To make a long story short, I’m going to be a bridesmaid in my brothers wedding and his fiancee wants me to take out my eyebrow ring (barbell). By that time I will have had it for about 2.5 years. Aside from personal issues about trying to control what someone else does to their body for the sake of pictures, I’m wondering what the odds of it closing up over the course of the day are? Thanks!

Damn brides and their Bridezilla ways…Hence why when I get married it’s going to be in Vegas, with Elvis as the “priest” and only with a small select group of people…But that’s probably why I’ll never get married…Oh well…

One thing you can do is take the eyebrow piercing out right before you have to do your wedding obligations,etc. Or another option is finding a quartz retainer to wear which virtually makes it impossible to notice if you have a piercing in or not,etc.

Perhaps you can talk the bride into going for the quartz retainer. If not just take the piercing out right before the wedding obligations and during the reception,etc (post-wedding ceremony) maybe you can just try to slide the jewelry in for some time to make sure the pathway hasn’t tightened up,etc. If it doesn’t fit, don’t force it, and simply visit a professional studio and have them taper the pathway back open to the size of your jewelry.

Alright so i recently decided to get my bridge pierced after already having snakebites, my septum, the side of my nose and i have gauged my ears.

I use to have a tounge web piercing byt it was regected, thts the only problem ive had with a regecting piercing and i was wondering how common it is for a bridge piercing to regect???

And is there a certain ammount of skin that HAS to be between your eyes or is it pretty much the same for everyone

There is no set amount of skin between our eyes because everyone’s bridge width will vary since we’re all unique special snowflakes.

Some piercers will use grids to line everything up, others will just keep putting dots on and wiping them off until they get to an ideal placement…I tend to do a mixture of the two where I’ll draw a single line down the mid-line of the bridge, then draw two dots where I think they look level and straight,etc. From there I’ll measure the width to determine the length I need.

I wouldn’t say a bridge piercing is overly common to reject, any piercer can reject if the body does not want it there and views it as foreign matter in the body. I do advise my clients though that quite often you will need to downsize after roughly 3-4 weeks and even then sometimes in another 3-4 weeks need to downsize once more.

Quite often the major issues with bridges is scar tissue build up, as well as Boil or furuncle. Thus requiring hot sea salt water compresses the occasional time,etc.

But as I said Bridge piercings aren’t a common piercing to reject, but depending on the person and everything, its not unheard of that they can reject.

I was curious as to if there is a significant difference in healing, when getting microdermals inserted with a needle vs a dermal punch.

The significance of healing is more about what YOU’RE doing to care for the microdermal, not really about what technique the piercer used to get the jewelry in.

You need to follow proper body hygiene protocols, drink plenty of water, eat a well balanced diet and get plenty of sleep in order for your body to be at peak performance to heal itself. If you sway from that regiment in anyway you’re introducing complications into your life that could potentially negatively impact your piercings healing progress.

Personally one thing I am starting to advise my customers is when it comes to newly healing microdermals (even surface work), you’ll want to make sure its bandaged with a breathable bandage often (obviously making sure you are still keeping the location clean,etc) and after about a week or so to continue wearing the bandages only in situations of heightened impact (ie: sleeping, going out with friends,etc) for roughly 2-3 months. By doing so you drastically reduce the amount of impact/catching/snagging that occurs which will help anchor the microdermal a lot better and make it trouble-free….But that’s just what I personally advise my clients to do, other piercers suggestions will vary.

Whenever I see advice on surface piercings, I always see people advising titanium surface bars.

However, my piercer uses 90 degree PTFE staples (custom made). He says that the flexibility is an added advantage over the titanium surface bars. Of course, it is still 90 degrees, so in that way, it is similar to the surface bars.

What are your opinions on this? Are PTFE staples better than the traditional surface bars?

Thanks.

First things first, do you know what PTFE your piercer is using? Second, does your piercer even know what PTFE they are using?

The ONLY PTFE that should be used in surface piercings, will come with an ASTM standard for Implant Grade Capability. So regardless if your piercer says: “Its pure PTFE” or “Extra Virgin PTFE” blah blah blah it all means squat unless the PTFE they are obtaining comes with a ASTM certification for implant grade material.

