Thursday November 8th, 2007 @ 9:07 AM
Filed under: Nipple
I got my nipples pierced about three and a half weeks ago, and they appear to have been healing just fine. After the second day or so, I experienced absolutely no pain unless there was some sort of rough accidental contact with one or the other barbell. However, while cleaning the past couple of days I noticed that a drop of pus comes out of each piercing if the barbell is moved to one side. The strangest thing is that they still look fine, they don’t feel hot, and they certainly don’t hurt at all. Should I be concerned, and if so, is there any particular action I should take?
Thanks
I’m pretty certain that what you’re seeing is not pus, but lymph - the drainage of lymph is a normal part of the healing process of any piercing and nothing to get worried about! Although lymph is characterised as being clear and watery in the wiki, it can appears whitish or yellowish in some individuals and is often confused with pus by worried new piercees. Just continue looking after your piercings as you have been, and they should be just fine. 
If you’re really concerned, drop in to see your piercer for a checkup, they should be quite accommodating and willing to put your mind at rest!
0 / 0 votes 
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Posted by Lori St.Leone | Permalink | 1 Comment
Thursday November 8th, 2007 @ 9:04 AM
About a month ago I got a tattoo on my chest colored in some, and forgot to cover my few month old sternum piercing with a bandaid. The artist ended up getting ink everywhere on my chest, and he left cleaning the area between the piercing to me.
Well, a month later, and the skin between the two holes is still kind of dark from that leftover ink. How can I get the ink off of that area? I don’t want to scrub it with soap/water as it may irritate the piercing. The sea salt soaks aren’t doing anything to get the ink off of it. It isn’t irritating the piercing, it just looks kind of crappy.
Thanks, you guys rock.
As obvious as it sounds, soap and water should get tattoo ink off your skin nicely, and I’d recommend using a chemical-free soap to avoid any unnecessary irritation, as well - I’m a Dr. Bronner’s girl, meself. You don’t have to ’scrub’ hard enough to irritate the piercing - some gentle friction with the pads of your fingers is really enough, MAYBE a gentle bit of work with a washcloth if the fingers aren’t doing the job. Good luck!
0 / 2 votes
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Posted by Lori St.Leone | Permalink | Comments
Wednesday November 7th, 2007 @ 7:39 PM
Hey QOD. Just wondering about Dermal Anchors: if a person had to go for an MRI or something like that, they wouldn’t be able to take it out (unless permanent removal was waht you wanted)… would that be okay?
For scenarios like that, or if a person got in an accident and doctor’s didn’t know how to remove the dermal anchor, could this cause problems?
I really want a dermal anchor piercing, but at my last panoramic dental x-ray my nape piercing was going to maybe mess up the x-ray (just visually)… and I don’t want to cause any problems for myself.
What do you think?
You bring up an excellent point. This is the main reason microdermals scare me…people don’t understand how permanent they can be. Ine the case of microdermals, metal subdermals and transdermals (or any piercing that could not be easily removed) can cause problems with not just x-rays and mri’s but with AED’s (shock paddles) that need to be used in a timely manner to effectively save the patients life. I don’t know the severity of the problem first hand, but I do know AED’s cause an arc that travels from one pad to the next with the heart in between. Metal objects in this path can cause the electricity to focus on them.
I have a metal subdermal and 6 transdermals. I went into them thinking of the possible outcomes and accepting of the risk. I fear that people may not take microdermals as seriously because of how much easier they are to get in the body. There’s a piercer south of me who puts them in monroe placement…..not even telling the client it’s any different than a piercing!
Educate yourself, know the risk and then decide if the risk are worth it to you.
+1 / 1 votes 
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Posted by Sean Philips | Permalink | 6 Comments
Wednesday November 7th, 2007 @ 2:17 PM
Filed under: Ear
About a year ago I stretched my ears to a measly 8g. But sadly had to take them out because of work. Even then, I had troubles with my left ear and it always being itchy no matter how much I cleaned my jewellery. I cleaned it by alternating with sea salt soaks and anti bacterial soap. And since now, Ive started to restretch again but slower and just at 10g, but the same itch has come back. Im using lucite [I guess acrylic to you guys] and I was wondering if MAYBE thats the cause of the itch and if there was an alternative to jewellery that came that small in gauge[10g]without having to be specially ordered?
