I received a message from a woman who was concerned about the jewelry in her vertical clit hood (VCH) piercing:
Hi I have a vch piercing I've had it for about 3 months I think . When I first got it done I went to a piercer that has done all my other piercings and I asked him what I could get for 20$ he said anything I want so I chose a genital piercing so I didn't do any research or anything. About 5 days later I was taking a shower and couldn't feel the bottom ball I figured it was normal but I was still a little worried so I looked it up n I read horrible stories n i got really scared I thought I was going to have to go to the e.r I called him the next day and told him what happened and he said to come in and he'll fix it so I did after I read the things on your website I figured I'd need a longer bar when I went in he said the ball got pulled through the wound and healed it inside he had to stick a taper through the hole and push the ball through after a half hr to an hr of pain he finally got it out he was goin to leave the original jewelry in but I said I wanted a longer bar so he put it in and it healed after a few weeks after it was healed the longer bar was getting in the way so I wanted the shorter one back in I went back to him and he switched it he told me to keep an eye on it just incase I was nervous that it would happen again and asked him if their was a middle length he could switch it to and he said there is no middle length it's been fine but I'm still nervous that it will happen again so I check it and its been really weird the top ball disappears and I don't know what I should do it doesn't hurt at all so I think it's healed I don't know the lengths or gauge I don't want to take it out please help me as soon as you can.
My response:
The short bar is dangerously short and I would suggest you NOT wear it!
You need to find out the gauge and jewelry lengths. Your piercer should volunteer this information if asked. It should not be a "secret."
An option is to get my smartphone jewelry measuring app so you can measure for yourself:
If the short bar is 3/8" and the long one is 1/2" there is an in between size available: the 7/16"… So you do need to know the sizes.
Have you considered wearing a ring instead? That would eliminate any problem with the barbell ball sinking into the enlarged channel.
Please do more research in the future before getting any other piercings!