I received a message from a woman who got her septum pierced and she was not happy with the placement:

My question is quite similar to another that I saw on your blog who also got a wrongly placed septum.

I went to a known and recommended piercer on Wednesday, but she placed the septum incorrectly.
The piercing has been placed in the thick cartilage above the 'sweet spot'.

So it's very high up my nose and not aesthetically pleasing.

My question now is: do I immediately take out the piercing? Can that damage the cartilage (I read somewhere that it can splinter if you take it out)?

It still hurts. Also cause the piercer readjusted the needle after poking it. Which means I have a small second wound under the piercing.

I'd love to get it repierced in the right place, I can find my 'sweet spot' very easily, so I'm sure there's enough room. How long should I wait to get it redone?

I'm really disappointed about this experience. I hope you can give me some advice, 'cause I'm a bit lost now.

Thank you!

My reply:

Sorry to hear about your piercing. If you're not happy with the placement (and I understand why you're not), then you should take out the jewelry ASAP. Don't worry about "splintering the cartilage"--that sounds like an urban myth to me.

You may want to talk to the piercer about it first, and see if there's a chance of getting your money back since the piercing didn't go where eyou wanted it to. Did you discuss placement with the piercer prior to the piercing procedure?

Your extra poke will heal up along with the piercing. I'd suggest cleaning it (washing with mild liquid soap and water), and removing the jewelry. Continue to wash the wound once a day until the skin has clearly healed.

I've marked your photo with an arrow for the approximate location of a "traditionally placed" septum piercing. See above.

She wrote again: I hope other piercinglovers will learn from this and no matter how experienced the piercer is, that they'll speak up and not make the same mistake.

We didn't discuss placing, which I thought was weird.

I didn't say anything about it, because I trusted on her professionalisme and experience. She did measure something, but didn't really feel my nose.

I sent her a message (I'm from Belgium, and it's a national holiday here, so the store isn't open) today, no response yet.

Thank you very much for the quick response!