Also you have to ask HOW your piercer makes the 90 degree bends in the PTFE. Know that heating the PTFE up enough to force the straight cylindrical material into a 90 degree will alter the molecular structure of the PTFE (thus compromising the ASTM standards), and even release toxic vapours in the process.

If they simply just force the bends and autoclave them,etc the result quite often is that in the end the PTFE will want to straighten itself out since it comes from a coiled collection of PTFE

You also have to realize that with PTFE the only thing remotely capable of being used is Externally Threaded Balls on the jewelry. This creates a shoddy External Threading on the PTFE, which can often strip and be problematic.

My personal preference is to exclusively use Internally Threaded ASTM F136 6Al-4V ELI Titanium either in a regular surface barell shape or the more recent mass produced design of a flat surface barbell. Not to mention the use of internally threaded flat discs to reduce catching/snagging.

Now these are my opinions based on my own research I’ve done, there ARE other piercers out there who use other flexible materials (Tygon,etc) and will claim sucess with said material. I will not knock them nor say anything bad about them, PROVIDED THEY DO THE RESEARCH AND KNOW WHAT THEY’RE TALKING ABOUT….

Key example of that is in 2007 I was at the APP Conference and I took a Surface Piercing class and to my surprise the majority of the class could not tell the difference between: 1) Tygon(Silicone Tubing), 2) Teflon(PTFE) or 3) Bioplast(Udel Polysulfone)…Not only that but virtually NONE of them knew about any ISO or ASTM specs for any of these materials. And sadly that just wasn’t in my class either, apparently it occurred in the other surface piercing class as well….Which to me is VERY shocking/disturbing because how can these people USE these materials, if they don’t even know the bare essential facts that are so easily obtainable?

But like I said these are my OWN opinions based on my OWN research and that is why I am personally more a fan of proper Implant Grade Titanium Surface Bars over PTFE or Tygon or Sacred Zombie Jesus Pubic Hairs Woven Together Into Jewelry, Blessed By Peter Popoff Himself.

However like I said if a piercer is using said jewelry for however many numbers of years and has been having good success and able to prove so via their portfolios/knowledge,etc. Then I will not go off the crazy end screaming they are horrible hacks or anything like that.

Hey again. This question just hit me, will I be able to slip an externally treaded barbell in a DIY piercing?! I’m having my Master pierce my VCH in a few weeks, and all I have for jewelry has external threading. Nothing internal. So my initial jewelry must be ex.threaded. I had a 14g 3/8 ss straight bb (ex. Threaded) with a (bottom) 4mm ball, and a small slave bead with a 3mm ball (top) autoclaved at a shop, and set aside in a surgical package. Will it work!!?? I can’t aford anymore jewelry, I’m saving my $ to buy clamps, and EMLA for when he does my vert.nips (Oh! And I need to know if 14g 7/16 curved bb, ex.threaded, will go through my nips as initial jewelry) Please help me!

Quick snappy comeback answer is……NOPE

How are we possibly able to tell what your VCH or Nipples require without a in person consultation?

Your master could slam a 9″ Nail through both things and hey it’d work, but the question is: “Was that the RIGHT way to do/use things?”

External threading will irritate/tear the fistula when inserting (unless you use a IV Catheter Needle) not to mention when removing the jewelry.

Internally Threaded Jewelry is the BEST, and in my professional mind/eyes, the ONLY option for what you’re looking to do (both for the VCH and the nipples)…

But as for gauge size and length that’s something you need to consult a piercer on, in person. Ideally someone who knows what they’re doing and will ethically be able to properly analyze the tissue area and offer a variance of gauge/length sizes…Not just go with the simplistic “Lets just do it at 14ga because that’s all we buy” mindset….As quite often certain body types really require larger gauge/length sizes,etc.

To my disdain, I recently learned that my piercer re-uses his surgical markers from client-to-client, and is only replaced periodically.

His counter-argument was that: the alcohol prep pad kills all germs beforehand, eliminating cross-contamination. As far as I know, hepatitis B can be spread through sweat and tears, and cannot be killed by an alcohol prep pad?

The APP’s survey states that 20% of piercers re-use their surgical markers from client-to-client. Am I just being paranoid or is this really a concern?

Thanks.

