked out? Neosporin?

1) Wait until the aftercare protocol is complete, before engaging in playful light activities in that area. During the healing time you do not want to introduce foreign liquids (ie: his saliva,etc) to the wounds, nor do you want any stress/irritation/aggravation done. So wait for after the specified aftercare protocol period and then ease into the play.

If it hurts, instantly say so and make them stop. Speaking from experience I had nipple piercings and had a partner who enjoyed playing with them. Needless to say one night I went to the bathroom and found blood running down my body and a partially torn nipple piercing.

2) The piercer that did the piercing should have provided you with aftercare advice and an aftercare protocol sheet, as well as instructed you how long to clean them for. Normally I advise my clients to clean nipple piercings anywhere from 8-12 weeks and to make sure they understand everyones different and some heal more efficiently then others,etc. But I use the 8-12 week period as a basic timeline and encourage people to wait that long, as better to be safe than sorry.

3) The nose stud could be inferior jewelry quality. Did they custom bend the jewelry for you? What type of jewelry is it? Nose Bone? Nostril Screw? Nostril Stud (ie: a smaller labret stud design)? There’s a lot that could be leading to why this bump is occurring. You could try warm sea salt/saline compresses or even chamomile tea bag compresses to try and reduce the bump. But depending on if the jewelry is inferior quality or not, it might require a jewelry change. I would suggest to NOT use Neosporin and to visit a reputable/experienced studio and have them look at the piercing, even go to multiple shops and just get suggestions/opinions.

Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | Comments

Is it appropriate to give a stranger advice?

Wednesday March 5th, 2008 @ 12:41 AM

Filed under: Uncategorized

Some time last year while I was sitting at the doctor the young guy next to me had a rather large blowout on both of his stretched lobes, which were well past 00. He was discussing with his girlfriend and his friend who was sitting in the chair across the aisle that he hoped the doctor knew what had happened to his stretch lobes while touching the blowout.

Would it have been rude, nosy or just plain impolite of me to tell him he had a blowout or to refer him to BME so he knew what had happened?

There aren’t any piercers nearby, the nearest one is about an hour away so most people in my area go straight to their doctor when they have a piercing problem rather than going to their piercer.

What do you think? Should I have said something to him or minded my own business?

This type of conversation can often be a touchy situation, as some people might take it the wrong way,etc. As always in talking with others, its about how you verbalize your statements, so not to appear hostile,etc.

One way of slipping into the conversation is to simply say: “I’m sorry but I couldn’t help but over hear what you were talking about, I have some piercings and I’m curious as to what’s going on with yours, if you don’t mind me asking?” Usually by being very polite and showing the person you’re genuinely curious/concerned they are usually ok with talking about these things…

Then as you two are conversing about body modifications, the problems the person is experiencing,etc…You can then slip in BMEZine.com, and what you think the problem might,etc as well as suggest to not just consult with that doctor. Instead to consult with a couple and even take the time to visit a experienced/reputable shop to have them look at the problem.

So no I don’t think its rude or anything like that, so long as you’re not acting rude. By that I mean you’re not pulling gross faces, talking down to them, calling them stupid, screaming at them,etc. The problem is there so its not like this attitude will help, it puts people on the defensive. So if you open up and be kind and caring,etc I have found people are very willing to discuss these things, so long as you word what you’re saying properly.

Also never really got the whole: “the only piercer is about an hour away” excuse. As personally it used to take me 2-3 hours to travel from where I lived in Niagara Falls to visit one of the very few artists I trust to do serious work on my body. I used to purchase a greyhound ticket and like I said spend 2-3 hours depending on traffic to get there. Also at the time I was pretty much dirt broke and barely just paying rent, eating,etc. So if I was able to do that, I think its not really a valid excuse to say: “the only piercer is about an hour away.” But that’s just my personal view on that statement haha!

Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | Comments

Poorly made decision

Wednesday March 5th, 2008 @ 12:31 AM

Filed under: Branding

Since I was a young kid, branding has always been a way to deal with certain kinds of stress. I remember being at a halloween party when I was 9 years old, and the people had those little candles on poles and lit a piece of hay letting it get red hot and then putting it on my hand out of interest. But as I got older, branding took over a different meaning. Back in september, I was really stressed out over finances, I thought my wife *at the time fiance* was pregnant, and I was at a dead end job. So, I did the branding on my upper right bicep. And it was fine, until about a month after I did it, it started to form a keloid. And since then, it’s just been a reminder of an unhappy moment where things weren’t as bad as they appeared. I was wondering if there are ways of having mod artists remove it? It’s about an inch long and it’s just one of those things where it’s not enormous, but it’s noticable to me, and I’d hate to have my future children ask me what it is.

To simply answer your question off the bat, yes there are certain mod artists out there who might feel they are skilled enough to do this procedure (see: http://modblog.bmezine.com/2006/10/06/when-scarification-goes-bad/). However I would strongly consider the fact that the majority of mod artists out there will not have performed this type of procedure, nor probably have the skill/understanding of what to do. My suggestion is to seek out a plastic/re-constructive surgeon instead, but you can source out a mod artist should you want to go that route.

The reality is that you currently have that scar tissue and the most you can probably do is reduce the scar, depending on the type of scar (how big,etc) you have, by surgical removal and then with the proper sutures and suture techniques.

However ask yourself this, why spend all that money go through all that surgical procedure, only to have a minimized version of the previous scar (that’s if the procedure goes smoothly,etc)…It will almost always be there in some form or another, so instead of focusing on the negative aspects of that scar…Why not focus on the positive?

As you said: “it’s just been a reminder of an unhappy moment where things weren’t as bad as they appeared.”

So by converting that brand from a negative, you can focus on the positive…That things are never bad as they may appear, and that you can overcome these trials and tribulations life throws at us. Instead you can use that brand as a means of giving you strength during very hard times….That no matter how hard you might think life is, you can simply look at that brand and say: “You know what? This isn’t THAT bad, things could always be worse!”

Just something to think about my friend, before you spend a lot of time and money in removing a larger scar, to be left with potentially a minimized version of its former self.

Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | 1 Comment