Sunday October 18th, 2009 @ 3:30 PM
Filed under: Nipple
I have had my right nipple pierced for 5 or 6 years now. A few months ago i noticed some weird discharge coming from the milk duct holes (i don’t know what to call them). Its color ranges from bright teal blue, to dark indigo. It only comes from ONE “hole” in the front. Not from the piercing hole. It does not react to peroxide (leading me to believe that its not bacterial or any kind of infection.), it doesn’t smell foul. It has the consistency of colostrum, a bit sticky, and only comes from when i squeeze my nipple, not the whole breast. It is a bit strange. I’ve spoken to both my doctor, and my piercer, both have no idea what it is, but don’t think that its anything to get worried over. They both just told me to keep it clean, which I do. What the hell is this? Anyone else heard of it? (Note: I am a former breastfeeding mother, I had the piercing before I nursed, and had it out during the duration of nursing. After nursing (1.5 years later) I replaced it, no worries, right back in the same hole. I haven’t nursed in 2 years. Just some more info :P) Thanks!
If neither your piercer nor your doctor have any clues after actually seeing this blue discharge, I would be just as clueless.
My only idea of what it could be is that you’re wearing a crap piece of jewelry made of cupreous metal, which isn’t unheard of! A lot of low grade “surgical steel” jewelry is made of tin, copper, lead, etc alloys that, especially when exposed to salt water as piercings often are, could corrode blue with oxodization.
…which is secreting out of your nipple. (neat! …but try changing your jewelry. Lead in your piercing is the opposite of a great idea)
+6 / 6 votes 
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Posted by Lexci Million | Permalink | 2 Comments
Sunday October 18th, 2009 @ 3:20 PM
Filed under: Nipple
I got both of my nipples pierced August 27th, 2009. As of today, it is September 19th, 2009. So they have been pierced for about three weeks now. The healing has been going fairly well, although I feel that my left nipple is struggling along a bit more than my right nipple, and still has pain from time to time and seems to crust up and ooze a lot more than my right nipple does. I’ve noticed that it appears to be pierced a bit deeper than my right nipple, slightly out into the areola. I also have some concerns that perhaps the barbell is too short. Since I’ve had these concerns, I was thinking I should stop by my piercing shop where I had it done, and have them evaluate it. However, I also trust BME as a highly educated source of advice and information so I thought there was no harm asking here while I wait to visit my piercer.
I included a composite picture so that you could see what I’m dealing with. I’ve also drawn some arrows and dots to illustrate my concerns. The white dot represents where I feel the nipple actually ends on my left breast, and where… perhaps… the barbell should have emerged from. I am not a piercer, though, so I defer to whatever advice you may have to give.
Is this simply a matter of “leave it be?” Or a matter of getting a longer barbell? Or, is the advice to remove the left barbell and eventually redo the left piercing? As I said, it appears to be coming along… but it has good days and bad days, whereas the right nipple seems to have mostly good days.
If the advice is to insert a longer barbell, should I do that immediately, or wait a specified number of weeks?
As for my aftercare, I used antibacterial soap just the first week, and every week thereafter, I have been doing one 10 minute sea salt soak per day with inverted disposable cups at the rate of 1/4 tsp of sea salt per 8oz of water. After soaking, I rinse in the shower and gently clean any leftover crust with a new and clean q-tip. I try to avoid moving the barbells more than I have to, and I never spin them.
While I think the left piercing looks like it was pierced a wee bit deeper on the one side, I don’t think it’s that big a deal at this point.
I do think you could benefit from slightly longer barbells though.
I wouldn’t suggest antibacterial soap. Just give them a nice hot water rinse twice a day in the shower just before you get out. If you’d like to irrigate with saline that’s fine, but I wouldn’t apply it with Q-tips as they can leave little fibres behind.
0 / 2 votes 
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Posted by Lexci Million | Permalink | Comments
Sunday October 18th, 2009 @ 2:56 PM
Filed under: Nipple
Im getting really frustrated with my vertical piercings, got them done approx 2 years ago and they are still not fully healed. The right one is mostly there i believe, still gets stuff on them everyday though,crusties and/or a little bit of scabbing now and again.. i clean this off everynight with warm water. The Left one is not so happy though, its been a bit of a problem since the day i got it done, its a little deeper than the rite one as well. This one has a bump next to the bottom hole, it gets flared up and quite sore from time to time, its got a thin scaley skin on top of it… i can pretty much always feel that the piercing is there throughout the day,little pains here and there kinda thing.. This one tends to bleed with the slightest aggrivation as well… 
- Note that when they were done, the piercer put waaaaay to short barbells in! I got these changed after much pain and the ball ends sinking in and making craters in my skin, Since i had recently changed over my monroe piercing to bioplast, i asked if this was a good idea for my nipples as well, she said yes. was this rite? They seemed fine for the first while, but lately seem like they barbells are still kind of short for the peircing… -
As for care, all i have been doing is cleaning them off every night before bed with warm water, and using a gentle soap around the area and rinsing them off when im in the shower. I try to bug them as little as possible…
I knew what my doctor would say, but i asked him the other day what he suggests and he said to “Take Them Out Immediately!”, when i voiced my concern about taking an angry piercing out, he said to do it anyways, and see how they heal up… i asked if there was anything i needed to use specifically, and he said no, just take them out, and if they dont heal, come back….. this doesnt seem rite to me … not to mention i do kinda wanna keep them.. but i am willing to take them out at this point if they arnt going to heal….
