The septum piercing has enjoyed a surge in popularity, especially among the celeb contingent. Whether real or fake, everyone from Rihanna to Jessica Biel to Lady Gaga to Jordin Sparks to FKA Twigs has played with this nose piercing. Despite the golden rules of septum piercing being pretty simple, involving proper care and the ability to hide the jewelry if you have a job where you can’t exactly prance around with a hoop between your nostrils, there are folks out there who think that piercing your own septum is an option or a good idea. No, I’m not kidding.
Why anyone would want to self-pierce the septum is beyond me, since any piercing involves the breaking of skin and insertion of jewelry, and doing it on your own increases the already high chance of contamination. Without proper training and know-how, you can do serious damage, from giving yourself a gnarly scar to picking up a nasty infection.
Self-piercing is a ridiculous idea and these are five critical reasons you should not attempt to do so, courtesy of Jack Canfield, a professional body piercer at The Ink Spot in Casper, Wyoming with 17 years of experience.
1. You Could Get a Staph Infection
Canfield notes that if you do not properly disinfect the area with the right products, you could end up of the staph infection, which he says is “very hard to get rid of and very nasty to look at.” You don’t want to mess around with staph. Seriously.
2. It’s Not an Easy Area to Pierce
According to Canfield, the septum can be difficult to pierce because we all have unique physical characteristics when it comes to our cartilage in the nostril. “It’s completely different from one person to the next,” he said. “Some people absolutely do not have the right septum for this body piercing, so if you do not know how to check these factors out yourself, it is not a good idea to be putting a hole through it.”
3. Who’s Going to Fix Your Mistake?
Even if you are successful in doing your own septum piercing, which is unlikely, it could end up being crooked. Who will fix it? If you went to a parlor, the original piercer could fix it. He or she can also warn you that of the chance it could become crooked. You didn’t know that, did you? Right, because you are not a pro piercer.
4. You Don’t Have Properly Sterilized Tools
A little rubbing alcohol isn't going to cut it here. Canfield has a $3,000 autoclave used to sterilize tools. His needles are single-use. You probably don’t have the proper equipment, so you shouldn’t be messing around.
5. You Really Just Don't Know What You're Doing
If none of the above has made you go, “Yeah, piercing my own septum is a ridiculously absurd idea,” perhaps you can think about and then comprehend this. Taking a big needle and creating a hole in the center of your face, in the body part that helps you breathe, is not something you should do without know-how and training. It’s best left to the pros. I can't believe I even had to remind you of that!
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