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you could also use a bobby pin . most doctors will recommend you use one of those to clean your ears with instead of q-tips . with a bobby pin you can hook and drag , whereas with a q-tip its more of a push and smear . you do however have to be aware that you are shoving a metal piece inside your ear which could puncture your eardrum should you fall , run into something hard or be ran into hard . so my advice is to only use one in a room that can be locked to minimize the risk of other people running into you .

How about piercing your upper lip instead then?

I have had all 10 of my microdermals done with a punch. 8 in my bck. thy are AMAZING fast. to me, feels like a zit being popped on my back. Lol i am not a zit filed person, but ive had one or two. Ive never seen the needle way. But i dont mind having like 14 or 16 gauge needle pushed thru my flesh either. I have had 26 piercings, not including the derms. I lvoe my derms. 2 of mine got ripped out - from my arm, they were the cneter of flowers lol. i recomend if u get derms, make sure they are in a place they wont get snagged on too often. bad enough two of mine on my back are getting caught on bra straps. oh well. getting 10 - 20 more to make a more permanent corset soon.

I totally know how you all feel if not worse. I am only 18 and I will forever be on coumadin due to a blood condition that appeared after I got a blood clot when I was seveteen. I would definately ask your doctor and wait to get off your meds before you got any piercings/ tattoos. :D Hope all goes well

Sounds like something I did when I was 13 (earring and all). I really wanted a side labret but of course my parents wouldn't hear of it and I was too young to get them done professionally so I took matters into my own hands. So I soaked a safety pin and a cheap earring stud in boiling water, rinsed with mouthwash, cleaned my lower lip, and stuck the pin through. It took me a while to get the "jewellery" in but fifteen minutes later I was ecstatic. Whenever I was around my parents I simply took the earring out and put it back in as soon as I could. The next day at school I showed off my first non-ear piercing with glory BUT it began to get really irritated. For one, my lip was nasty-beesting-size and the tiny earring couldn't accommodate the swelling. As well, taking the earring out so much really pissed my lip off. By the end of the day I faced the fact that I couldn't keep it and took it out. But at least I got that out of my system until I was able to get it done when I turned 18. I got my tongue pierced when I was staying at my boyfriend's house for a couple of weeks (long story) right before my 18th birthday. Since I wouldn't be around my parents until I could talk normally again I figured I could get away with it. For the first couple months they didn't notice but then I opened my mouth too wide at dinner one night and they saw. They weren't too happy. But I was 18 so it wasn't that bad. A couple months later I got my nose pierced. It's pretty unnoticeable so they didn't freak out too bad with that either. I started piercing and stretching my ears. It got to the point when my sister told my Dad I got my nipples pierced he just laughed. LAUGHED. My most recent one was my lip...again. But this time done right (and down the centre this time which looks so much better). And my parents don't mind it that much (they just say "no more metal in your pretty little face"). So I guess the point of that boringly long anecdote was: JUST WAIT. It'll be worth it when you can get it done in a nice, clean, sterile environment with a cute piercer (like the one that did 3 of my 10 piercings). I can't imagine what my lip would look like if I kept the earring in; I was lucky to come away with a tiny unnoticeable scar, not regret. :)

I had my smiley for a year, it was so dirty I took it out, and I realised the damage it had done to my gums and it stayed out. I regret it, a lot

or perhaps a new black or blue bra and sweating...

Wow, I've been wanting my cheeks pierced for about 5 months now. It has honestly scared me to death with the lumps and puss. I still really want them done, maybe I'll be lucky and not get the lumps and puss, but I'm still very scared. So do you think it was worth the piercing in the end or was it just one big pain and waist of money???

my piercing was at an angle, which i believe caused it initially, so i went to the piercer and had him put in a ring. He basically looked at me and said "i dont know".. Its very large, white and hard, like scar tissue, thats the only reason i believe i will always have it. any help is appreciated. (btyw, im a lady :O)

The knuckle point you bring up is valid but it falls under my statement "and there is no pressure that would cause separation".

Jessica they may never close up fully without reconstruction, and even if they do there's no way to predict how fast it will happen. Sorry.

I'm at a 00g right now, and I need to let them close up completely before my mom will let me get a tattoo. Any clue as to how long that will take?