Sorry for the Novel to read…. ANy suggestions at this
Don’t wear bioplast. That stuff is garbage.
While my advice does not supercede the advice of any medical professional, my personal opinion is this:
If you think you need longer barbells in your nipple piercings - go get ‘em!
Vertical nipple piercings tend to be a bit fussier than horizontal ones depending on the shape of the breast and can often run into issues with swelling.
You piercer may have miscalculated the length of the barbells still as well as the size of the balls themselves.
Keep up with your aftercare regime. Sounds simple enough! Although I’d do the soap around the surrounding area FIRST and then flush the piercings out withs saline later.
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by Lexci Million | Permalink | Comments
Friday September 25th, 2009 @ 6:44 PM
Filed under: Nipple
I’m back with another question after my previous question about the barbell sinking in.
With the new, longer barbells my piercings are healing quite well =) My question is, how long until its safe for my partner to suck on my nipples without worrying about germs or saliva potentially infecting the piercings? It’s been about 6 weeks since my nipples were pierced.
Thanks in advance for your help, and thanks for being a resource for folks with loads of questions!
Three months is how long, on average, it takes the body to complete the preliminary stages of wound healing in non-muscous membrane, however, this tissue is still fragile and prone to damage. Nipples do take a while to fully heal. Usually a year to eighteen months - sometimes longer. I wouldn’t advice any nipple play for at least twelve months as this can upset the piercings and give you problems. Gentle kissing is fine after the first three months but sucking, biting, nipple torture (whatever your bag is) I would leave until fully healed. This is why I usually advise folks to get one done, allow it to heal and then get the other done!
+2 / 2 votes
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Posted by Tiff Badhairdo | Permalink | 1 Comment
Monday August 10th, 2009 @ 7:10 PM
Filed under: Nipple
ok so i kinda feel stupid asking this but i need an answer. ok so i went to change my jewlery, i still have the original ring in, i think its a captive bead ring but i could be wrong on the terminology. ok so i went to change it but the ball just keeps spinning, like its stripped or something. So my question to you is am i just doing something wrong? what do i do now?
A “Captive Bead” ring means that the bead is not threaded into the hoop. It’s just pinched between the gap with pressure. There is a dent on either side of the ball - it just needs to be pushed out.
+13 / 13 votes
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Posted by Lexci Million | Permalink | Comments
Tuesday August 4th, 2009 @ 11:50 AM
Filed under: Nipple
Hello out there. I just got both nipples pierced last weekend. So far so good on the right side. My left nipple however seems to be having problems.
The end of the barbell is sinking into the piercing a bit and when I nudge it back over, it stays put for a bit then tries to sink back in again.
I went to an APP certified piercer, so I’m wondering if a possible difference in breast size is enough to make a difference in length of post needed in the left nipple. I’m going to call the shop soon as they open tomorrow but needless to say I’m a little anxious about this and I’m worried about how its going to affect the healing process.
Just as a heads-up, the APP doesn’t “certify” piercers, although it’s great that your piercer is an APP member. It sounds like the barbell might be slightly too short for the swelling/healing process, and your piercer will undoubtedly be happy to help you out and change the jewellery over to something better suited. It’s not a bad-piercer call, just as an FYI - we’re not psychic, and while good piercers do their best to guesstimate how much room you might need on the jewellery, we sometimes guess wrong! 
+8 / 12 votes 
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Posted by Lori St.Leone | Permalink | 1 Comment
Friday May 22nd, 2009 @ 2:06 PM
Filed under: Nipple
i just got my (female) nipples stretched from 14 gauge (healed for 8 years) to an 8 gauge.
my question is: should i be able to rotate the ring? i just got it done 2 days ago, there’s no crusties or other guck coming out of the holes, but i cant move the rings to the left or right. it’s like they’re stuck in place.
is this normal?
It’s not normal to stretch from 14g to 8g in one sitting! What happened to 12g and 10g? It’s not surprising the jewellery is tight. I would advise using alot of lube and downsizing the jewellery to minimise the risk of damage to the piercing. You know, there is alot of information on here and elsewhere on the net on safe stretching practice. I really thought that by now it might be common knowledge, particularly amongst those who use bmezine, that skipping sizes is just not the done thing.
