I'm gonna get my nose pierced next week.

[Heidi]

I've wanted to do this for a while, but waited for my goddaughter to get hers done first so that I could personally assess the pain, bloodshed and after-care involved. So, next week, my goddaughter is taking me to her "piercer" and will hold my hand while I get it done.

Anyone know how easy it is, after the piercing is healed, to remove the stud and whether the hole is really obvious? (I ask this because there are business occasions on which I won't want to show up with a tiny diamond in my nose.) The hole, once healed, should be smaller than an earring hole, right?

Yeah, I'm a generally cautious person. :P

[Oeditpus Rex]

1. For a cautious person

you sure sound like a dirty commie hippie.

[Heidi]

2. You nailed

the hippie thing, but you're missin' the mark on the hygiene part. :rofl:

[Oeditpus Rex]

3. I know, but

"commie hippie" just doesn't stand on its own all that well, y'know? :shrug:

[Heidi]

6. "Delightful, stylish hippie" would work.

:P

[Oeditpus Rex]

13. But isn't that an oxymoron?

:shrug:



Well... maybe not "delightful"...

[radwriter0555]

31. It always looks like there is a booger hanging down inside...

On my stepdaughter, anyhow.

[MrScorpio]

4. Learn Belly Dancing

It'll fit right in

[Heidi]

5. Do you hate nose piercings?

I don't see it as a cultural thing, particularly. More like getting one's ears pierced.

[MrScorpio]

9. Nose piercings are cool

What kind of stud going with?

[Heidi]

11. The smallest diamond stud the piercer offers.

I'll get the piercing low enough that I can also wear a small silver ring, but I doubt I'd ever exercise that option. :hi:

[Spider Jerusalem]

7. I dated a girl who had a nasal piercing...

and the hole is fairly small and basically unnoticeable if you don't have a stud or ring in, but it'll close up and need to be re-pierced if you don't wear anything in it for too long, since it's a soft-tissue piercing and not through cartilage. And I seem to recall that it's not too difficult to remove whatever jewellery you have in (a nose stud is curved or hooked to hold it in place, and doesn't have a back).

[Heidi]

8. Just the info I was hoping to get.

Thank you, Spider Jerusalem! :hi:

[dropkickpa]

32. Actually, the nostril is ALL cartilage

I had my nostril pierced when I was 16, stopped wearing anything in it about 11 years ago, and can still get jewelry through it should the mood stike me. I also had my septum pierced about 11 years ago, stopped wearing the jewelry in it about 6 years ago, and ditto, I can still get jewelry in it, too. The reason both of these are still open is that they both go through cartilage. I also breifly had an erle (the bridge if the nose, up between the eyes) but, because that is a "surface" piercing, it closed within 24 hours of me taking out.

For the nostril there is a small hole, but the vast majority of people never notice it.

I highly recommend going to this site http://www.safepiercing.org/index.html , the Association of Professional Piercers site has a TON of good info. You should thoroughly investigate the shop you plan on going to to make sure they are clean and safe. If you get a bad feeling at all when walking into the shop, turn around a WALK AWAY. The APP site has some very good tips on what to look for.

Good luck and happy piercing!!

[SeattleGirl]

10. I can't see myself doing that, but hey, if that's what floats your boat,

I say, go for it, gf!!! And I want PICTURES!! :* :loveya: :hug:

[Heidi]

12. That's because you have a more polished

and decidedly less "dirty, commie hippie" look than I do. :rofl:

Soooooooooo good to see you, my friend. :hug: :loveya:

:*

[SeattleGirl]

14. My dirty commie hippie self is usually hidden quite well.

:rofl:

[gmoney]

15. Pictures! Moved and seconded...

Howdy stranger. How you been?

:hi:

[Heidi]

18. YOU!!!!

I've missed you, and am ashamed to acknowledge that I owe you about three PMs. :blush:

:hug: :hug: :hug:

[gmoney]

51. It's now four...

check your PM :)

[RetroLounge]

16. Nose piercing are sexy as hell...

:yummy:

RL

[Heidi]

19. We'll see

on Wednesday or Thursday whether it's sexy or not. :D

Nice to see you, my friend. :hug:

[RetroLounge]

27. Well, it's sexy on you...

My nose is a jewelery virgin...

RL

[Heidi]

28. Hahahaha!

I'm kinda looking forward to losing my nose . . . what-you-said. :P

And I'm pretty sure my goddaughter is looking forward to seeing me wince in pain. She's sort of in love with the fact that she's my piercing mentor. :rofl:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

17. It's really easy to remove the stud and the hole isn't noticeable at all.

It honestly will look just like a pore on your nose. It's not noticable unless they have their face in yours and are looking for it. I've had my nose pierced for a few years and have never had any problems with it. It was actually one of my fastest healing piercings, despite my chronic sinus issues. Just make sure to clean it with sea salt soaks once or twice a day while it's healing.

