The story of my belly piercing

ir0ncunt:

LET ME START OFF BY SAYING THAT I DO NOT PROMOTE DIY PIERCING.

Ok.

Back when I was 15 and stupid, I thought it would be a smart idea to pierce my belly button- not professionally of course, but by myself.
I used a safety pin that I fooled myself into thinking that I had sterilized it.  
Once I had managed to pierce it after a few painful hours of slowly trying to do it, I bled about 3 litres blood and almost passed out.
I kept the safety pin in there for about a week, and it quickly became infected and looked as if it were rejecting - so I took it out.  

As you can see from this photo- that little scar next to the top ball is where I had first pierced it, I’m almost 18 years old and I still have this scar.
After that I would re-pierce it all the time and not insert any jewellery, because I didn’t own any proper bars. 

It got to a point where I was dared to do it at school and someone had bought me the jewellery if I managed to not pussy out, mind you the jewellery wasn’t even a long bar for swelling. So I did it, after icing my stomach for an hour, I pierced it and bled everywhere. Of course the bar didn’t fit, It was too big for such a small hole. So I put in this copper wire - not even remembering that I have sensitive skin and am allergic to anything that isn’t pure metals. After I had stretched it with the wire I put in a small lip bar. Yes, a lip bar. It quickly got infected, and the hole swelled over the bar and sealed it with the infection. For obvious reasons- I panicked. I couldn’t get the bar out, and my whole stomach broke out into a red itching and oozing rash. I went to my school nurse and asked her to remove it, she couldnt because the hole had swallowed up the whole bar. She said that I’d have to get it surgically removed or else I’d go septic. I went back to class and tried to clean out the infection and cut down to where the bar was and I and blood came pouring out, excusing myself from class I ran back to the nurse and she put on her gloves and yanked it out the opposite way (ball part was pulled through through the whole piercing). She gave me wipes and referred me to a doctor, I was excited. I put in the actual navel jewellery, that was too short for swelling, and left it in there. The infection quickly subsided after days of carefully looking after it and cleaning it.

All I have to prove from this story, are some nice abscesses, a wonky belly ring, and a mint scar. 

Don’t do this at home please, don’t be stupid 15 year-old me. 

Piercings and ‘Freeze Spray’.

emilyarmstrong:

So, these days, if you’ve had a cartilage piercing at a piercing shop, you will have been sprayed with ‘freeze spray’, aka, ethyl chloride.

For those not up on their organic chemistry, Ethyl Chloride is an alkane with a Cl group bonded to a carbon. It’s formed through the hydrochlorination of ethene, which changes it into a, chemically, very interesting substance. 

Aside from being used as an anti-knocking agent in engines, a blowing agent (yes, giggle away) and cosmetic thickening products, it’s most commonly used within medicine and modification.

So, how does this work?

Well, as most people know, different substances have different boiling points, and ethyl chloride has a very low boiling point. Water, obviously, changes from a liquid to a solid (water to steam, duh ><) at 100C, whereas ethyl chloride has a boiling point of just 12.3C!

This means, when it hits anything above this temperature, it boils immediately. So, when that piercer of yours sprays it on your skin, it boils!

But, because it has such a low boiling point, as it boils, it draws the heat from the area. This means, as soon as it hits that ear of yours, it’ll boil, and draw the heat away from your ear, making it colder!

This, in turn, has its pros and cons!

The Good:

  • Nervous clients calm the f down when it’s sprayed, it’s like a placebo effect that actually works (sometimes)
  • It’s not that economically unviable (not that anyone really cares about that ><)
  • It, on the whole, numbs the area and makes it a little more pleasant.

The Bad:

  • It can actually make the piercing process harder, as the skin hardens, meaning more effort is needed to get the needle through, which can cause excessive trauma.
  • It can be dangerous is overused.
  • If it’s used on mucus membranes, like the nose, sexual organs, and mouth, then you can welcome necrosis with open arms!

The Ugly:

  • If overused by an incompetent piercer (there are a lot of them!) The following can happen. Please note, this is my navel piercing, which was botched, due to ethyl chloride misuse and clamp closing.

This documents the progression of the burn:

TWO HOURS IN: Note, that redness around a new navel isn’t uncommon, but when it hangs around for more than a few hours, then watch out!

DAY TWO: Bruising becomes more pronounced and darker


DAY 7: It’s started to calm down now, but, 18 months on, I still have the scar!

Right, so, now we know what ethyl chloride is, and how not to use it!

If you have any questions at all, just head over to the ask box! I’m here to help guys!

*I am aware I have an awfully hairy stomach… ><