10 Jan 2015

I received this message from a professional piercer whom I respect a great deal. He is a skilled and experienced practitioner.

I was wondering if you would be able to help me troubleshoot a problem I have with one of my clients?  Maybe I am missing something to help the person out.
My client has a hard white bump on his PA between the jewelry and the corona. He has been fighting this for a couple of months, and here is the story:
  • He is uncut, but his skin is loose enough to envelope his ring quite comfortably
  • Pierced with a 6g circular
  • At first signs of the small bump I had him apply emu oil for lubrication as he felt it pulling and this helped for a short while
  • the bump got larger so we increased the diameter of the ring and this helped temporarily
  • he started applying Naked Oil which worked quite well for a while , but then the bump came back.
  • We changed the jewelry to a curve which helped quite significantly, but then over time the bump grew
When I say "helped" I mean that the problem diminished, but did not disappear completely.
I have seen this problem before on uncut guys and normally doing the above helped the bump go away.  I am sure that it is a problem with foreskin pressure so I thought of downsizing to a large diameter 10g ring, but the piercing is 5 months old at this point and I am concerned that this may relieve some of the discomfort and the bump may diminish, but he may still left with the 10g version of the bump and then we have downsized for nothing.
Am I missing something?  I thought about getting an M&M bead for the side with the bump, but we are at a 3 month wait on jewelry.  :(
Any guidance you could offer would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance and love and hugs to you!
My reply:
It would be better for me to see a photo, but I’ll provide you with an idea that comes to mind:
With the foreskin covering the jewelry, a circular barbell may have caused one form of pressure on the tissue, and the curved bar a different type/area of pressure.
I’ve been a fan of the open circular barbell style for PA piercings—at least for initial jewelry. Especially for men who have a foreskin, and/or are active physically and sexually. 

A Custom "U-Bar" for Prince Albert and Other Piercings

 

I select a circular barbell that’s smaller than the proper fit, and then using ring expanding pliers, open it up to form a sort of “C” or “U” shape. It depends on the individual anatomy how I size/shape it.

 

Prince Albert Piercing with Custom "C-Bar"

This allows the balls to rest a little away from the body in a different spot than a circular barbell or a regular curve. I’m not sure whether you might be able to do it with an 8ga circular barbell, but probably not a 6. I do it all the time with 10ga.
Lorum Piercing with custom "C-Bar"
I’ve also used it for other things. Like a client wanted me to pierce as wide as possible for a lorum and a properly fitting ring would have been huge. 
Let me know if you try it and if it helps!
P.S.
This is the same style of jewelry I use for triangle and Horizontal Clitoral Hood (HCH) Piercings.
A custom opened circular barbell in a triangle piercing

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