+26 / 32 votes
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Posted by Tiff Badhairdo | Permalink | 6 Comments
Wednesday April 29th, 2009 @ 4:55 PM
Filed under: Nipple
I have had my nipples (male) pierced for about 5 months now. I love them, and dont want to lose the piercing since it has been healing very well, and I very much enjoy them. Now that its getting really warm outside, I want to start rock climbing and bouldering. Since these activities leaves the potential of taking rather hard shots to the chest… scraping on rock, things like your shirt catching on the jewelry…
So my question is - is it possible to take out the bars for 2 hours and still be able to get them back in (on a regular basis)?
You will be the best judge of whether your piercings are healed enough to remove them for short periods of time or not. To be sure and have a second opinion, have a trusted professional piercer check them out in person to judge how deep they are and whether they look like they can withstand this practice at this point. Everyone heals at different paces, but generally speaking nipple piercings take quite a bit longer to heal than above-the-neck piercings.
Rather than removing them, you may want to consider simply changing the jewelry to something that will be less likely to catch on things (ie. small, fitted barbells with small beads). This will likely be your safer option if you don’t want to lose your piercings.
+10 / 14 votes
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Posted by Russ Foxx | Permalink | 7 Comments
Monday March 9th, 2009 @ 2:55 PM
Filed under: Nipple
Hello
I’m planning on getting my nipples pierced, but I’m really afraid of getting mastitis. So I’d like to know:
-How high is the risk of mastitis due to nipple piercing? How often does it happen to women with pierced nipples?
-What factors can make the risk of mastitis higher and what should I do to reduce the risk?
Thanks in advance for the answer.
Unfortunately, there aren’t any hard numbers I (or anyone) can give you on the risk level of mastitis from nipple piercings. That type of research or tracking just doesn’t exist. I can tell you that in the 14 years I’ve been piercing (i.e., thousands of piercings I’ve done and even more that I’ve seen), I personally have only seen it occur a handful of times. However, being realistic about it, I would have to assume there have been other times it has happened that I haven’t been aware of.
From my perspective, I would classify the risk as real, but very low.
Some things you can do to reduce the risk of mastitis even further:
1) Have your piercings done by a knowledgeable, experienced piercer. Appropriate placement of the piercings is very important. When the piercings are done too deeply, you are at greater risk of complications.
2) Get the piercings done with barbells that are appropriately-sized for your body. Barbells are subject to much less movement and pressure, and therefore much less irritation. The less irritation, the faster the healing and the less likely you are to experience complications.
3) While I don’t think it’s that much of a factor, consider using titanium jewelry. This will virtually eliminate any chances of problems due to the jewelry material. Of course, this also assumes you are having high-quality jewelry put in in the first place. If you have poor made, poorly finished titanium barbells installed, you aren’t doing yourself any favors.
4) Be careful with them while they are healing. Take extra care when taking off clothes and putting them as well as when you are drying off after a bath or shower. One good snag can be enough to tear the piercings, increasing your chances of problems.
5) Keep your hands, as well as other people’s hands and mouths off of the piercings while they are healing. The more bacteria you put near, or into, the piercings, the greater your chances of having problems. In addition, the trauma from being played with too soon can lead to problems.
6) Appropriate aftercare is important as well. Your piercer should go over the care thoroughly.
Good luck!
+15 / 15 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 1 Comment
Sunday February 22nd, 2009 @ 9:28 AM
Filed under: Nipple
I got my nipples pierced about a week ago, and I am not sure if they were done correctly.
It seems as if the holes are too far apart and the barbell isn’t long enough. I recently noticed that the balls were sinking into the piercing canal. None of the four balls were on top of my skin but rather inside. Naturally, I freaked out. I went to the piercing studio where I had gotten them done and they changed the curved barbells to straight ones and attached bigger balls to the end so they would not sink into my skin.
So far, there is no sinking and all is well. However, I have noticed that the piercing is more or less forming a cave around itself. There are definite indentions where the balls are. It kind of forms a cup around it.
My question was, is this normal? Should I replace the jewelery? I’m at a loss here, and I really need some advice on what to do. I really don’t want to take the rings out but I will if its my only option and go get them re-pierced later.
From what you’ve described, it sounds to me like you most definately need a longer bar. With a fresh piercing there has to be a little room between the skin and the ball ends otherwise the piercing may not be able to drain as effectively which can lead to irritation and a lengthier healing time. I suggest you have a piercer pop a longer, sterile bar into your piercing.
+8 / 8 votes
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Posted by Tiff Badhairdo | Permalink | Comments