It could also be that you're trying to change your jewellery after TWO WEEKS! Damn. Try waiting at least another 6-8 weeks.

you're not going to have it forever, chill out man. It happened with my upper labret after having the piercing for at least a few months. I kinda just ignored it and it went down. Then I stretched it to 12g (once it was fully healed, obviously!!) and it made it go away even more and I've never had problems like that since. If the problem is caused by the jewellery quality or the angle of the piercing though, it is either going to take longer to go away or possibly not go away until the jewellery is removed.

I dont think that connecting fingers would work. I'm not sure about anyone else but my knuckles dont line up so I think they would bend at slightly diffrent places

i have this same exact problem . i went to my piercer and all of a sudden he doesnt know anything. he says it should go down within time and sea salt rinse. i think its a scar and will have it forever. we will see. anyone already gone through this>?

thank you all for your input... my doggie of 13 years passed away last week, we just got his ashes back and my father came up with this idea... I think its an absolutely beautiful way of honoring our loved one. I have a tattooist friend who has done majority of my art work, so I plan to ask him. I hope he will accept :) thank you again for all the helpful information!

What the kid posted was ridiculous, get it professionally done. You're not 'cool' or what ever doin' it yourself. I'm 13. Anyway. I agree what most of you are saying, they are just SHEEP. Fucking stupid sheep.

My personal favorite is when people say they "gouge" their ears.

I am really wanting to get a MD piercing around my eye area to bring out my single snake bite piercing by my lip. All these stories of rejection is scary. But what assume is rejection dont happen immidiately like at that instance. After reading articles they said that MD piercings should reject because a different kind of steel is being used. So has anyone used Skin Divers before, its said that its smaller and easier to remove but most likely to reject. Let me know I want to get this piercing in the nxt week or so. write me @ queenj2sweet@aol.com

had my piercing for about a month... first two weeks awesome... then the lump, then the puss... and a little pain when I smile. I rinsed my mouth with Listerine and rubbed the inside of the piercing with sea salt on a Q-tip two times a day. I wash my face with clear antibacterial soap and use Kleenex around the site instead of a rag. I made a paste of sea salt and water for the outside of the piercing and alternate nights with neosporin. Each night I massaged the lump. The lump is now gone, the skin is no longer dry and peeling, and the secretions are now white/clear instead of yellowish green. I think it's always going to secrete... just a matter of cleaning properly. I smoke, drink, wear makeup, and refuse to rinse after each meal and drink... so I expected issues. Bottom line all piercings have issues. I love mine and if I am destined to keep sea salt and neosporin in the bathroom...and a nightly massage... so be it.

Any bleaching achieved with the glutathione preparations that are becoming popular in South East Asia would be due to inhibition of melanin production, so the same risks as above would apply. That's if it actually does anything. In a few minutes on google I've found the stuff marketed as tablets, creams, soaps and injectable ampules, pretty much everything short of crystals to freebase. The scientific literature does support that glutathione is involved in melanin production, but I wasn't able to find anything confirming that high doses cause a skin bleaching effect. I call bunk, and if it's somehow true then it's likely very dangerous.

I have an IUD, and my boyfriend has a 6g apadravya. There are no problems at all with the strings getting tangled with the barbell or anything like that. However... Talk to a doctor about how short the strings can be trimmed. Mine are relatively short, but *DO NOT* have them clipped "just inside the cervix"! The reason why the strings must be longer is to remove the IUD later in life, and to check to make sure it is still properly in place (which should be done about once a month). Generally, though, you won't even notice the IUD strings are there. After it's been in for a week or so, the strings "soften" and usually will curl up above the cervix so they're entirely out of the way. Just my two cents from experience! :)

my belly's doing the same thing i'v had it done since june 20th and it's proper sore, and around the bottom hole of my belly it seem's to get crusty (yes i know ew) and when i clean it it really sting's! and it always bleed's i dont know what to do?!

