BodyMods Archives - Girly Geek

Medusa Piercing – My Easiest Piercing So Far

Well it’s been quite a while since I posted on here. To be honest things haven’t been very good with my health but I’ve had some free time today and I thought I’d get a post up. I’ve had some more work done my arm tattoo but I thought I’d write about my most recent piercing, my medusa piercing.

Sometimes called the philtrum, the medusa piercing is done just above your top lip in between the ridges. This is actually your philtrum.

Why did I have it done?

Well I’d been considering it for a while. When I had my septum done I was considering this one but wasn’t sure and because it had been abut 16 years since I last had a facial piercing I thought that the septum piercing was probably the most sensible considering scaring and being able to hide it.

I’d done the usual research online, following conversations on groups on facebook and looking at images. I even downloaded one of those apps where you can superimpose piercings on the photos to see what it would look like. I was pretty much convinced but I needed a bit of a kick.

I knew it was going to hurt, I was completely prepared for that but I just needed someone to give me a nudge in that direction. That opportunity came when my friend said that she wanted to get her nose pierced. Of course as the kind and supportive friend that I am, I offered to go along with her and then the lightbulb moment happened when I thought that if she was going, I would get my lip medusa piercing too. The date was set, we were going into Sheffield for a day drinking session on Good Friday and there was a really reputable piercing studio close to where we were meeting. It was on!

The Experience

We were meeting for drinks and lunch at 12pm so my and my friend decided to meet at 11am to go and get the procedures done. We were joined with two other friends, so moral support was overflowing. Medusa piercing, I was coming to get you.

We arrived at the studio, I felt like I was probably going to pass out. I’d picked up some sweets at the train station 20 mins before and swallowed them as fast as I could and had an energy drink. I’m well aware that no decent piercer will do so to someone with an empty stomach due to fear of fainting. We got to the studio and my friend was asked if she’d eaten and she said no. Tut tut!My friend filled in her form, picked her jewellery, paid up and then I did the same. What I’d eaten didn’t constitute as a sufficient meal too so we were sent off to Taco Bell to indulge in some food. about 20 minutes later we arrived back in the studio smelling like a Mexican fest.

We arrived back at the studio. I was as nervous as it gets. It’s completely normal feelings for me. I can’t comment on others. My friend went in first. I just paced around the waiting area with my two friends watching me. I was sweating, making jokes and trying to take my mind of the impending situation. My heart was racing. in what seemed like 2 minutes, my friend appeared from behind the curtain sporting her new blinged nose. It look great. Her eyes hadn’t even ran!

A few minutes passed and then it was my turn. Deep breathes…..

I walked behind the curtain and was greeted by this lovely girl (I say girl because I think lady sounds old). She asked me to sit on the bed while she got things ready. I could see as the sterile equipment and bits and bobs laid out. I was completely reassured that I was in safe hands. She went through what was going to happen and describe that because of where it was, it would more than likely feel like a sharp pinch and then it would be over and done with. I was fine with it. On the surface I probably looked quite cool but in my head I was screaming and crying. I get really anxious with situations that I don’t 100% know what to expect. Piercings are one of these. I know this isn’t probably that uncommon but nevertheless I was bricking it! Out came the pen. She marked up my lip and asked me to check if I was happy with its placement by looking in the mirror. It looked fine to me. I’m not sure I was entirely paying attention to where it was. I was too distracted with what was about to happen. Pretty stupid. She probably could have been putting it through my cheek and I probably wouldn’t have noticed.

I sat back down on the bed and she brought the clamp to put on my lip. She kept lifting my lip up to see where my web (the bit that attaches your lip to your gums) was and she said that due to my web being off centre that she would be able to put it pretty central but that if the back was slightly off centre the front would be in the centre. Sounded pretty reasonable. I was saying yes while she had my lip in a clamp. Not sure that’s what it sounded like but she got it. Then came the needle. Oh crap! It was going to happen. No backing out now. “Take a deep breath for me”. When I had my septum done I noticed I kept holding my breath. That is not good. breathing keeps you conscious so I was paying a lot of attention on just breathing.

