Wednesday May 28th, 2008 @ 1:32 PM
Filed under: Nose
Hi! Apologies for the bad webcam picture, but its all I have right now.
Now, I got my septum pierced yesterday. All well and good, apart from on the right hand side, the exit hole appears to be too far forward. Essentially, my retainer is at two different places on each side. So, as you can (hopefully) see in the picture, we have a wonky issue going on.
Now my piercer told me its just an issue that happens with new septums and it’ll correct itself…but the nose is cartalidge and that doesn’t swell unless its infected as far as I know of! Should I take it out now, allow it to heal and then get it repierced, or should I wait and see if it will correct itself?
I’m also concerned and thinking I should take it out now because I can actually feel the outline of the retainer on the right hand side by running my finger along the outside of my nose. If I apply a little pressure, I can feel the whole bar (and a fair bit of pain!). Surely thats too shallow?
I’d be very grateful for any advice you could possibly give me.
~Kitty
A better picture would definitely be helpful in this case, but I’ll give it whirl anyway.
It does look like one side of the piercing is further back/forward than the other. Because of the quality of the picture, I’m not sure if it’s quite a bit further back/forward, or if the shadows are making it appear that way, and it’s only slightly further back/forward.
What your piercer told you about the piercing correcting itself is not totally out-of-whack. I have seen some septum piercings that look a little bit off right after piercing end up healing perfect straight. Septum piercings definitely do swell (even if they aren’t infected), and that swelling can sometimes contribute to the piercing appearing slightly off.
The key with all of that is the piercing being slightly off. If the piercing is way off to begin with, it’s not going to correct itself. In that case, the jewelry should be removed sooner-than-later, and the piercing can be redone in a couple of weeks. If you trust the person who did your piercing originally, I would suggest returning to them and discussing your options with them. They sholud be willing to redo the piercing at no charge.
0 / 2 votes 
Loading ...
Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 8 Comments
Wednesday May 28th, 2008 @ 12:14 PM
Filed under: Nipple
I am considering getting my nipple/s pierced, but I have a few questions I haven’t seen addressed elsewhere on your site. First of all, I have very large breasts (DDD cup size.) Is this a problem or an asset, at least when it comes to piercing? Secondly, I am concerned about clothing show-through at work. Padded bras aren’t readily available in my size, so what other options are out there as far as jewelry style, clothing choices, etc? And last but certainly not least, (and I’m sure I have seen this info elsewhere, but I can’t find it now) can you give me some ideas on the best way to find a good piercer? How about a link to some licensing organizations or client reviews? Thank you so much for your help!
Women with larger breasts can definitely experience a harder time healing nipple piercings…keeping in mind of course, everyone’s experience is going to be different. In general, larger breasts result in piercings/jewelry that can have more pressure put on them from shirts and bras as well as piercings that just get “beat up” a bit more during daily life.
For healing purposes, and quite possibly permanently, you should go with barbells for jewelry. Barbells with have significantly less pressure put on them from bras, as compared to captive bead rings or circular barbells. The less pressure, the easier to heal, and the more comfortable they will be during hte healing process. This also reduces the likelihood of migration or rejection. In additon, barbells with small balls are less likely to show through clothing…and if they do show through somewhat, they are more likely to be overlooked as simply part of the nipple.
Finding a good piercer in your area can sometimes be tricky. Word-of-mouth/referral is often a good way to go. Ask people you see with piercings that look nice and appear to be healed where they had there work done. If you consistently hear the name of one or two places, that’s probably a good indication of a good studio.
Another good resource you can use is the web site (www.safepiering.org) for the Association of Professional Piercers. The APP is not a licensing or policing organization, but it’s members do have to meet a minimum set of health and safety standards. Specifically, you may want to try these pages:
Choosing A Piercer
and
APP Piercers in Your Area
I would suggest spending some time looking through the rest of the site as well. It will tell you about what sort of requirements the APP has for membership and exactly what being an APP member means to you, as someone looking to have a piercing done.
Best of luck!
+3 / 3 votes 
Loading ...
Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 2 Comments
Wednesday May 28th, 2008 @ 1:33 AM
Hey. I’ve been browsing the BME galleries for submitted flash to practice my drawing. I’ve made three large pieces for various purposes and want to continue, but I want to be able to say that they’re totally my own creations.
Is it ethical to borrow from someone else’s flash to create a new piece? How do professional tattoo artists learn and develop their own styles?
No matter what you think, these are NOT your drawings. They are your copies of drawings and ethically if I were you I would never steal someone’s drawings and claim them as your own.