Slightly off topic, but here's my recent experience with a large gauge non-lobe piercing: I had a 0g lorum scalpeled about a year ago. It was slightly too shallow at one end and never toughened to my satisfaction, even with very light teflon jewelry, so I finally gave up on it about 6-8 weeks ago and removed it completely. Two nights ago I thought I'd see if the fistula had indeed closed, so I tried sliding a 14g barbell through, which fit with plenty of room to spare. I stepped it up to an 8g cbb and it was still a little loose. I couldn't get 6g jewelry all the way through, but if I had a taper on hand it would have been a breeze. I'm wearing 8g jewelry for the moment, but should I decide to ditch the piercing altogether, I highly doubt the fistula will completely close by itself - the diameter only dropped by about half in well over a month. Eliminating the hole completely will probably require severing the thinnest part of the skin at the very least. Anyway, estimates can be made, but interpersonal variation is huge. A friend was able to reinsert 14g jewelry into her tongue piercing effortlessly after leaving it out for 8 years - your mileage *will* vary. There certainly is a point of no return, but you probably won't know until you've passed it...

Is IAM moddoctor still kicking around? If so he'd be well worth tracking down. Anyhow, I'm a little more skeptical than Lexci on this one. I'm not a doctor, but as I understand adult circumcision is a significantly bigger deal than as an infant, and generally requires stitches and/or cauterisation. Remember circumcision involves removal of 1/3-1/2 of the shaft skin. Hence, unless you can think of some way to stitch the foreskin in place to avoid complete retraction, any "slits" will open directly onto the shaft flesh, which at best would likely lead to visible scarring or possible infection during healing, and at worst severe shaft scarring can lead to erectile dysfunction and other nastiness. Again, I don't claim to be an authority, but I'd tread very carefully. Untested (heavy) body mods are risky enough, but we're talking about function of your junk here. Don't let anybody tell you it "sounds safe enough, can't hurt to try" just because they want to see something cool and new, especially if they have no medical experience. Piercers and cutters don't count. Xeno and I are both research life scientists, we don't count. Try and find an understanding doctor, online or off.

I've also wondered the same thing for a long time, nobody has ever been able to give me a clear answer. The BME wiki describes the anatomical/procedural differences between the piercings, but I've never heard any subjective comparison between the two - perhaps because few people would have had both in their lifetime?

My lip biting habits meant that my vertical labrets never healed properly, I pulled them both out after maybe 3 months of slow but progressive scar buildup. I still have some minor scarring I can feel physically but nothing visible. There's not a lot of harm in getting the piercing and finding out how you go, as long as you're willing to give it up if you find you can't stop playing with it! I'm also a smoker and used to chew my nails - all the usual oral fixation cliches - so I guess it's no surprise they failed for me really...

Use sub-lingual Glutahione, Pure L-Ascorbic acid and NAC cysteine. The combination should have a bleaching affect..

i have mine at a 6 going to a 0 i might have went to fast but i had my ear pierced for 4 years then i stretched to 14 in minutes left it in for 2 months then started stretching i stretched to a 6 in 3 days but i tried numerous times to do it once i had it at a 6 for 10 days and it grew up in a night so i dunno trying to avoid a blowout haha

Thanks guys. Since I've submitted this question I've gotten two tattoos. The first didn't turn out well at all, since I found out that I just don't heal well. I ended up with a lot of scarring and lost a lot of the pigmentation in the tattoo. The second has gone beautifully. Unfortunately the "you live you learn" process is what I went through in tattoo care. I have no regrets though, and am very thankful my question was attended to.

hey there im getting my dimples pierced soon and have been doing alot of research about them all the great and bad :). My partner is a blade piercer in yarmouth and he has said you shouldnt pierce cheeks passed the first mouler as it can cause salival glands to open up into the piercing causing leaking effects which can also cause problems with the piercing itself etc chapped skin and sore around actual piercing. He learnt this on the job and also from the book called "the piercing bible" by Elayne Angel a very very advanced and skilled piercer she had learnt this from her own mistake. Also use 1.6 mm by 22mm bell bars. Hope this info is useful to other people interested in unique dimple piercings. xx

That sounds hilarious. I hope he goes through with it and posts pictures. Might be fun for his sexual partner...

Hmm I've had my nose pierced for well on 2 years now and it's healed completely, and every now and then, especially in colder weather, the skin around the piercing gets quite dry and chapp-y. I think it's just something that happens. And again hmm, I was under the impression that peroxide was really quite bad for using on new piercing.

