Am I being too nitpicky about my nostril piercing?
Tl; dr: I had a few problems, one of which was bad advice from the piercer. My main question is: is the angle acceptable?
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I got this pierced four months ago (before knowing about APP) at the best piercer in town according to the reviews, who told me that *if I wanted* I could put in a nose screw after one month, or a ring after two months. It was done with a 16g (1.2mm), 8mm surgical steel flatback labret, externally threaded. Rinse with saline twice a day. She told me to push the labret up to clean the outside and dry with a cotton swab, then the same on the inside. The healing was fine: pain only the first two days, no swelling, no lymph fluid or blood, only got bumped twice by my toddler.
I went back to get a nose screw after six weeks because the post was enormous and kept hitting my septum. The one I chose, no idea about what material it was. It was blackened silver coloured, much thinner than 16g. It was too long still and turned my nose black so about a month passed and I bought a 14k solid gold nostril screw online to replace the unknown material one. It was 20g. This one felt like a perfect fit but it started leaking lymph fluid and getting super irritated after a month of wearing it - I think because I twirled the screw during cleaning. It got an irritation bump and was just getting worse and worse, very itchy too. At the time we were getting ready for a long holiday and although by then I had learned about the APP and found a piercer at 90 minutes traveling away, I couldn't get there before leaving so I put my original starter labret in myself and swelling and weeping went away almost completely in 48 hours, but now I'm worried about the angle, and if the long post may make it more crooked like on all the Instagram reels. Also wanted to get a titanium threadless labret put in.
I found an APP member at my holiday address but they only work by appointment via email and haven't gotten back to me except to say they would get back to me within two days, two weeks ago. They didn't reply to my most recent check in to see what was up, which is why I'm now posting on here to ask your opion on the angle.
I'll probably end up going to a professional back home next month to check in person, but this is on my mind constantly so I'm posting here. What do you think? I want a flat disk put on there, not the giant ball I have now, but I don't think it will be flat...
I drew the (imaginary?) angle problems in the photos, with green being what I think it should be, and red what it actually is. It's too "horizontal", not at 90 degrees.
Also, how would I know what length labret fits well? Due to the angle I'd aim for a 7.1mm, but maybe a 6.4mm would fit as well. There's some swelling right now because I've been touching it, but I'm no longer moving it when applying the saline. I want it to be snug to minimize irritation, but don't want it to be too snug as the angle would cause it to embed.
Any advice at all?