Well, after years of thinking about a PA, I finally did a self piercing PA and frenum, and am totally pleased with them. Without going into the gory details, I did a few things that I later learned are no-no's, like using too small a needle for the frenum. Fortunately, I didn't get tearing or blowout from that. Or not having the right needle for the PA, which bled like crazy for a while. I now have a 16 gauge captive bead ring in the frenum and a 14 gauge circular barbell in my PA, which is located about 1/4" to the side of the frenum. I'm planning on doing another PA 1/4" on the opposite side of the frenum. Long term plans are to stretch the piercings to 8 or 6 gauge, and go for 5/8" or 3/4" or larger circular jewelery. I have a fairly wide urethra, due to past sounding / stretching, so I think my urethra can accommodate two piercings. I'm uncut, which may present some issues / challenges. As far as my frenum piercing goes, I sort of did it as a lark, or possibly as a start to an eventual frenum cutting. So far, I like the piercing, and may go ahead and keep or enlarge that piercing as well.

I ordered some piercing supplies, including 14, 12, 10, 8 gauge needles, receiving tube, and circular barbells to go with each needle size. I plan to start the new PA at 14 gauge, and wait a few weeks, before stretching up to the next even size.

Angelfetus hit it.

Those pieces of jewelry are way Way WAY too small for genital piercings. Regardless if your (eventual) goal is to have 2 stretched P.A.'s; it should have been done at an 8g (10g at the very smallest) and the frenum should have been a 12g at least. I'm also not a fan of rings in frenums (not as aesthetically pleasing and poorer healing imo). And especially since you're not a pro, I'm gunna make the call the diameter of the hoop is too small as well. Far more research should have been done on your part if 'diy' is really the preferred method. Obviously, going to an experienced professional would result in, properly done piercings. Aftercare is urine (your own) and saline.

Angel & MrJones - Thanks for the observations and advice.  Fortunately, the piercings are doing well, and my PA is now at 10 gauge, and frenum at 14.  They look & feel great, but like you said, I need to learn more about piercings and body mods.  So I've decided to slow down for a bit, to gradually enlarge the piercings I've got, and do some more homework before deciding on other piercings.  Kel

Wwaaiiittt....did you stretch a brand new piercing?!?

Update - Just sized my PA up from 2 Ga to 0 Ga, and it feels great.  I was sort of stuck at 2 Ga for a while.  Nightly stretching sessions with a straight taper were going nowhere, and were quite uncomfortable.  After a week off from stretching, I tried wrapping my 2 Ga circular barbell with plumbers Teflon tape, as I'd read about this stretching method on the forum.  To my surprise, it worked quite well on the curved jewelery.   Even though the wraps had some slight texture, the wrapped barbell slid in the piercing easily.  The first day, I experienced some discomfort as the piercing began to loosen up and stretch.  Over the next few days, I added a few layers of tape each day.  This evening, I realized that I was almost at 0 Ga thickness.  I lubed up my 0 Ga circular barbell and inserted it through the tip of the glans and out of the fistula at the base of the underside of the glans.  It was a tight fit, but went fine, with no blood or gore.  I'll test drive it for a few days, before thinking of upsizing.  The forum was a big help with knowing what to do and expect.  The Teflon tape worked out great in this case.  I can see why a lot of guys like the larger gauge PA's as they a comfortable, and look and feel great.  They are also uniquely easy to care for, compared to other, trickier piercings.  I'll post some pics soon.   Kel