When I woke up Friday morning, it wasn't exactly my intent to have end up soaked in blood, but life since I started working at Dragon FX as a sterilization technician has been slightly different than normal. Every day at work something interesting happens, but since it was Friday the 13th I should have known it'd prove to be a tad more interesting. I'd toyed with the idea of scalpelling my earlobes for some time and decided to bring it up to Lexci, a piercer at the shop I work at, and see what she thought about the idea. She mentioned it to Lane, the head piercer, and it was very quickly decided that once I'd finished sterilizing the shop's piercing instruments and before things started to get busy we'd slice my ears up. Since neither Lexci nor Erin, the other two piercers, had never performed this type of procedure it was to be Lane who would do the actual cutting and Lexci and Erin would get the opportunity to watch, help out, and learn.
At A Glance Author jaime Contact jaime@bme.anon IAM jaimeee When It just happened Artist Lane Jensen Studio Dragon FX Location Edmonton, AB After some apple juice and a few cigarettes to calm my nerves, Lane, Lexci and Erin brought me into the piercing room and started to set up. The plan was to cut my ears from 5/8" to 3/4" in an attempt to rid me of the horrible scar tissue I'd been battling with for about a year from an old blowout. I lay down on the piercing table and was nicely covered with dental bibs to guard me from the blood and also, thankfully, from really seeing what was happening.
Lane was basically in charge of the operation, as the most experienced, and Lexci and Erin assisted with compressing and holding the ear. The initial cut was very quick but quite painful. Luckily the jewelry went in effortlessly, so after a few tears and a period of attempting to clot the blood by compressing with gauze we switched to the right ear.
This ear, my ever aggravating "problem ear," did not go quite as smoothly. The first cut was extremely painful and unfortunately not quite large enough. The jewelry was not going in despite Lane's best efforts. I was in excruciating pain and trying to maintain my breathing between sobs, while kicking my legs and gripping onto whatever was in arms reach. At one point I attempted to get up off the table and leave the room as I had lost contact with exactly what was happening and knew only that I had the urge to vomit. Luckily my best friend Sean (who was there to take photos of the event) grabbed my hand and helped to calm me down. Lane quickly made another incision, and then inserted the jewelry from the back of my ear to push the scar tissue inside and force it to stretch around the flesh tunnel. This transfer went much more smoothly than the previous
After a nice, bloody cleanup courtesy of the piercing team and some laughing and crying from me, I was able to sit up and take a look at the damage done. Other than the ridiculously extreme swelling, everything looked great and it was decided that I would grab some Chinese food before returning to work. Unfortunately, while out for lunch my left ear started to bleed again which eventually led to another 20 minutes of blood loss. Luckily we were still nearby the secondary shop to which we rushed to take car of my poor lobe. After this, and sporadic outbursts of crying due to the emotional effects of the procedure on me, it was decided that I could take the remainder of the day off work.
The entire procedure took very little time at all, but it was much more involved than any piercing or tattoo I'd had to date. Luckily I had an amazing team of people who I trust completely working together to make the experience go as quickly and smoothly as possible, and the same team behind me every day to help me make sure the healing process goes well. As far as aftercare goes, it is more difficult than any other modification I've had done as well simply due to fears on my behalf of ripping off a scab and causing another bleeding episode, but as mentioned thus far my coworkers have taken good care of me. I would not recommend this modification to everyone as it is definitely something you really need to want to do in order to cope with the pain and, at least in my case, emotional and mental turmoil that may follow the procedure. However I also would not deter anyone who thinks they are up for the ride and wants to either jump in gauges or help redirect the stretching.
Yes, it hurt. A lot. Will I do it again? Give me 6-8 weeks.