1,2,3 it was done. The needle was through. She then threaded the bar through and went to put the purple gem on it. She was really struggling. My lip was in her fingers and she was attempting to put the top on for what felt like 24 hours. I could tell something wasn’t right. Oh god! Why don’t my piercings go right. Flash backs to when I had my septum done. She called out to the girl on the reception to come through and she questioned whether she had given her the right top for this bar. Meanwhile I’m very aware that I’m breathing like a wrong ‘en. She went out and checked and brought some others in. It was the wrong size. It wasn’t the right one. She packed my lip with cotton wool to make sure that the bar didn’t fall out. I’m sat there with my lip packed out. I must have looked like a right idiot. She sterilised the new top and proceeded to put it on my bar. It went on straight away. Crisis averted!!! I’ve never been more relieved.

All the blood starting flowing normally, my heart slowed down and I walked out from behind the curtain. My friends were sat their looking concerned. They had thought I’d passed out of something due to what seemed to be an emergency happened when the girl on the reception was called round the back.

It was done. I had my medusa piercing. Yay! Mission accomplished. I was told to avoid alcohol, spicy food and an endless list of other things. I was given aftercare instructions and we went on out way for a fun day.

How is it now?

It’s about 4 months since I had it pierced. It’s only got angry once or twice and generally that’s been because I’ve knocked it. I’ve been very good at not touching it. I made sure I swilled my mouth with water after every meal and used no alcohol mouth wash twice a day when brushing my teeth. It does seem to go a bit tender if I drink beer but it is one of the things they warn about not doing as beer has yeast in it. If I wanted a beer than much I would jut drink it using a straw. I know I shouldn’t have gone on an all day drink session straight after but it didn’t affect it that much. I still ate I just ended up with a swollen lip for a couple of days. It looked like I’d had fillers injected. Not a fan of the trout pout on me as I have a short top lip so I was constantly having to lick my teeth. Apart from what I’ve noted already it’s been pretty smooth sailing. I did have my concerns beforehand as I’ve never had a piercing that had internal and external healing to take place.

And here’s what it looked like a week after I had it done.

Medusa Piercing

Aftercare Advice

Don’t touch it! – as much as you’ll probably want to play with it, DON’T. Your fingers are quite frankly gross. If you need to touch it, make sure your hands are clean.
Give it a rinse when in the shower with water directly from the shower head. Use your tongue to push it slightly from the back to allow water to get behind the head of it.
Gently brush the back of the piercing with your toothbrush when cleaning your teeth. This will stop a build up of food and stuff on the back of it.
Use mouthwash with no alcohol after you’ve brushed your teeth. I tend to put a little pressure on the front of it so it moves away from the inside of my lip so that the mouthwash can get between the back of the bar and my lip.
Only if it flares up use a sea salt wash. I only did a couple of times during healing.

Love Emily

XOXOXO

My New Piercing – Septum Piercing

So after much debating, I decided that Saturday was the day for my new piercing – septum.

From my last post you can see that I was really torn between a medusa or septum. I decided that my septum would be the least hassle and decided to go for that…for now.

Preparation

Well. I’d totally planned on going into Sheffield to a place I’d been recommended but after waiting in for a delivery until 4ish on Saturday I knew my chances of getting in to Sheffield before closing time were slim. I’d already looked online the previous night and found a couple of alternatives if my schedule failed more local to me.

I’d already messaged a local place on Friday evening asking if I needed an appointment for a septum piercing. I received a reply first thing on Saturday morning saying that piercings were walk-ins.

I’d been psyching myself up all Saturday. At one point I was thinking “fuck it” but then I decided to grow some balls. The delivery still hadn’t arrived but I wasn’t willing to wait any longer. So I left Stephen at home and drove through to Wombwell. I completely over thought the parking situation and where the place even was and ended up walking around in the rain looking for an ATM that has rudely been moved. As the rain stopped I checked my phone and looked at the location through Facebook maps. I’d walked the wrong way down the High Street. GAH!!!!

After calming myself down and composing myself I found the place and walked in.

The experience

I was greeted by two very friendly girls on the front desk. I explained that I’d messaged the previous night and that I was there for my septum piercing. While one of them disappeared and went into the back, the other handed me the obligatory consent form that appeared to have 1001 questions relating to my health. Obviously I ticked ‘ok’ to everything and handed the form back.

I was lead upstairs to a tiny room and asked to sit on a bed. (I saw bed loosely as I’m not sure of the correct term for a massage style table)

The girl who was going to be piercing me was small and pink hairerd. Luckily she had a number of piercings and tattoos that kept me distracted. I tried not to focus too much on the needle and instruments but I did have to check that they looked cleaned and I was relieved. Everything came out of new packets apart from the clamp which she spent quite a few minutes testing how tight they would be. Now came to the mark up process. I have a number of lines drawn on my nose, had her fingers up there for a few seconds and then a good clean. I was petrified she was going to locate some small boogey or some thing. I kept holding my breath so that I didn’t breathe in her face. Probably not the best thing to do when you’re nervous and need your breath to try and calm yourself down.