Copying other designs by tracing and later attempting to re-draw is great for practice, but you should never try to re-sell the prints to anyone else. Because how would you feel if you spent your own personal time drawing up something and then next thing you know someone is re-copying it and selling it as their own work?
A true artist will practice on various styles of flash and after enough time will be able to draw these things up easily (flowers,etc). For more detailed serious work sometimes artists will investigate and take bits and pieces of various imagery and piece them together as one before drawing it completely out.
Professional tattoo artists, the ones I know anyways, who have developed their own styles. Have done so through countless hours of sketching, drawing, copying and just fully surrounding themselves within their art. To be honest there is no “personal style” anymore as there’s so many artists out there so pretty much every “style” has been thought up already…But a real artist will not need to copy anyone elses work, they should be ready, willing and capable of drawing up a broad range of imagery no matter what.
Personally I never got the whole: “I only do black and grey” or: “I only do color” way of thinking some artists take. A true artist in my eyes should be as I said ready, willing and capable of drawing any and all potential ideas that a client thinks up, be it: realistic, cartoony, black, color,etc imagery. Yet they’ll still be able to put their own personal spin into the design based on their emotions/feelings, what the client is looking for,etc.
Just let your thoughts and emotions flow from your mind and soul onto the paper.
+9 / 13 votes 
Loading ...
Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | Comments
Tuesday May 27th, 2008 @ 7:10 PM
This is just kinda a general question… but as I was stretching to a 4 today, I was imagining all the jewelery I’m gonna buy when I get my goal (1/2ish??) and then I thought about double flare plugs…
I’m probably gonna sound really dumb, but wouldn’t putting double flare plugs in stretched ears be like stretching them all over again in order to get them in the holes?
hmmmm o_O
When it comes to double flared plugs, there is a bit of a stretch involved in getting them in. The flares on most double-flared plugs is not a full-size bigger than the plug itself. So, if you have been at a particular size for a while, putting in double-flared jewelry is typically not a problem.
If your ears don’t naturally stretch well, or the flares are overly-large on the jewelry in question, they could be a little harder to get it in.
You shouldn’t use double-flared jewelry for stretching, obviously…as you’ll have to actually stretch almost two sizes to get them in…which is a great way to tear your ears.
+4 / 4 votes
Loading ...
Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | Comments
Tuesday May 27th, 2008 @ 7:05 PM
I’ve been toying with the idea of getting small tattoos of wings on my ankles, but I’ve heard that jointed areas are prone to rejecting the ink. Would a tattoo in that area be advisable?
I don’t think jointed/bendy areas are necessarily more prone to rejecting ink, but they do experience much more movement and friction during the healing period, making them a tougher area to heal…which can result in loss of ink. In addition, jointed area often tend to have thinner skin, making it a bit harder to put the ink in without also doing too much damage to the skin. This may result in some artists going a little “light” when working in these areas, thereby not getting good coverage to begin with.
I don’t have my ankles tattooed, but I do have both of my kneecaps done. I definitely found the healing of these tattoos to be more difficult, but I didn’t find that they lost any more ink during healing than less bendy spots I’ve had tattooed.
+2 / 2 votes
Loading ...
Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 2 Comments
Tuesday May 27th, 2008 @ 7:01 PM
Hey there folks!
I have a question regarding tattoo aftercare. Since I’ve been getting tattooed, I’ve been using A&D ointment, then switching to lotion after 4 or 5 days or so, and using that until it feels like regular skin again. Thus far, it’s been working, but taking sometimes more than 3 weeks to fully heal.
I’ve heard great things about using bag balm for aftercare, but am curious as to what you fine folks have to say about it. And, would I use it for the entire healing period, or just in place of the A&D?
Thanks for all your help!
Tattoo healing can be a bit of tricky business. If you’ve been tattooed by more than one artist, you very likely know that various artists have various things they suggest. The differences in aftercare can even sometimes seem (or be) contradictory.
For my tattoos, I use an aftercare routine very similar to yours…although I switch to a mild lotion about 3 days after doing A&D. I use this method regardless of what artists is tattooing me, as over the years I’ve found it to work the best for my body.
I know some people who use bag balm and love it. I know others who have used it and not been happy with the result at all. In the end, it’s one of those things you are going to have to try for yourself to find out whether it works for you. Worst-case scenario…your tattoo won’t heal as well as with the A&D, and you’ll have to endure some touch-up work.
Best of luck.
+4 / 6 votes
Loading ...
Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | Comments
Tuesday May 27th, 2008 @ 6:54 PM
Filed under: Nipple
I got both nipples pierces about two and a half years ago. They both took a long time to heal. My right one occasionally gives me some problems but only if irritated. The left one is always bothering me. It still drains and often has a marble sized lump behind the piercing. It doesnt hurt and sometimes goes away but or the most part I have had it for about a year and a hald. The lump gets smalled and sometimes its large like a large marble. I dont want to take it but O often worry about it. I have a round hoop now…..do u think I should go to a straigt bar. I dont think that will make this on and off lump go away….please help !!!!
Without seeing your piercing I’m pretty limited to what kind of suggestions I can make.
However, if you’ve had the piercing(s) for that long, and they still aren’t healed, it’s an indication that there is something pretty substantial going on. In general, here are a few of the potential issues:
1) The piercings are done too deeply. If this is the case, they may never fully heal
2) This one can be made worse by #1…the diameter of the rings in the piercings are too small for the amount of tissue in the piercings
3) The quality of jewelry you are wearing is substandard is continual irritating the piercing(s)
Those aren’ the only possibilities, but they are the most likely, based upon what you’ve described.
Changing to a barbell might help if the issue is (or at least part of the issue is) #2. It might also help if the issue is #3, assuming you change to a higher-quality piece of jewelry.
Based simply upon what you’ve described, I’d probably advise removing the piercings and having them re-done at a later date. Regardless of what the issue is, a marble-sized bump of any kind is clearly an indication your body is very unhappy about something. After this much time and trauma, it may not be possible to make your current piercings happy…especially if they are pierced too deeply.
Best of luck.
+2 / 2 votes
Loading ...
Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | Comments
Tuesday May 27th, 2008 @ 6:50 PM
Filed under: Ear
In a few months I’m going to get my tragus pierced but I want to be as informed as possible before getting it done. I dont know whether to use a ring or a bar as my starter jewelry. I really want a ring but I heard they make the healing process more difficult. Is this true? I’m willing to settle on a bar if it means that there’s a better chance of avoiding complications.
As with many piercings, a barbell is going to be the best option for a tragus piercing. A barbell is going to get caught on fewer things, get moved around less and have less pressure put on it than a ring will. This is going to result in a piercing that is more-comfortable and heals faster. You shouldn’t have any problems changing your jewelry to a ring once the piercing is healed.
+1 / 1 votes
Loading ...
Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | Comments
Tuesday May 27th, 2008 @ 4:13 AM
Filed under: Ear
Hi,
I stretched my lobes to 6g approximately half a year ago and figured that I was ready to move up. I recently purchased a quality pair of 4g spring loaded CBRs but can’t get them through through the fistula. The ends, as you know, are very different from the standard CBR. I’ve tried twice in 4 days without any success.
Does this kind of jewelry require my lobes to already sit at a larger gauge or am I missing something? Is there anything else I could do?
Correspondence is appreciated!
The other thing you can do, is simply wait longer. As sometimes the body just needs longer time to become more relaxed and uniformed to slide another larger size in. If the jewelry isn’t going in, don’t force it. Massage your lobes in a warm/hot shower and even try to perhaps use some Vit. E, Neem Oil, Jojoba Oil based products, personally Neem Oil works very well on relaxing and loosening up my lobes.
Continue doing these two methods until when you gently tug down on the jewelry in your lobe and if you can see a little bit of light through the lobe, attempt to slide the jewelry through. If it does not work, give it more time.
+2 / 2 votes
Loading ...
Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | 2 Comments
Tuesday May 27th, 2008 @ 4:08 AM
Filed under: Ear
a few questions, if you dont mind =]
is it possible to stretch a cartilage piercing?
does cartilage heal back or does the skin close the hole up but theres always a gap in the cartilage?
does the needle take a section of flesh out or just push it aside?
thankyou, im a bit confused! =]
Yes its possible to stretch cartilage piercings however the main concern is how much stress is applied to the cartilage when you stretch it. What can occur later on eventually is distortion and even stress/spider cracks within the cartilage as it makes an attempt to relieve the pressure that has been applied via stretching.
Cartilage does not grow back, the only thing that can possibly heal back together is the skin once the jewelry is removed. Even then its also in relation to how long you kept the piercing, how healed the fistula is,etc.
A proper piercing with a proper needle will/should not core out tissue. Instead with a proper needle and the proper speed in which to pass the needle through the body, the needle makes an incision and then tapers its way through thus displacing(pushing it aside) the tissue as it cuts its way through the skin.
+4 / 4 votes
Loading ...
Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | 4 Comments