It’s possible your body isn’t a fan of the acrylic/lucite. It’s certainly not unheard of. However, if you’re using o-rings (the black ones) to hold the acrylic jewelry in place, I’d be more suspicious that you’re having an allergic reaction to the o-rings. I’ve definitely run into that much more commonly over the years than I have people reacting to acrylic. If you are wearing black o-rings, you could try switching to clear o-rings, as the clear ones are made out of silicone and not latex or nitrrile rubber.
Other alternatives for jewelry material you could wear include stainless steel, titanium and glass. Plugs in 10ga, made of those materials, should be pretty easy to find in a studio with a decent jewelry selection.
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 1 Comment
Tuesday November 6th, 2007 @ 11:52 PM
Hi I hope u can give me some advice as I am getting desparate not to lose my piercing! I have my nape surface pierce three times. The top piercing was done two years ago but over the last six months has developed a horrible granuloma (as defined by my Dermatologist). I clean it every day with salted water but the lump won’t go and it gets quite big like a blister and then bleeds. It is sore to touch and gets itchy sometimes. I have tried many different creams/gels to dry it out but the ‘bister’ just comes back.
I would really appreciate any advice you can give me as the piercers here in London can not tell me anything more helpful/
Many thanks in anticipation!
Bel
I’m probably starting to sound like a broken record…broken record…broken record…broken record…
Persistent bumps/granulomas like you are describing most often are caused by some form of physical irritation. In the case of a surface piercing, it’s most likely going to be from some sort of pressure. I’m not sure what type of jewelry you were pierced with, but if the style of jewelry is not great and/or the placement of the piercing isn’t good, it can result in irritation, which can result in a bump on the piercing. Most likely, until you relieve the pressure, the bump isn’t going to go away. The bump is basically your body’s way of telling you it’s unhappy at the moment.
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | Comments
Monday November 5th, 2007 @ 3:04 PM
So, I currently have a captive bead ring in my lip. When I got it the piercer told me that I would easily be able to remove it myself. Well, i finally tried… and it was not easy and did not happen. I looked it up online and it said to use pliers… but im wondering if theres a less scary, less damaging way?
Also, my friend loosened his (i.e. stretched the ring more) so that he can more easily pop the ball in and out. I’m wondering if this is an okay thing to do?
Note: I changed the original title on this to make it a bit more relevant
If a captive bead is a smaller (thinner) gauge, they can often be inserted and removed by hand. How easy this can be done depends a bit on how tightly the bead was inserted into the ring as well as the quality of the metal the ring is made from. If the ring is made of 316LVM stainless steel that has been properly annealed (heated up and cooled down, which softens it), popping the bead in and out should be pretty easy. If the ring hasn’t been annealed, it can be very hard to pop the bead in and our without ring-opening pliers.
Whether the ring is annealed or not, you should be able to adjust the gap where the bead sits so you can remove the bead more easily with just your hands. However, if the ring is not annealed, you will probably need a pair of ring opening pliers to adjust the gap. if you don’t have access to a pair, any piercer should be able to make the adjustment for you.
Disposable latex or nitrile gloves that fit your hands well can often make the jewelry easier to work with as it will give you a better grip on everything. At the very least, wash your hands with soap and water to help remove oils from your fingers, so everything will be a little less slippery.
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 1 Comment
Monday November 5th, 2007 @ 2:58 PM
My boyfriend got an apyvadra several months ago. Twice since then, when having vigorous sex, my vagina has started bleeding. Is this because of the jewelry, and is this a normal problem? Are there certain positions we should avoid? He has already had his barbell downsized from what it was pierced at, so it fits snugly.
This sort of thing is definitely not unheard of with some genital piercings. I have had a few partners who have experienced the same thing from my apadravya. There isn’t an instant fix, as it will depend upon exactly what is causing the bleeding. A few things that your your boyfriend could try:
1) Putting smaller balls on the barbell; they may be less likely to rub…although
2) Putting larger balls on the barbell; it may not be so much the rubbing, but that smaller balls have a smaller surface area, so any rubbing puts more pressure/irritation on the area where the balls rub
3) Try shortening the bar even more; because of the squishy nature of the tissue, apadravyas can often be shortened much more than people think
The other obvious, albeit not as enjoyable, option would be to avoid vigorous sex. So, I’d try one of those other options first.
