diff --git a/collector/exporter.go b/collector/exporter.go
index f56d799b8..565115866 100644
--- a/collector/exporter.go
+++ b/collector/exporter.go
@@ -32,11 +32,11 @@ const (
 var (
 	exporterLockTimeout = kingpin.Flag(
 		"exporter.lock_wait_timeout",
-		"Set the MySQL session lock_wait_timeout to avoid stuck metadata locks",
+		"Set a lock_wait_timeout on the connection to avoid long metadata locking.",
 	).Default("2").Int()
 	slowLogFilter = kingpin.Flag(
 		"exporter.log_slow_filter",
-		"Add a log_slow_filter to avoid exessive MySQL slow logging.  NOTE: Not supported by Oracle MySQL.",
+		"Add a log_slow_filter to avoid slow query logging of scrapes. NOTE: Not supported by Oracle MySQL.",
 	).Default("false").Bool()
 
 	scrapeDurationDesc = prometheus.NewDesc(
@@ -88,17 +88,18 @@ type Exporter struct {
 // New returns a new MySQL exporter for the provided DSN.
 func New(dsn string, collect Collect) *Exporter {
 	// Setup extra params for the DSN, default to having a lock timeout.
-	dsnParams := []string{fmt.Sprintf(timeoutParam, exporterLockTimeout)}
+	dsnParams := []string{fmt.Sprintf(timeoutParam, *exporterLockTimeout)}
 
 	if *slowLogFilter {
 		dsnParams = append(dsnParams, sessionSettingsParam)
 	}
 
 	if strings.Contains(dsn, "?") {
-		dsn = dsn + "&" + strings.Join(dsnParams, "&")
+		dsn = dsn + "&"
 	} else {
-		dsn = dsn + "?" + strings.Join(dsnParams, "&")
+		dsn = dsn + "?"
 	}
+	dsn += strings.Join(dsnParams, "&")
 
 	return &Exporter{
 		dsn:     dsn,