Just make sure you use the nose screw type stud...


and not the nose bone type stud...


The latter kind can cause all sorts of problems, due to the ball on the end. Often involving cutting it to get it out or ripping up your nose trying to pull it out.

[Heidi]

20. Thank you so much, haruka.

It's reassuring to know that some of my more conservative colleagues aren't going to see a big ol' honkin' hole in my nose when I take the stud out.

The curved stud that my goddaughter had to wear for the first two days is like the top one you've shown. After two days, she was allowed to take it out and insert a tinier one. :D

:hug: Thanks for the info!

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

21. Two days???

She's really, really lucky she was able to get the smaller one in. With a piercing that fresh, you can lose the hole in a matter of moments. I'd say two weeks minimum, preferably a month (which is what my piercer recommends).

Also, don't use alcohol, peroxide, bactine, neosporin etc to clean it. Either use diluted unscented antibacterial soap or preferably, mix about a teaspoon of sea salt into warm water and soak the piercing for about 5 minutes. It draws everything out and it will heal much faster.

I have 14 holes currently and have probably had twenty piercings over my life, so I'm pretty up-to-date on this stuff.

[Heidi]

22. The piercer gave Sara a disinfecting solution

to use several times a day. She had no problem getting the preliminary stud out and inserting the tiny one. But I totally agree with you on the sea salt/warm water thing.

What do you mean by "soak the piercing" for five minutes? Do I have to submerge my nose in warm, salty water and breathe through my mouth? :shrug:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

24. Ideally, yeah.

It's annoying as hell, but it's the best way. Alternately, you can soak cotton balls in the sea salt and hold that over the piercing for five minutes, then rinse the salt off.

[Heidi]

26. Okay, I can do that.

Thanks for the insights, gf. If I don't pass out from the pain, I can handle the rest of it. :D

[bridgit]

23. nice, use the kids as a laboratroy...

:rofl: we seen a little girl getting her ear's pierced at the mall with what seemed her mom, grandma & auntie standing round; hubby mentioned his mom pierced his older daughter's with an ice cube, potato half, and a carpet needle and we walked on...poor baby, we could hear her yelping across the food court :cry:

:hi:

[Heidi]

25. Oh, my!

My grandmother pierced my ears after numbing each with an ice cube, and then I had to go around with the thread from the needle hanging out of my ears for a couple of days. :rofl:

When I got the second, higher piercing in my right ear lobe (32nd birthday gift to myself), I had it done by a professional. Nothing against my granny, but I _highly_ recommend the professional piercing route. :thumbsup:

:loveya: bridgit!

[MountainLaurel]

29. Thanks for asking these ?s

I've been wanting one for a while. My birthday was last week, and I noticed an older librarian with a nice little stud, and it's been raising my interest again. Might want to get over my cold first, though.

[Heidi]

30. Let me know when you're gonna do it,

and I'll send ya some good vibes, OK?

I think a tiny stud in the nose looks absolutely excellent. It's like an "extra little something," if ya know what I mean. :thumbsup:

[MountainLaurel]

35. Will do.

We just moved to a new region, so I need to get a sense for which piercing parlor to go to (Mr. Laurel's attorney boss heard that I was thinking about a tattoo and is all ready to take me to the place where she gets her work done, so I'll probably ask her).

[wildhorses]

33. will you post a pic, pretty please--

with sugar on top? but, for real i have been thinking of peircing my nose, too!! Just can't get behind the tattoo thing but, keep coming back to the nose:shrug:

:hug::hi:

[Heidi]

37. Same here.

I'll only post a photo if I look as good with the piercing as RetroLounge seems to think I might. :rofl:

Nice to see you, my friend. :hug: :loveya:

:*

[yellowdogintexas]

34. OK folks, I will try to get my daughter the piercer to reply to all

these burning questions later today when she comes over to wash clothes.

She has probably pierced 150 noses at least; I have even watched her do it

She does not recommend the same disinfectant you use for earlobes however.

[Heidi]

36. Thank you sooooooooooooo much!

:hug:

[ganeshji]

38. The hole is barely noticeable when the stud is out

and if you wear a tiny stud it is decidely feminine and attractive. I generally wear a tiny emerald stud but people are fascinated by the large nose ring that I sometimes wear (one has beading that extends to my collarbone and a chain that hooks on my ear)and others just glare at me. You may find that a pierced nose enhances your appearance so much that you would hate to take it out. I feel naked without jewelry in my nose now.