+1 / 1 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 5 Comments
Sunday November 4th, 2007 @ 7:53 PM
ok so i have a nipple piercing and it ripped and now i have a hole in my nipple (like u can see the bar inside) so what can i do can i heal it or what?
Ouch, sorry to hear it. Without seeing the piercing in person it’s a hard judgment call to make, perhaps visiting a piercer in person to get their opinion. Honestly though from what I’m reading the best option is probably to do a couple sea salt soaks (over a couple of days or so) to flush the wound out and remove the jewelry and allow it to heal up. Then wait roughly 6 months or so before re-attempting to pierce it, if you want it back again.
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | 2 Comments
Sunday November 4th, 2007 @ 7:46 PM
Filed under: Ear
so, a week ago i went to a tattoo and piercing shop and bought some acrylic crescents and the piercer lady put them in for me. i had 14g crescents in before, but now i’m in spain where they do millimeters instead of gauge. but i got 2.0 millimeter ones. or they were supposed to be. but i realized the next day that one is bigger than the other, like significantly. i assume it’s 2.4 millimeters. so now a week later my ear with the 2.0 millimeter crescent is fine, but the other one is still kinda sore and pusing. ordinarily i would go back to the shop and ask to exchange it, but my spanish kinda sucks. i figured i’d just let it heal, and it would eventually. what i’m getting concerned about is that under my ear there’s a lymph node, i think, that is kinda swollen and hard and painful. is that something i should super worried about?
The joy of Imperial and Metric Systems…I think personally we should just throw them BOTH away and come up with something better, what that is…Who knows…
14ga = 1.6mm, 12ga = 2.0mm,etc.
Acrylic honestly is not something that is an ideal material to stretch your piercings with, and leave that in. For starters the more prominent acrylic out on the market cannot be autoclaved. Also products like Alcohol and Disinfectants will break the material down and cause it to crack,etc.
My advice to you is to go back to the shop or another shop and have them put in either a CBR/BCR, Circular Barbell, Labret Stud that is either Steel or Titanium and treat your ears as if they were just pierced (ie: salt water soaks, for ten minutes, gently remove discharge, etc).
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | 3 Comments
Sunday November 4th, 2007 @ 4:53 PM
Filed under: Ear
I have gone from a 10 gauge to 9/16 in about 6 weeks time professionally by someone who has been in the buisness for over 15 years so i do trust him. I actually had my ears cut and stretched from a 10 to a 0 and then to separate stretches to get to where i am now at 9/16 with no problems. I plan on going to 5/8 and sticking with that.
He told me i only have to wait a week or 2 befor coming in again to stretch to 5/8. I need a second opinion.
And i’ve noticed my lobes seem to be swelled. There’s no pain or discomfort at all and the holes are very clean i’ve just noticed they’re a little swollen is this normal since it’s only been a few days since my last stretch? or is there a problem? and if i have or get a blowout is it painful?
There are some piercers who utilize a “rapid stretch” method. Regardless of all the philosophical arguments (i.e, it’s not a race, patience is part of the reward etc.), I think simple logic makes it fairly obvious it’s not the ideal way to go. While you “can” do stretching in this fashion, it doesn’t mean you should.
The main thing I’d be concerned about would thinning of the your lobes…most likely at the bottom. By not giving your body a chance to rebuild some of the skin cells lost in the stretching, you have a higher chance of the tissue becoming thin, which could result in poor circulation on the serious end of the spectrum and could result in unattractive/poorly-placed holes on the not-so-serious end of the spectrum.
As for whether you should wait for more than 2 weeks to stretch to 5/8″, I personally think so. But, considering you’ve gone from 10ga to 9/16″ in 6 weeks, does it really matter at this point? It’s probably a little late to be thinking about whether you’re stretching too quickly.
Best of luck.
Also…lots of people will probably post comments about how they stretched from (fill in the blank) to (fill in the blank) in some really short period of time. As I said….lots of things are possible…whether they are the best approach is a whole different topic.
+1 / 1 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 3 Comments
