clit piercing

 I receeived this message from a woman who wanted to know if she could wear gold body jewelry in a Vertical Clitoral Hood (VCH) piercing:

I'm interested in a vch piercing and my question is will a 14k curved bar be appropiate for this type of piercing?

My reply:

I received yet another message about a botched VCH piercing. The difference was that it was done in a studio where I do refer to a particular piercer! However, the individual I refer to wasn't available so it was done by a different piercer. BEWARE: if I don't list the individual piercer's name on my referrals page, I am NOT providing a referral to them. Some studios have piercers that vary widely in terms of skills and experience. Please be careful!!!

"Hi Elayne, How are you? I'm messaging you because I got a vch piercing about 3 days ago from XXX. The piercer you recommended wasn't in so I let another piercer at the location do it. Now I'm concerned that it wasn't done right (placement) and that she used the wrong type of jewelry.  I attached is a pic that I took myself, hopefully you can let me know what's up, and what I need to do if anything. Thanks in advance."

 

 

 

I recently received a wonderful email from a reader who got a VCH piercing for her 18th birthday. She explains that it was instrumental in reclaiming her body after abuse. Read her touching story about how a piercing was so positive and empowering:

Hello Elayne,
I got my VCH piercing for my 18th birthday and it's really a thanks to you, this blog, the Piercing Bible and others who have the VCH piercing and shared their experiences.

I was sexually abused for five years when i was a kid so my body never did feel like it was completely mine until my birthday (the 17th). I feel so liberated, new, fresh and like i finally have a choice with my body-- i never knew a piercing could make someone feel this way or could help me out much more than any therapist could. Whenever i have flashbacks, or memories of the abuse, i can just smile it off now because my body finally feels like it's MINE and no one will ever be able to take it away and abuse it again.

Body modification has helped me out so much these past two years with finding myself again and gaining a strong sense of self and i feel like i owe a big thank you to you. You've enlightened me a lot on piercing (I want to be a piercer one day in the future) and have helped me realize how liberating and renewing a piercing can be-- thank you so much for being there for everyone, for writing the Piercing Bible and for being so passionate about body modification (you're a true inspiration)!

I received a question from a woman who was experiencing a very unpleasant side effect from her clitoral hood piercing:

Hi Elayne,
 
I am so glad I found your website.  I need your wisdom.  I have had my vch for about two years and ever since I got it I have had a fishy scent.  Prior to my piercing I had no scent at all - not to be gross, but my husband said I had no scent or taste.  For example, I could be in bed for days with the flu and not shower and still not have any scent.  Now, even though I wash daily I still end up with a fishy scent by the end of the day.  (Sorry for the to-much-info details but I wanted to explain just how much my vagina has changed since the piercing).  I clean with ivory and move the barbell back and forth.  I don't have any discharge, redness, or pain.  My husband said the scent is not that strong but I am horrified.  I have not changed my piercing since I got it and from what the piercer told me I have a stainless steel barbell with "less than 18% nickel".  I am wondering if I need to chane to another material, if I may have bacteria inside the piercing, or if the barbell possibly changed the pH of my vagina???  Should I just take it out?  I am so embarrassed and would be grateful for any advice you could give me.
 
Thanks so much,
R.

I received a message from a woman who needed advice about her hood piercing:

I removed my HCH piercing when I was pregnant with my 3 year old. I couldn't get the piercing in after I had the baby.  About a month ago my husband and I decided to try again.  We used his cock piercing ring which was a bigger gauge with a bigger ball because we were unable to place the ball on my ring.  Within 3 days I could barely walk due to the piercing.  I am not sure if the gauge was too big on his ring for my piercing or we didn't clean everything properly.  I am healed now and I want to put the piercing in again.  What is the proper way to clean the ring and what is the best size? Or is there a trick to those pesky closing balls?
Thanks in advance for your help!
M.

Hi M.,
Inserting an even larger size after a piercing has been out is a recipe for problems. So is inserting jewelry that has not been sterilized in an autoclave.
Is there a reason you don't want to get help from a professional piercer? We have tools called insertion tapers that allow us to gently insert jewelry. There is a bit of a trick to getting the balls in, and most piercers are very adept at it!

This is a brief introduction to insertion tapers from my book:

I received a message today from a gal who was concerned that her piercing hadn't been properly placed. Wow was she right!

I received a message today from a gal who was concerned that her piercing hadn't been properly placed. Wow was she right!

I received this message from a woman seeking help with her VCH piercing.

Hi Elayne I am in urgent need of some help!!! I had a vertical hood piercing done in Australia back in November 2009. I haven't had any problems with it until about 3 wks ago when it sometimes became tender to touch. It's not tender all the time. mainly in the morning after getting out of bed. So i just put it down to abit of twisting or pulling during the night. It was only tender for about 2 weeks then nothing for the last week.

Then this morning i noticed that there seems to be a piece of skin missing on my hood so that i can now see straight through to the barbell (which is a straight 12 gauge bar). There is no discharge or smell and it is not sore to touch at all. I have contacted the piercer who performed the VCH and they seem disinterested in my problem but i am quite worried about it as it doesn't seem normal to me. I did go to a well known, qualified piercer who has her masters degree in piercing. I have attached some photos for you to have a look at and any suggestions you might have on what is happening and what i should do would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

My response: