vertical clitoral hood piercing

I received a message with some photos from a woman who had received a Horizontal Clitoral Hood (HCH) piercing, but she was disappointed with it. She sought the piercing to enhance her sexual pleasure, and she was not experiencing any added enjoyment or sensations. I saw the photo, and this was my comment:

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:

I received two photos from a woman who requested an appointment to receive a Vertical Clitoral Hood (VCH) piercing from me during one of my guest piercing visits.

She sent me two photos, including one of the q-tip test:

I received two photos from a woman who requested an appointment to receive a Vertical Clitoral Hood (VCH) piercing from me during one of my guest piercing visits.

She sent me two photos, including one of the q-tip test:

I'm super excited for this weekend. I'll be piercing in Atlanta for the first time in quite a few years. I've got lots of appointments lined up, mostly for female genital piercings including VCH and triangle piercings, but also for nipples, and some male genital piercings, including an apadravya, pubic piercing, frenum piercings, and dydoe piercings.

In going through my messages, I got more emails from women who have received botched genital piercings. One woman got a VCH that was so far off to the side, I suggested she consider a matching one on the other side of her hood, and she'd have a perfect set of Princess Diana piercings. I can't even imagine how a piercer accidentally gets a midline piercing so far off to one side? Was he piercing with his eyes shut? No wonder people are willing to travel from other states (and even other countries!) to get pierced by me!

Anyway, I just want to encourage everyone who wants to get pierced to do their homework and select a qualified piercer who has the necessary training and skill to accomplish the job safely, accurately, and quickly. So how can you be sure? By being an educated consumer! How do you get to be an educated consumer? One way is by reading The Piercing Bible. You'll learn everything you need to know to evaluate piercers, select quality jewelry, make good choices for placement on your body, and for aftercare during healing.

I received this message from a piercee:

I got a vch done about a month ago and last night I noticed a red blood bubble kinda of on the top by the ball could this be a keloid forming? It's bleeding and gets stuck to my underwear it's kind of like tissue idk what it is really I was just wondering if you could help me out pls as in what to do...thanks D.

Hi D.,
It is hard to evaluate without seeing it, but that doesn't sound like a keloid. It sounds more like it might be a granuloma. What did your piercer say?

Feel free to send some clear, close-up photos so I can evaluate your piercing.

Here's part of what it says in my book, The Piercing Bible, about granulomas:

An unattractive, scary-looking growth can form at one or both openings of your
piercing due to irritation. If it is dark red and resembles raw hamburger, you probably
have a granuloma. It may not be as sore as it looks, but it might bleed easily or drain
clear fluid. Navels are more prone to granulomas than most other body piercings. They
are not always indicative of a need to give up on your piercing (though your doctor is
apt to tell you otherwise); some piercings heal successfully following a bout or two with
such growths. You must determine whether your irritation is from jewelry that is of
poor quality or improperly sized or shaped, or perhaps from other external forces. That
factor must be adjusted if you are to have any chance of healing.

Sometimes performing four to six saline soaks daily will result in an improvement of
bumps, irritation, or troubled healing. See chapter 16, “Trouble and Troubleshooting,” 
for more details on granulomas and other types of healing problems.

On page 206 you can find more information about dealing with this problem.

Do you know if you're wearing internally threaded jewelry? (See attached image.)

Here's an exchange I had with a woman in New Zealand:

She wrote:

I know you are unlikely to travel to New Zealand so I went ahead and had a vch piercing performed locally. I thought I had asked the piercer all the right questions but I suspect he has got it wrong. I couldn't find anyone at all who uses a receiving tube but found someone who doesn't use clamps. Thought I was doing the right thing. At the moment I have a 12g ring with captive ball. It has healed well but there is now skin and flesh behind the ring. What should I do? I have a friend who is prepared to redo it for me - what are the risks? She has a copy of your book :) E

Hi E.,

Before doing anything else, I'd suggest you get her to lend you the book so that you can become well educated.

I'm not sure what you mean by "there is skin and flesh behind the ring"--can you send a clear, close-up photo or two so I can evaluate your current placement. What makes you think it is placed incorrectly?

If you think yours is improperly placed, that would be a reason to redo it. But if your friend is not a trained professional piercer, I HIGHLY advise against having her pierce you--even if she has a copy of my book (it is not a "how-to-pierce" book!).
Elayne

Dear Elayne,

I received this message through the contact page:

I got a VCH piercing 3 days ago by a very well known/good place. I was just wondering, mine is bruised pretty bad and semi swollen and it doesnt really hurt. My biggest concern is that it is bleeding alot. The hole where the jewelry comes out of has this blood looking tissue stuff (skin??) coming out of the hole. My piercing is bleeding alot but this stuff doesnt come off of my skin, its like tissue inside the hole where it is pierced. I have been cleaning it with sea salt solutions. Is this normal? I'm worried.  thank you, K.

Hi K.,

It is hard to evaluate you without seeing you (or at least a photo). Feel free to send a few clear, close-up images to elayneangel @ piercingbible.com and I'll be happy to take a look.

Any piercing can bleed, bruise, and/or swell during the initial phase, though most of the VCH piercings I do don't seem to suffer from that during the aftermath very often.