emu oil

I recently received a great message from a gentleman who got his first piercings at age 50. He wrote to say how much he likes emu oil, and how well it worked on his piercings and stretches:

Hi Elayne,

This is the second time I've noticed this.  I've had a few piercings since I was young.  I got a batch of piercings a while ago and the old, established piercings started to ache and ooze along with the new piercings.  All seemed to be better and I got a few more piercings recently.  Now all of my piercings, including the last batch are sore and crusting.  Can my new piercings cause my older piercings to be irritated? Thanks, S.

I received a message from a woman whose nipples I pierced and she had questions about changing the jewelry:

Hello Elayne! I got my nipples pierced by you last year when you were at Obscurities, Dallas. I just want to let you know that this is my favorite piercing yet! They healed so beautifully! So after a year I was wondering if getting my jewelry changed to rings instead of barbells would be possible. If I did do the jewelry change (meaning I got to a piercer to get them changed, I'm kinda chicken in that situation) would my nipples once again become tender as they get used to the new jewelry? I still clean them daily. Your input would mean a lot to me! Thank you again for everything you have done! S.

I received this message today:

Hello Elayne, I was recently cleaning my apadravya and noticed that I have what looks like a tear or some sort of injury on the head of my penis. My piercing is fairly new, I believe it is 4 months old. I don't know if this is simply because it's still fresh or if I have something more serious to deal with. I have been sexually active but I haven't done anything rough or overexerting. I have worn protection and I haven't had any pain during sex. I have included a picture of the wound. It doesn't hurt, but it is (VERY SLIGHTLY) more tender to the touch than the rest of my penis. If you could respond to this ASAP then I would greatly appreciate it. This has been worrying me a lot. Thank you very much.

I just got a fantastic email from one of the clients I pierced recently when I was on the road:

Hi Elayne!

Just wanted to thank you again so much for piercing me in Philly two weeks ago, and let you know how I'm doing. The difference between how I felt after this piercing and last time I tried to have my triangle done were night and day, as of course I expected since you did this one =) After grabbing frozen yogurt I actually felt alright enough that we walked back to the hotel from the piercing shop without a problem! Both the triangle and the VCH are healing beautifully; I have been salt soaking them and using the emu oil as you recommended - it is fabulous by the way! During the first week a particularly active day would have the piercings starting to feel a little pinchy and irritated but the emu oil helped that like a charm and let me stay active without feeling a thing. The swelling has gone down and everything feels great, no redness or discharge, and the rhinestones look just gorgeous. Don't worry though, I'm not letting the easy healing convince me to go easy on my hygiene or lure me into trying to 'play' too early =P I know I was a nervous wreck on the piercing table but you were very comforting. Thanks again for being so patient and supportive, and for giving me these beautiful piercings!

--N.

My reply:

One of my friends on Triablectic just sent me this great feedback about my book:

I Just wanted to say that I love your book! I received a copy from Amazon.com a couple weeks ago and have gone through it cover to cover. I am relatively new to the piercing thing (2008 was my first piercing) but it has really been something I've found to be so totally liberating even at this point in my life, I am 58. I love the way you write, it is so thorough in its coverage of every aspect with just enough subtle humor thrown in to keep it light and refreshing to read. I found it very informative with it's coverage of aftercare and also on one of the piercings I am considering. I am also totally thankful for your recommendation for the emu oil. I have been using it on my piercings every day for about a month now and I can't believe the effect it has had. I live in Southern Calif. and have had Eric 'Sque3ze' Anderson as my piercer at his shop 'Anomaly' in Pasadena. I feel fortunate to have found someone so knowledgeable and professional. In fact I just called and talked to him today about the possibility of getting an amphallang (I'm still in fact a bit hesitant about it and just trying to get a lot of feedback on it). I was impressed to see him mentioned in your book. Anyway I just wanted to say how much I loved your book and that I find you to be one 'awesome' lady.

This lovely comment was made (along with some very apt criticism of the medical and pharmaceutical industries) on my posting about emu oil.

Elayne, I love you! I've been in your periphery for many years and I have *never* seen or heard the faintest unpleasant whisper about you. That alone is admirable, but then you have to go and be a skilled, caring and intuitive facilitator for all us perverts. You've earned your wings ten times over! D'Arcy

If you've read much of what I've written about piercing, chances are you've run into some mention of emu oil. I think it is fantastic for healing everything, including body piercings (whether new and healing, in the process of stretching, or having a flare up). I got a fantastic email today from a woman who used it to heal her son's burns:

Elayne! I hope things are going superbly down in the Yucatan with your honey. I have to tell you, We miss you!!!! that would be the entire piercing community in the united states. I still wish I had been able to come down to NOLA before you closed and have the honor of having you do my triangle. Thanks to your recommedations, I flew out to Inifinite in Philly and had the esteemed Kevin Jump perform it for me. Its stretched to a 4 gauge and honestly I don't even wear my VCH anymore (although I could and have) because I love my triangle so much! I got the chance to spend the day with Jen and she is just a love! We shared the miseries of the east coast attitude. LOL Anyways, the reason why I am writing to you is different. Not piercing related persay, but related to you. Back in the day when I  was working on piercings and healing I practically absorbed everything you wrote. Including the information about emu oil. I followed every link, I read every article. and thankfully, I did! This past fall, my son was being a stupid teenager. and to make a fairly long story short, he ended up being burned on all four extremities from a spray paint can exploding. The paint was on fire and it stuck to anywhere he had bare skin. He was burned over 30% of his body. He was lifeflighted to Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh and lodged in the pediatric burn ICU. Thankfully he didn't need skin grafts but it was a long agonizing painful process.