Surgical markers are packaged as single use and in my opinion this should be adhered to. I also know alot of piercers that re-use surgical markers and in my opinion this is bad practice as it is unecessary considering that there are cheap alternatives such as a toothpick/cocktail stick and gentian violet. The risks are relatively low with regards to intact skin but mucous membrane? Hmm… does he use the same marker for genital piercings and oral piercings? I think some of us can be guilty of going a little OTT when it comes to some of our practices but with something like this the alternative is cheap and completely eliminates any risk, however small, of cross-contamination. So yeah, surgical markers are Old School and completely unecessary in todays piercing industry.

I had an off centre labret pierced two weeks ago with a CBR. I had pretty bad swelling for about 10 days and recently it has gone down. My piercing is laying more to the side now and it feels alot more comfortable. But seems to have moved. I read about a process called nesting. At first I thought it was that, but I noticed that there was a small patch of bruising at the bottom of the ring on the innerside of my lip. It looks like migration (I’ve delt with surface piercings before) and I have never had an oral piercing (my baby brother also clocked me in the lip so it might be that). I was wondering if what has happened was just nesting, or if it is migration or even rejection. Can labrets actually reject? Because I want this to be a long term piercing because I adore it.

Thanks!

This is why I am not a fan of fitting rings in a freshly pierced lip. The swelling and the constrictive nature of a BCR can cause the piercing to migrate during the initial healing stages. Also, they tend to move around alot more freely once the swelling subsides and this alone can irritate the piercing thus lengthening the healing time. It is unlikely that your piercing will reject. It would have to have been pierced ridiculously shallow for this to happen but it may well settle in a placement a little off to where it was originally pierced. You could ask your piercer to pop a sterile labret stud in there but to be honest, this is a little like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. Keep up with your aftercare, baby it, try not to play with it and hope for the best.

hey,

i just recently (about 3 days ago) got my hip surface piercing done on my right hip.

i was just wondering how i was supposed to clean it. i usually just use soap and water with a q-tip after showering.

is there any sort of special solution that i need to buy in order to keep it from becoming infected or is soap and water just fine?

THANKS!

-maya

Twice daily seasalt soaks.

A quick search on bmezine or askbme will bring up all the information you need and you would have noticed a similar question about surface piercing where I mentioned that people should be asking their piercer these questions before going ahead and getting the piercing. I could go into greater detail but as I mentioned, the information is already on here.

I’m interested in picking up a Prince Albert over my summer vacation, however I discovered to my surprise having two openings within my urinary meatus, which apparently isn’t normal!

Anyway, the one on the top just seems to go back a few millimeters and doesn’t appear to be function. The lower opening is the working one, and it looks like I’m good up to 4 gauge. I’m just worried that the piercing will manage to tear itself out. Do I have a legitimate cause to be worried or should it be fine?

As always with “medical anomalies” such as what you’re describing, I always prefer these potential clients seek a consultation with a doctor before going ahead with any piercing procedure.

This type anatomical situation you’re describing might be able to be easily corrected. Which if that’s the case, I’d suggest getting it corrected and afterwards get the piercing done.

But as always better to consult with a doctore about the matter and figure out exactly what’s going on, before going through with this type of piercing procedure.

About five weeks ago, I did my hood piercing myself, horizontal, and it wasn’t completely straight, but I didn’t mind. It was my third self done vaginal piercing, and I figured since those two were doing great (two fourchette piercings), this would be no worse. And here’s the bad part. Often, I partake in sexual activity. For the first three weeks of having this piercing, I tried to keep it to a minimum, but as the weeks progressed, I increased it, and one day, it began to hurt excessively, so I took it out. Everything seemed to be normal at first, but now, as I touch the spot where the holes were, the tissue seems rock solid. As if there was crusting and the skin just grew over it. It doesn’t hurt, it’s just very hard. I begin to worry that it’s something serious. What could this be, is it treatable, and should I worry? Thanks so much, BME.

Most likely the hardness that you are feeling is some scar tissue. If the piercing was hurting to the point of needing to remove it, that is a good indication that something wasn’t right. It could be that the placement wasn’t good. It could be that it was simply too soon for your particular body/piercing to be having sex again. It could be that the particular type of sex you were having was irritating the piercing. As a result, your body created excess scar tissue to try and protect itself from the source of irritation.

You should find that the tissue returns to something much closer to normal tissue as time goes on. Your body will just need a little time to get back to “normal”.