I made sure I’d removed my side nostril piercing in preparation before she started.

“I’m going to use the small half ring as you’ve got a small nose,” she said. That felt lovely after being scarred most of my life after having my sister pick on me for having a big nose growing up.

I was ready!

My eyes were closed and I prepared myself.

The clamp went on…not too tight, thank god. Then she said “ready?”

“Yes,” I replied.

And there is was….OUCH!!!! OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!

I couldn’t breathe, my eyes started streaming. JEEZ!!!

She was forcing the needle through. I kinda presumed it would be over in one fell swoop. Nope! Not at all. After a few seconds, of which felt like a lifetime, she stopped and started to put the ring through. YES!! I thought, it’s really over. Oh no! How I was wrong. The ring wouldn’t go through. She kept trying to force it through… The only way I can describe the pain was like after head butting a wall with your nose and then having someone pinch it and pull it really really hard.

“It’s not gone all the way through. I’m going to try again and put a bigger ring in.’

My heart dropped. I had to go through it again.

She started to force the needle back through again.

My eyes were streaming. It hurt so much. I squeezed my eyes shut. I was starting to feel faint,. Then she stopped. “I’m just going to put the ring in now.”

I was worrying that it would take a while to put the ball on the end as I know the struggle but because she was wearing latex gloves it took her no time.

PHEW!!!! I’ve never been more relieved. She let me compose myself and then said she was going to take some photos of it for her portfolio. I was wiping my eyes with my top and felt a little in shock. I got my breathing back to normal and started to feel ok. Then the general aftercare conversation started,.

The end results

This is what I ended up with.

From the pictures it looks pretty straight but I soon realized that it was wonky as hell. Before I panicked and even contemplated asking for it doing I reassured myself that it would more than likely settle straighter once it wasn’t as swollen or traumatized.

I paid up, got my aftercare sheet and walked to the car. Here’s a picture I took once I’d sat down.

There’s no filter on this. I was indeed quite pale. Still heavy breathing but I was pretty happy and starting to love it.

After 3 weeks it’s look better and I’ve realized that even if it isn’t straight, neither is my nose. It looks nice and I like it. It’s still sore and will be for a while so I don’t plan knocking it but I will admit that I never realized how much you actually tap the tip of your nose.

Aftercare and healing

I’ve had a couple of piercings in my time and I’ll admit that this has been the easiest to take care of. A cup of boiling water with a quarter-ish of a teaspoon of salt dissolved, left to cool so that I can bear it on my skin and then I sit with the end of my nose submerged in the water. I do this twice a day for a couple of minutes at a time. I don’t play with it or poke it. When I clean my nose I used cotton buds and doing it gently. 3 weeks on and I’m pretty much pain free apart from the odd knock.

Let’s see what I go for next…the medusa is still on the cards.

xxxx

The Medusa – Debating My Next Piercing

I’ve been debating my next piercing for some time now. Recently I’ve been swaying towards the medusa.

I’ve already got my lobes pierced 3 times on each ear; the lower ones I’m in the process of stretching, my helix on my left ear, scaffold on my right ear, nose and bellybutton.

I had my scaffold done in June 2017. It’s getting there with the healing process but it is taking forever. It keeps having keloids. I seem to go through phases: it can be fine and painfree for ages and then suddenly – BOOM! – pain comes from no where! I’ve managed to get over the awkwardness of sleeping on it and I’ve manage to accommodate it subconsciously.

Maybe I’m falling into a false sense of security and maybe it will come back to bite me in the arse but I feel I’m now ready for the next one.

I was contemplating a tongue piercing. I’ve wanted this doing since before I had my nosed pierced (which was my first non-standard-ear piercing). I’ve done the research and I feel that, knowing my look, they’ll probably go straight through my vein and I’ll bleed to death. I know…I’m being dramatic. If you go to a reputable piercer it won’t be a problem but I’m a pussy.

I’ve seen many people with the medusa, also know as the philtrum. I think it looks really hot! I’m not tempted with a large blingy jewel. Something subtle is more my choice.

The piece of flesh where my nose stops and my lip begins is quite short. My lips are really shaped and quite pout and think it might be a nice addition.