Nipple piercing ripped out -- how to care for? recovery?

[Karl Kleinpaste]

About an hour ago, I did something disturbingly stupid: I nearly
tripped when stepping out of the shower, sort of falling and bumping
into the shower stall door, whereupon my right nipple's barbell caught
against the edge of the door. My body was still in mid-almost-fall,
the barbell stayed stuck at the door edge, and -- coming as no
surprise to anyone -- the barbell is tougher than my nipple flesh.
The barbell ripped clean out of the nipple, straight forward.

You may well imagine that this was somewhat painful.

I've had 16ga barbells in my chest since late 1996. They've never
caused me a bit of trouble. There was a time when I had to have them
out for about 6 months, and getting the barbells back through them at
the end of that period was an exercise in an hour's annoyance, but
otherwise my nipple hardware has been no problem to me at all in the
entire time I've had them.

When the barbell ripped out this morning, the nipple bled a fair
amount for about 5 minutes, then the flow abruptly slowed to a very
reduced pace. I cleaned it with a fresh washcloth, dabbed it dry with
kleenex, and taped a gauze pad over it. I haven't yet used anything
like Neosporin on it.

I looked over the FAQ, but it seems to have no observations about
damaged piercings.

So the questions which now arise are:

- What's the best way to take care of this injury? The nipple flesh
looks pretty abused, of course.
- Is it possible for this to heal in a way that will let me resume use
of the barbell at some future point? I realize I'm in for a month or
three of healing, but what can I expect long-term?
- It has already been suggested to me that I ought to try to put the
barbell back in place and effectively tape it there by keeping gauze
(or a bandage of some kind) over it for a month or so. Is this a
suggestion I should take seriously, or would I just be excavating a
whole new circle of healing hell?

Any suggestions or helpful comments would be most welcome.

--karl

[Nina Baltes]

OW!

Karl Kleinpaste wrote:

> - Is it possible for this to heal in a way that will let me resume use
> of the barbell at some future point? I realize I'm in for a month or
> three of healing, but what can I expect long-term?
> - It has already been suggested to me that I ought to try to put the
> barbell back in place and effectively tape it there by keeping gauze
> (or a bandage of some kind) over it for a month or so.

I'd forget about that.
If you want an optimal result, see a surgeon and have the severed halves
sewn back together. Or you can just put a bandage on it and hope for the
best, i.e. one nipple instead of two halves. In any case: let it heal
and then have it re-pierced.

Nina
--
C'est les microbes qui auront le dernier mot.
Louis Pasteur
http://www.chaotropic.net

[-pH]

"Karl Kleinpaste" <ka...@charcoal.com> wrote in message
news:vxkn0ka...@cinnamon.vanillaknot.com...

> The barbell ripped clean out of the nipple, straight forward.

i had something equally retarded happen to me a long time ago and what i
did is in no way a suggestion of a proper way to heal your wound.
i was skating and fell off a hand rail, somewhere between the first step i
hit and ending up on the bottom one my left nipple ring decided to stay. it
was pretty gnarly looking but luckily falling down a set of stairs dulled
the pain of the ripped nipple. this was back when i still pierced so i went
to the shop, cleaned, clamped and gave it a single 12g 1/4" stainless steel
suture. now i have one nipple that looks, well, fucking deformed and one
that is normal. healing was fine and i eventually took out the vertical
suture and repeirced it horizontaly. and since then have taken them both out
about 6 yrs ago because nipple piercings never fucking heal. you may think
they do, but wait a couple years. they'll act up.
all that being said, what were you doing with 16g bb's in your nipples?
thats almost like asking for it to be ripped out.

-pH
www.stealbodyjewelry.com

[shadetree]

"Karl Kleinpaste" <ka...@charcoal.com> wrote:
> I've had 16ga barbells in my chest since late 1996.

<snip>

> Any suggestions or helpful comments would be most welcome.

First things first, OW. Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow, and to conclude, ow.
The exact same thing happened to a female friend of mine. If I remember, she
let it heal, and then repierced it a year later.
16 gauge is pretty high for a nipple piercing; you might want to consider
stretching to a lower gauge. It probably wouldn't have stopped it from
ripping out, but the thinner the wire, the greater the chance of
ripping/tearing/cutting when pressure is applied to the jewellery.
Good luck, in any event.
Ow. Jeez.
--
shadetree

[Cylence]

Karl Kleinpaste <ka...@charcoal.com> wrote in message news:<vxkn0ka...@cinnamon.vanillaknot.com>...

> I've had 16ga barbells in my chest since late 1996.

If you ever have it repierced, I would suggest going for a larger
gauge that wouldn't rip out, solely because it would suck to have that
happen twice.

Cylence

[Graham Goodyer]

Of course nipple pricings heal!
I've had my horizontal piercings for 17 years, and vertical bars for 15
years, and all 4 piercings are properly healed. They are 3.2mm though, and
when I occasionally catch them, they are painful, but don't rip. Skin is
very tough you know.

grahamssw

[Lara]

Karl Kleinpaste <ka...@charcoal.com> wrote:
[argharghargharghargharghargh]

> When the barbell ripped out this morning, the nipple bled a fair
> amount for about 5 minutes, then the flow abruptly slowed to a very
> reduced pace. I cleaned it with a fresh washcloth, dabbed it dry with
> kleenex, and taped a gauze pad over it. I haven't yet used anything
> like Neosporin on it.

Good, don't.

> - What's the best way to take care of this injury? The nipple flesh
> looks pretty abused, of course.

It's a little late now, but your best bet was to get the wound properly
sutured if it's looking displaced. However, by now the surfaces would
have started to adhere and epithelialise. Otherwise, treat it like any
other cut - cover it up with a Band-aid or similar dressing, and don't
pick the scabs. No antibiotics. Repeat after me: no antibiotics.
Antibiotics are for treating infection, not plastering on anything
gooey-looking.

Use emollient massage after the scabs drop off to minimise scarring.
Plain emollient, nothing fragranced or full of junk you don't need.
Aqueous cream or sorbolene is fine.

Next time, call your piercer or piercing-friendly doctor straight away
rather than bandaging it up and hoping for the best.

> - Is it possible for this to heal in a way that will let me resume use
> of the barbell at some future point? I realize I'm in for a month or
> three of healing, but what can I expect long-term?

Get it re-pierced after it's well-healed.

Lara

[kettl...@mydusd.org]

Hi all, so this same thing actually happened to me yesterday, I fell into my door getting out of the shower and it ripped it right out. I went to the doctors and had it stitched back together since my nipple had two flaps on skin and was bleeding quite a lot. I would next time recommend getting it stitched so that you don't have any problems with it looking deformed. Goodluck!

[erol...@gmail.com]

Bahhh omg I'm happy this wasn't just me but shat we all had to go through that !! I was using my loofa in the shower the ribbon caught my ring and snatched ! Holy effing shiza! Ripped half way horizontally didn't know what to do lucklybhad bhtterlfy tap and large knuckle bandages didn't put anything on it ointment wise but wasn't sure really exactly what to do !! Left the piercing in butterfly tapped the nipple to heal together where it is ripped then the other way and the large manage to cover the nip completely so can't happen and barbel isn't shifting hoping for the best . Fml
We'll see how it goes I'm already planning for one odd looking nip I don't want to repierce through scartissue