Thanx to those who responded recently to my query about how long I should wait before getting my nip redone. On Saturday, I decided to take the old ring out *sniff* ... but I had a final bit of fun cleaning the pierce: I squirted saline through it (from a contact lens bottle) and had a chuckle as it came straight out the other side :-)

(OK, little things please little minds...)

Today I was at the London Piercing Clinic, run by Patrick, and he repierced the nipple. He uses a fairly different technique to what I'm used to so it was an interesting experience...

The clinic: Patrick's piercing room is a purpose-fitted room behind his house. It all seemed very clean -- all the necessary equipment was clearly visible.

Patrick prefers to use anaesthetic. I've never had anaesthetic before so this was new. He also never uses clamps, preferring to hold the area with his fingers.

He cleaned the nipple, injected a small amount of anaesthetic. Then he selected a titanium 10ga 3/4" CBR -- Patrick only uses titanium for fresh piercings because of possible allergic reactions he says.

Then he selected a needle, held the nipple tightly and pushed the needle through. Apart from a slightly strange sensation, I didn't feel a thing. (which in itself was odd for me...!)

I had a look at this point... Hmm, a large needle sticking through my nip... how nice :-/

Then he slipped the ring through behind the needle and that was it.

Patrick is very fast with his fingers and the placement of the ring is exactly what I wanted, right at the base of the nipple (which is a couple of mm behind where the previous holes were). This should be fine for fairly rough play once it's healed.

His recommended cleaning regime is warm saline twice a day, followed by a couple of drops of diluted tree tea oil. All piercees get a small bottle of prediluted oil along with an aftercare sheet.

During the afternoon I spent with Patrick (and his wife and some friends), I saw quite a lot of custom come and go home happy. He also did both of my friend's nipples and she enjoyed the experience. Many of the customers are repeat business (although he's doing a lot of navels right now... as is almost every piercer in Britain I think!)

I'm pretty pleased with Patrick. He has a nice relaxing, no-nonsense manner and I'm sure I'll use him again... in fact, he was very keen to discuss whatever bodmods I might want to put together in future.