We asked the members of the BuzzFeed Community to share their most horrific piercing stories. Here’s what they had to say:
1. The double whammy:
"I had a friend in high school who got both of his nipples pierced with large hoops and had unfortunate situations with both. The first one happened when he was playing volleyball and went to spike the ball over the net. It got caught and as he fell his piercing was ripped out violently. A few months later he went tanning in one of those stand-up tanning booths and didn't realize he got the other caught on the cage that protects you from the tanning bulbs. Someone opened the doors to check on him and there went the other one."
—Gracie Tiesma, Facebook
2. The horribly timed surprise:
"I convinced my best friend to go with me and get her clit hood pierced with me. On the way there, I started my period. I decided to ask the guy if he was okay with it when we got there, and he was. There is nothing more awkward than laying there, tampon inserted, string hanging down, while this trouper of a body piercer does the job. Hurt like hell. Will never do it again."
3. The costly appointment:
"When I was 18, I went with some friends to get our belly buttons pierced. I went first, and after it was all done I stood up and passed out face first. The employees didn’t know what to do, so they carried me out and shoved me into the backseat of my car and pretty much ran the other way. I broke my jaw in three places and lost five teeth. A six-hour surgery, 74 doctor's appointments, and three years later, I still have the piercing."
4. The projectile explosion:
"I had four dermals above my hips, but one of them got infected and was not clearing up with the usual salt soak. After about a week I noticed the tissue around the piercing was hard and hot. I stopped by urgent care only for the doctor to tell me he wouldn't touch it as he's seen physicians 'mutilate' people trying to get them out. So I went to one of the highest-recommended parlors in Columbus. An artist took me back to the room, felt around the piercing, and started cutting. The piercing was out; but then came the infection explosion. It was like those nasty zit videos, but hard and less 'liquidy.' The smell was TERRIBLE."
—Bethany Bentley, Facebook
5. The unforgiving door:
"My friend's hoop earring got caught in a door and it ripped her earlobe in half."
6. The savage grandma:
"I got my ears pierced when I was three months old, but I hated wearing earrings so the skin gradually came back. By the time I was 7, the holes were practically gone. My grandma sat me down and told me we were going to watch TV and when I wasn’t paying attention, she took my earlobe and jammed an earring through the last of the hole that still remained. It hurt so bad, turned green, and leaked pus for weeks."
7. The wrong hole:
"One day I forgot I had to take my nose piercing out for work. I went out after my shift, got trashed, and totally forgot about my nose until I got home. I drunkenly tried to put the piercing back in and was facing some resistance from my nose. I assumed the piercing was just closing up a little, but I managed to painfully force a stud back in. When I looked in the mirror, blood was streaming down my nose. I realized I had accidentally shoved the piercing in the wrong nostril! I was done with nose piercings after that mistake."
8. The interrupted hookup:
"I went to Claire’s to get my cartilage pierced on the top of my ear. Apparently my ear was rejecting the piercing because it got super hot, swollen, and just nasty-looking. My girlfriend at the time was trying to get some sexy time going and went to nibble on my earlobe and jerked her head back saying something wet had dripped on her. It was my piercing. Leaking on her. She then had to help me remove it and disinfect it because it was so swollen and gross. We had only been dating for a month."
9. The girl with the dot tattoo:
"I went to get my nose pierced and they made a mark where I wanted it, which is totally normal. It looked a little dark at first, but I figured it would clear up. My nose ring has been out for five years now, but I still have a blue dot from where the dumbass basically gave me a tattoo when he pierced my nose over his blue marker."
—Leanne Serra, Facebook
10. The very bad dog:
"Right before school started, our next door neighbor got a new dog, a cute and hyper golden retriever puppy. My brother and I went over to play with her and in the midst of rolling around and playing, she somehow got one of her claws stuck in my belly ring and ripped it right out of my body! Blood sprayed all over the place and everyone freaked the hell out. The whole time I was nearly passed out in pain insisting that no, I was okay."
—Emmay Friedenson, Facebook
11. The burger that was too juicy:
"I got my lip pierced and went to dinner after. I was taking a bite out of my burger and caught the back of the jewelry in my teeth and ripped it, ball and all, out through the hole in my lip. I went back to get it fixed the next day and he had to pierce it again through the scab, which by the way hurt way worse than the original piercing."
12. The unintended assault:
"I was piercing this woman’s labia and she passed out, had a seizure, and then proceeded to punch me in the face."
13. The bloody foreplay:
"About three years ago, I got my nipples pierced with horseshoes instead of barbells. I told my boyfriend at the time there was a strict no-touching rule for about two weeks, as my piercings were very sensitive. We were in the shower together a few days after and he got a little too excited about the piercings while we were messing around. Instead of just ~touching~ the piercing, he yanked hard on it and pulled up, ripping the piercing right up and through my nipple. There wasn't as much blood as I thought there would be, but the pain was unimaginable."