Yep, my friend had her cheeks pierced, I don't know for sure but I think the jewellery was too short, so she ended up taking them out about 2 or 3 weeks afterwards, and now she has really noticeable dimples, especially when she smiles.

Whoa, I must've asked this over a year ago, almost two! Glad it got answered and might help someone. Don't know if it was infected or not, but it healed beautifully and didn't need touch up.

I have the same problem. Do you think not switching to a longer post will cause any significant damage?

I have both my thighs covered with large tattoo, one with a large blackwork bird and the other with a large, full detail, full color elephant. For both tattoos I found that wearing gym shorts under your jeans for the first week or so can prevent the seam from rubbing on the fresh tattoo preventing both discomfort and degradation of the tattoo.

i got tattooed on my ribs about 3 days ago and ive got lots of little red bumps on the tatto and about an inch all around it, could this be a reaction to the tattoo? or sign of infection? I'm getting really worried. I've been tattooed at this place before and I never had this sort of reaction.

I've had my navel pierced for 10+ years. I work as an EMT for an ambulance company, and sometimes when I lift the gurneys they snag my barbell and it causes irritation. It doesn't matter how healed they are, you've got to be careful.

[...] Either way, they won’t dissolve in the ink but instead remain suspended. In a blog post at Ask BME (Body Modification Ezine), someone comments that she “had a good sized ‘chunk’ put in on purpose so that I [...]

I too have been looking for a surgeon to remove my naval but when I check online doctors that are supposedly in the LA area or Orange County, CA. area they never get back to me. My reason for naval removal is purely cosmetic.

yeah hey, i wrote that question, and thanks, as i dont have a very high tolerence and i didn't want jerk while getting it done, so yeah thanks heaps

As an artist, I need those tips. It is important. I do a lot of work and stress about it coming out right. I stand behind my work, but this whole I don't see the point is stupid. I need to pay bills and if I don't tattoo I don't eat. Please be kind and help us out. If you tip anyone else why not us.

I had my cheek piercings for about six months before i got the all too common bumps.I tried absolutely everything from chamomile soaks(which helped alot,but didnt solve the problem) to sea salt soaks,to tea tree oil to antibiotics.eventually i had to take them out.They've been out for about a year now and no major scarring.When i first removed them i had deep purple-ish red bruising around the holes and the very large bumbs.I massaged baby lotion on them for a whole month after wards and they are now fine.No discoloration and minimal scarring which only make the dimples i already had more pronounced.I am considering getting them redone,because i love this piercing too much to go without.

5 minutes of running water just for a piercing is a bit wasteful, in my opinion. Hot running water in the shower is my best friend for new piercings.

I'm a piercer and I just pierced my own cheeks about a month ago. So far, so good. With the pus pockets, these do need to be drained often to prevent a huge build up like most of you guys are talking about. Also, the length of the jewelry makes a huge difference. If your jewelry is even a tad bit too tight, it could remain irrated and take virtually foreverrrr to heal. Don't get too anxious to tighten your piercings if it's not healed yet !!! or if you tighten them TOO much they can even start cutting into the inside of your mouth which means it'll probably swell again and stay swelled until you lengthen the jewelry again until it's comfortable. Also, just like any other piercing, it can have random flair ups every so often. If this happens you might have to make the jewelry longer AGAIN until the swelling and possible fluid build up goes away.... Yeah it sounds like a pain in the ass, and it REALLY is sometimes. but cheek piercings take A LOT of time and maintenance. I think those are probably the two main factors to consider, squeeze out extra drainage so it doesn't build up, and be cautious about the length of your jewelry.

The Dr. Max Powers Scar Serum actually works. It worked for me everywhere I used it. I read that "Histologic analysis demonstrated significant reduction in scar hypertrophy and scar elevation...significant reduction in scar erythema with Dr. Max Powers Scar treatment" (Saulis). I think it helped because the Scar Serum kept the area moisturized while it healed. Even old scars, over the course of weeks or months (which is the amount of time the Dr Max Powers Scar Serum tube claims it take to see improvement), will change.

i live in indiana and most shops that i have gone to do most genital piercings at 14g unless it's a pa then they will start at a 12g or a 10g if requested. most shops around here just don't carry higher guage barbells long enough for ampallangs or apadravyas .

I only want 4 or 6gg so that means theyll close easily right?