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I have my nipples pierced... and here's what I have to say.
The pain was minimal, really. Every person's pain tolerance is different, however, for me... it really didn't hurt. In fact, I want to get them double pierced as soon as I have the money (they are horizontally pierced currently).

I always wore a bra, even when healing. My breasts are just too large to not wear a bra and be comfortable. As long as you have a bra that doesn't have pushup inserts or isn't lacy on the inside (so, a satin or cotton) then you don't really have to worry about anything snagging on it. there's no reason you can't wear a bra while healing, as long as you're careful. there's just as much chance as snagging a bra on a n****e ring, as snagging the shirt. and at least the bra eliminates the shirt part. and protects your nipples from things like, seatbelts. which, never bothered me (i had a bra) but my fiance couldn't stand to wear his seatbelt because of the way it brushed on his for the first couple weeks.

I'm a DD cup, and I'm not sure why the size of the breast matters, or if the bigger the breast the less it hurts or vice versa. I've never heard this theory before... but that's my size if that helps you gauge the pain levels with what you've heard.

The piercings themselves didn't really hurt, however... like most piercings, the first couple days of healing can be very sore. So take that into consideration. Again, it wasn't so bothersome that I wouldn't do it again, as I'm planning on doing so.

I have two kids. I had my son before the piercings. With my daughter, I kept the piercings in and I breastfed. My advice for that is switch to barbells if you have hoops, and make sure you take out the jewelry while you breast feed. Just pop it back in when baby's all done eating. That's what I did, and two years later I still have mine in, with no issues.

Also as a heads up for you in the future, when it comes close to having a baby, regardless of what piercings you have... switch them to something that is easy to remove in case of an emergency c-section. you must take all the metal out, and if you cannot they'll use a bolt cutter to take the jewelry out for you. then its ruined, and if its a fairly newish piercings, may close up before you can leave the hospital and get something new. (i had to get my nose re pierced because of this reason, actually... so i thought i'd share that info.)

As for dancing, unless you're going topless, i don't know how n****e piercings would really affect this.

anyway, any other questions or anything, feel free to ask. hope this helps?: lol

yeah, my doctor was the one who told me what i needed to do in order to breastfeed, and she advised me to switch to barbells rather than hoops for when i breast feed. switch to barbells a few months before you have the baby so they can adjust accordingly with the engorgement of breasts and things like that. she assured me i didn't have to let them close up in order to breast feed, because prior to that i had thought i was going to have to.

my experience has been that my piercings have never been irritaed by bras at all EXCEPT when wearing hoops with lacier things, because they can snag and pull, even after the healing process. so that's never very fun.

if you're gonna go vertical first, you probably wouldn't want to wear hoops anyway... unless that's what they pierce them with. then wait until the initial healing period is done and swap 'em out. if they're done vertically the hoops won't be able to lay flat very well, which would make them very visible through clothing which could affect your dancing outfits maybe?. if you're not a hoops kind of girl however, either direction would be fine. the barbells are easy in that respect. if you're going horizontal (which is what most people go for) hoops are usually most commonly seen. besides that, i can't really see any why either direction would be better than the other. like i said, as soon as i can afford it, i'm going vertical as well so i have my double-pierced n****e cross thingy.

as long as you get them done with enough time (a year or so) before you breast feed, there should be no issues with residue. it should all be healed up and not be a problem. you'll probably see gunk on the jewelry when you take them out to feed the little one but that's just dried milk, and nothing harmful to the baby... believe me, i asked all the questions. the first time i took them out to feed my daughter in the hospital and saw the residue on the piercing i flipped, but was assured its just dried milk and nothing that will hurt.

hope this helps, if you have any other questions, i'd love to help!

Before I had mine done, I read through every BME experience I could. Here's what I reckon is probably one of the best and most compltee ones, to let you know what it's really going to be like: http://www.bme.com/pierce/08-n****e/A91011/nipnippl.html

And now, my 2p.

I had my nipples pierced around about May this year and it's certainly been a learning experience. I wouldn't say that this advice could apply to everyone, but I've bene picking it up as I go along. Do cross-reference and whatnot biggrin

As far as pain goes, I did find it very painful to have them pierced, but it was only for a second or two. I've heard that the numbing cream they sometimes use might not be the best idea. It's going to hurt pretty much no matter what. It's only for a second or two: you can get through it fine. I had my boyfriend with me and crushing his hands helped a lot. It was a dull ache for a few days, so it was alright.

However (and I don't know if this is just me), about half an hour after I had them pierced they felt very sore all of a sudden. I felt very woozy and nauseus. It passed after about an hour, but I still have no idea what brought it on. I'd highly recommend making sure you eat and drink plenty, before and after the piercing (if you're feeling sick, just sip little bits of water). Don't worry too much, though; I've not came across anyone else who had anything like this. It was probably just me.

Do NOT touch them unless you've washed your hands first, and it's best not to touch them unless you're cleaning them. You don't want to risk infection. In very rare cases, infection can cause mastitis. I've heard horror stories about people having to have partial masectomies to remove infection. They might just be that - horror stories - but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Do NOT let anyone play with them until they're fully healed. I know for a fact that saliva can cause a staph infection which is very nasty.

Do NOT wear your best bras. Black cotton, very plain bras are recommended. I forgot this and wore a bright yellow bra when going to get them pierced and it was, well, covered in blood by the end of the day ^_^; Thank goodness for washing-machines!

I don't think it registered with me that they'd take such a long time to heal. Keep that in mind for this piercing: it could take over a year to heal. That's just from my own experience (mine don't look even nearly healed, even at this stage) and from reading every BME experience I could get my mitts on.

I've heard that when you get them pierced, go for barbells rather than hoops. Even my barbells can get a bit sore if they're moved and I imagine hoops would get moved a lot more, but apart from that, there's more risk of rejection with hoops if the diameter is too small, etc. Best to let them heal with barbells and move onto hoops later.

If your nipples go flat at times, try to get the smallest balls on the barbells that you can. This has been giving me problems because when the nipples go flat, the balls dig into the skin a bit and cause hassle.


I'm not sure what else to add for now, but feel free to ask any questions/correct me! biggrin

This statement is what every piercer should tell you for any piercing you get, regardless of placement. You never want someone else slobbering on a new piercing, be it n****e, ear, genital, etc. And you never ever wanna touch it without clean hands, regardless of where you've been pierced.

Talking to your personal piercer of choice is a good thing, and doing what's right for you is most important.

But try and remember, people do like to talk about the bad stuff more so than the good. Who wants to read about someone who got their nipples pierced and everything went according to plan and normally? Those threads die out pretty quickly. However, my group of friends all have our nipples pierced... its almost like an acceptance ritual. Its not required, but pretty much everyone who joins our crew goes and gets theirs done. Male and female. And none of us have ever had any issues with our piercings.

I've heard horror stories about gauging gone wrong, i've heard stories about nose rings causing major facial skin infections. I've heard about migrating monroes that leave a horribly disfiguring scar. I've never had any issue whatsoever with any of my piercings such as this... however, you do have to keep in mind that while things like that ARE indeed a rarity, they obviously occur... so any piercing you get, not just nipples, could have some dire consequences if not cared for properly.