Another Reason I Dislike Doctors in General

At A Glance Author anonymous Contact [email protected] Location Thunder Bay, ON

In very late March of 2000, I had my nipples pierced. Both piercings healed fine with no problems. However, about five and a half months after getting the piercings, a problem developed. On the outer edge of my left breast, roughly two inches from my nipple, a small area became rather tender and very slightly red. I didn't think it would amount to anything, so I paid little attention to it. It stayed like that, with no change for three days. When I woke up on the fourth day, it had become much worse: it looked as though something slightly smaller than a golf ball had been inserted under my skin. My entire breast was a bright red colour, the swollen spot was disgustingly translucent from stretching, making visible a large amount of what looked to be puss, the area directly around it was deep purple from bruising. Not to mention painful...it felt like my breast was just going to explode. Frantic at the sight of it, I fought off my urge to be sick and rushed off to the emergency room.

After registering, I was immediately escorted to a room. "Great," I thought. "They can give me some antibiotics, maybe some pain killers, and I'll be in and out of here in no time." Well, after almost nine hours of waiting, I got to see a doctor. I was over-tired, in pain, cranky after that wait, and, honestly, rather scared because no one would tell me what was wrong. Still, I managed not to take it out on the doctor. He, unfortunately, did not extend me the same curtesy. He glanced at my chart then proceeded to go into a tirade about how he'd been working with a heart attack victim for seven hours, and didn't need to put up with some "freak" with an infected piercing. I tried telling him it wasn't the piercing that was infected, but I suppose the nurse had written otherwise on my chart and he wouldn't listen to me. I showed him my breast and after glancing at it for half a second, he told me, quite clearly, that it was all my fault; that I had brought this on by getting my nipple pierced. He ignored me when I told him I'd had it pierced for over five months and that it was healed, and continued to berate me for being so stupid. He said he wouldn't see me again until I removed "that ugly piece of metal" from my nipple, then stormed off.

Ten minutes later, with shaky hands, I managed to take the ring out with the aid of hospital forceps and a nurse trying to calm me down. The doctor returned, continued on about how dumb I was, then proceeded to fill me full of IV painkillers, later, I found out, enough to stop my heart. Not waiting for the drugs to kick in, he began to cut my breast open to drain the abscess. The whole time he was doing this, I cried and he continued to tell me what a "stupid child" I was, and that it couldn't hurt that much. At this point, the pain itself wasn't that bad. I felt like I was dreaming or something, though I'm not sure if it was a result of all the drugs he'd given me, or whether it was the shock of seeing him stick half of his index finger into my breast, claiming to be "testing" something. It took about forty-five minutes of him cutting, pushing, and squeezing to completely drain the abscess. Finally, when it was done, I had a pit in my breast; somewhat circular, about an inch in diameter, and about half an inch deep. I was horrified...I thought it would be like that permanently. Asking the doctor only got me a response of "Oh, you'll find out." He told me I'd be an idiot if I put the ring back in, that I'd be better off without it, because it was "ugly," and that if I did decide to put it back in, he wouldn't be the one to drain the abscess. Not too anxious about heeding the advice of a very rude man who could have killed me, I put the ring back in as soon as I got home.

Later on, after talking to a nurse, a much less hostile doctor and to my piercer, I found out that what I actually had was just a blocked lachrymose (milk producing) gland that had abscessed, and that the chance of the piercing having anything to do with it was nil. Blocked lachrymose glands have nothing to do with nipple piercings. They can appear when breast-feeding, after a breast reduction (as happened with my aunt), or from wearing under wire bras as they put pressure on the gland, which was most likely the cause of mine. Many "lumps" thought to be breast cancer are a result of a blocked lachrymose gland that has calcified.

Now, almost four months later, I still have the ring in, and I haven't had a problem with it, or with my breast since renouncing under wire bras. My wound has healed, leaving no indentation and only a small, light pink scar. I'll never forget that doctor though...proof that some people who claim to be professionals are nowhere near as professional or intelligent as they'd like to think.