—Heather Stai, Facebook
14. The exposed nerve:
"I went with my neighbor to get our nipples pierced. She told me it was a clean environment and she knew the piercer well. She left out the part that we were going to his messy AF apartment. I asked him how much it would cost and his exact words were, 'Well, I get to see some titties so no charge!' I was like nah, and let my neighbor go first. When he pierced her left one, her damn nipple nerve popped out with the needle! Like she couldn’t move and she was screaming, so we had to call an ambulance."
15. The allergic reaction:
"I'm very allergic to most metals, so, naturally, I got seven piercings in my ears. There was free-flowing blood and pus around where I got the last piercing, the infection had spread and it got mixed up with an allergic reaction. One night, I fell asleep with my earrings on and when I woke up, they had gotten stuck to each other and to my ear by seepage. When I tried to take one earring off, all four of them came out, along with a patch of skin. The infection got much, much worse after that. It was red and raw and always wet and there was a thick layer of white pus above it. It was so gross."
—Maria Kokora, Facebook
16. The very unnecessary orgasm:
"I was piercing a Prince Albert (penis piercing) and the older gentleman literally came in front of me."
17. The dodgeball incident:
"I’d just gotten my nose pierced, but forgot that I had a dodgeball tournament later that evening. Of course, that’s the one day I get beamed in the face. I didn’t realize that the ring had been partially knocked out, so when I went home to clean it, the hole had already nearly closed. I had to get it re-pierced the next day, which hurt like hell!"
18. The golf ball–sized lip:
"Last November I decided spur of the moment to get a Monroe piercing. All was fine and dandy until five months later when my body decided to reject the piercing. Neither my piercer nor the emergency room doctor could figure out why, seemingly overnight, my lip swelled to the size of a golf ball and the bit that was in my mouth was totally grown over. I ended up having to go to a plastic surgeon to have it removed after looking like I’d had a stroke on the right side of my mouth for about two weeks due to the swelling."
19. The disappearing earring:
"This past summer when I got my cartilage re-pierced, everything went okay for like a day or two. But day five, my ear was as red as a tomato and so swollen you literally couldn't see the earring. So I loaded up on antibiotics and creams, to see if the swelling would go down. But it didn’t.
"That’s when we realized the earring had literally been absorbed by the cartilage and was inside of my ear! The ear had swollen so much that it closed over the earring. The thing hurt like hell. So we decided to go to the hospital, because I thought they’d give me some kind of numbing cream or pain medication (they didn’t). Two surgeons had to work together to pull the entire earring out the back of my ear. It hurt A LOT. "
20. The poorly ended blanket fight:
"I had my nose piercing for about a year without any issue. But one night, I was sleeping with a big thick winter blanket, and my husband rolled over in his sleep, taking the blanket and my nose piercing with him. I'll never forget the sensation of being woken up in the middle of the night by a small metal hook being ripped through my face. He had no idea what happened, just that I was screaming and covered in blood."
—Linzy Jensen, Facebook
21. The home base horror:
"I got my belly button pierced the day of my high school graduation and it had a really hard time healing. One day I was playing softball and I slid into home plate and felt a sharp pain. I got back in the dugout and found my piercing had been completely ripped out. That scarred me for life and I’ve never pierced anything since."
22. The roller coaster disaster:
"I had gotten my cartilage pierced and replaced the stud they put in my ear with a horseshoe ring when it was safe to do so. A few days later I went to Disneyland and the ring got stuck on a seatbelt on Radiator Springs Racers during the beginning of the ride. We all tried to gently remove it from where it was stuck, but the ride picked up speed and jerked around and ripped the earring right out of my cartilage. It hurt so incredibly bad!"
23. The grape-like nipple:
"When I got my nipples pierced it didn’t hurt as much as I thought, and I had them in for three years with no problem. One day I went swimming in my friend’s dad’s pool, which I had been assured was recently cleaned. Later, I found out it was just cleaned with a toilet cleaner, which is disgusting. About five days later, my left nipple became swollen and inflamed, eventually to the point where it looked like a grape was underneath it. Horrified, I went to the doctor and was informed I immediately needed to have surgery done because I had developed mastitis from bacteria in the pool. A $50 piercing turned into a $5,000 surgery. Fml."
24. The attack of the umbrella:
"When I was a freshman in college I was rushing to class one day and it was pouring rain and very windy. The umbrella I was using whipped around me, flipped inside out, and snagged my cartilage piercing in my right ear, ripping it straight out. I went to class but the teacher quickly dismissed me when she saw what had happened. Now 13 years later, I still have a fear of umbrellas."
—Kaynabess Freda, Facebook
25. The Walmart piercer who had never pierced before:
"When I was 7, I got my ears pierced on a whim at Walmart. It started off okay with the lady putting the dot on my ear with a Sharpie then grabbing the piercing gun. She then proceeded to pierce way below the mark almost at the end of my ear and then couldn't get the gun out of my ear! My mother had to yank the gun out of my ear as I was screaming and crying. She then told us she had never pierced someone before. I still have a scar from it."
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.