[Heidi]

39. I apologize for not welcoming you sooner, ganeshji.

I spend most of my time in Latest Breaking News, LBN and the Mod Hot Tub. I agree with you completely with the look of a nose piercing, though I'm not brave enough to do the ring that hooks to the ear (though my husband, Call Me Wesley, has suggested it). Thank you so much for your insights. :hug: And again, welcome to DU! :pals:

[ganeshji]

43. Thanks for the welcome.

I never thought I would wear anything but a very small stud. The best thing about having your nose pierced is that large and small jewelry looks great. Surprisingly enough, conservative business people are the ones who compliment me the most frequently. Who knows what that's about?

[joneschick]

40. I'm thinking of getting mine re-pierced

but I'm think it might look silly on "a woman of a certain age." When we went to India 3 yrs ago, that was one of the souvenirs that 2 of my 3 daughters and I brought home. Mine closed up on me when I took the stud out for a meeting and I never could get it back in. I would go to the piercer that Daughter #1 has used for all her piercings. Very clean, professional shop. :hi:

[Heidi]

46. I'm 43.

What is this "certain age" of which you speak? :hug:

[joneschick]

48. I hit 50 in a couple weeks

:shrug: Let's do it. :hi:

[ghostsofgiants]

41. Since advice has already been dispensed, I'll just say "Ooh, fun!"

:)

[Heidi]

42. Be checkin' your PMs on Thursday afternoon for whines from me.

I just found out that I can't do it Wednesday since that's a holiday ("Day of the Dead") here, so it's looking like Thursday. In any event, I'll certainly be commiserating, since I don't take physical pain lightly. :scared:

[ghostsofgiants]

45. Day of the Dead?

Shit, Switzerland has some badass holidays!



:P

The piercings I've had (I've only had two so far, but whatever, haha) were definitely nothing to whine about. Not painful at all. (And I'm a guy who's notorious for a low pain tolerance, haha. Wonder how I'll fare with my tattoos when I get them, haha.)

[Neoma]

44. Awesome.

[jmm]

47. Please tell me you're not getting it done with a gun.

I got my nose done twice with a gun and once with a sleeper in high school. It closed every time partially because I have sensitive skin and the materials being used weren't what they claimed to be but also because the angle of it was never right which made wearing and taking care of my nose ring more difficult. Despite all I went through with skin infections and bad piercings I didn't scar and the hole was never noticeable. I finally got it done again this summer with a needle and except for a couple of times when I wore stuff that wasn't as hypoallergenic as advertised I haven't had any problems. It healed very quick and the hole isn't noticeable. Everybody heals differently but within a week I changed mine.

My left eye watered a bit when I got it done but it didn't hurt anymore than getting my ears done. If you don't want your stud to be noticeable you could always do what I did and get your labret pierced too. People will be so focused on that that most won't even notice your nose ;-).


Edited to add that they do sell retainers that you could always use if you were concerned about your hole closing.

[ghostsofgiants]

49. Piercing guns are the physical manifestation of all that is evil.

http://wiki.bmezine.com/index.php/Piercing_Gun

http://www.bmeworld.com/heidi/guns.html

http://www.bmezine.com/news/pubring/20030509.html

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

50. Heidi, don't go without your nose ring or the hole will close up

I got some clear plastic retainers which I wear for job interviews and the like. Go to this site:

http://www.tribalectic.com

Or Google "clear nostril retainers" and see if you can find something you like. The nose holes grow back VERY fast without a ring in them.

Best of luck! It really doesn't hurt a lot; mine throbbed a bit for a few days, but I had no problems otherwise.

[Heidi]

54. But after it's healed, it's okay to go a few hours without,

right? "A few hours" is the longest I would _evah_ hope to be among people who might be judgmental about my piercing. :hi:

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

55. They grow back REALLY fast

Once we were at a hotel in Washington DC, and while washing my face I accidentally knocked my nose ring out of my nose and down the drain. I couldn't get to a tattoo parlor until the next day, and they had to put a rather large and scary-looking needle through my nose to reopen the hole. It made me extremely queasy, and I now travel with a backup just in case!

[noonwitch]

52. I hope you are not prone to sinus infections!

The allergist my mom used to work for always said that nose piercing causes sinus infections. My dentist says that mouth or nose piercings increase dental infections, and can cause absesses.

Have fun with it!

[Heidi]

53. Nope, no sinus or dental problems.

I would think any healing wound prone to bacterial infection might increase the chance of infections in nearby tissues. (I'm grossing myself out here. :scared: )

Thanks for the info, noonwitch. (Love your username, gf. :thumbsup: )