I did a consultation for a woman who was experiencing some concern about the placement of her triangle piercing.

 
I've only had the triangle piercing since Wednesday. I got my vertical hood piercing in 2005.  My issue is that my triangle appears to be crooked and is not lying flat and it is interfering with my previous piercing. My piercer removed my VCH before piercing my triangle. I don't get shooting pains down my leg but I do not find the piercing aesthetically pleasing. I hope the pics come out clear enough for you to see.

Please help me, and hopefully if you agree with me, then I can get pierced by you when you come to Dallas in March. I live only an hour and some change driving distance from Dallas.  I did thorough research on my piercer before I had the procedure and I don't think he nicked my clitoris bundle but there was a lot of drama with removing my VCH jewelry which could have thrown the piercing positioning off. Please help me.

My reply:

From what I can see, the jewelry looks a little small for the width of the pierced tissue. There is a chance that you may be swollen from the piercing.

At least on your right side, the piercing does appear to be forward of the base of your hood where it forms from the body (the traditional placement for a triangle), though I may need to see another photo to be certain. However, if it is behind your nerve bundle, then it would still be considered a triangle. Are you able to determine whether it is behind the nerve bundle, in front of it, (or through it!)?

If you want to keep the piercing and heal it, I'd suggest you get the circular barbell spread a little wider. It should be wide enough that the inner labia tissue passes through the gap between the balls and the ring rests down closer to your body. See photo.

Were you pierced at Obscurities? [Now permanently closed]

Her response:

Hi Elayne, thanks for your prompt response. I did plenty of research before I got the piercing done, and I went to Obscurities. Eric did pierce me, and I found him to be very pleasant and I didn't experience much pain in the piercing process. He was very honest and knowledgeable about the process and made me very comfortable. Matter of fact I spoke to him several times in person and on the phone before I even had the process done.

The day I decided to go in for the piercing, it was painstaking for him to remove my VCH. It was practically cemented together. So there was a lot going on before we started the process. Even with all of that VCH drama, he was nice through the process. He did use forceps and took plenty of time to make sure my nerve bundle was lifted up before piercing.

I actually felt no pain minutes after and was fine the rest of the night, just a little sore. Since I haven't experienced any shooting pain (only discomfort) and Eric did use forceps,  I'm going to say that it is probably not through it. I have a feeling that if it did pierce the bundle, I would know it. Right now there is a constant faint throb on my right side which is not going away.

I even did a crossfit workout on Friday morning and was okay pain wise during that. I'm in more discomfort now than in my initial few days. The fact that it doesn't lay flat is making it very uncomfortable because it keeps bumping and twisting. And I thought in a few days it would get better and discomfort would ease, but it isn't. But I honestly can't pull my nerve bundle up to check and see if it is behind or in front bc of my VCH and the placement of the piercing on the right. I'm mainly concerned about the right not the left side.

And now that you mention it, concerning the swelling, it was flatter when I was first pierced. So maybe the tightness of the ring is causing it to swell more and cause me more discomfort.

Does it matter that the right is slightly higher than the left if it is behind? Will it even be noticeable that it's slanted when the swelling decreases? And if the ring is wider then will I no longer interfere with my VCH? I can always drive to Dallas and have Eric look at it of he is there this week.

The next round--I wrote:

Hi again,

I do think it would be more comfortable for you and safer for your piercing to have the ring made a little wider--at least until any swelling is gone. And yes, if the ring is wider, that should minimize issues with your VCH, too.

I feel quite confident that the piercing is not through your nerve bundle--if you were able to do a crossfit workout, then there's no question about that! : )

As far as the placement goes, you're going to have to decide for yourself if you're happy with it where it is or not. The left side looks properly placed at the base of your hood, and the right side looks somewhat questionable (from what I could see--which did NOT include a photo showing the right side of your hood down to the base). One potential issue: if the piercing isn't placed symmetrically, there is a greater tendency for migration, so if you're finding the piercing is migrating (probably moving forward on the shallower side) then that would be a reason to remove it.

Feel free to send me another photo that shows your right side of the piercing including the base of your hood (so I can see how distant it is).

Eric is a really cool guy and I think you should feel free to openly discuss it with him.

My added input after seeing additional images:

In these images the piercing doesn't look as far from the base as it seemed to be in the other photos I saw. It looks a little bit more like a case of natural asymmetry, perhaps. And it looks as though there's the start of some scar tissue formation around the right side--so I would definitely get the ring widened as soon as you can.

She said:

Thanks for everything. And I truly appreciated seeing the name of an artist that you recommended on your site. I've been to numerous places for tattoos and piercings and I do think Obscurities is one of the best...very clean, candid, reasonably priced and professional. Plus they are all just plain nice down to Earth people.
 

Finally, I added:

Yes, and you may have noticed that the list of piercers to whom I refer is extremely short, but Eric is among them. Obscurities is a quality studio and he's an excellent piercer and a great guy. I'm glad that you went to him. Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help.