I guess this experience starts about 10 years ago. I was a 16 year-old small town punk-rock girl (or at least I liked to think so!), full of teen angst, visiting some family in Toronto, and somehow I managed to convince my uncle to let me get a labret piercing at Urban Primitive studio. I loved it so much, and from that point on I was hooked. Many piercings were to follow in the next couple of years (including several in my ear cartilage ***foreshadowing!***), and I actually dreamt about becoming a piercer myself.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Corey Studio Anatomic Adornment Location Vancouver But...who knows what happened, it somehow just gradually stopped being a part of my life. One by one, between infections, job interviews, other stuff I can't remember, they all came out. I went away to university, spent all my time focused on being the cleverest mathematician I could be, and got used to being extremely poor, and somehow things like piercing just stopped seeming important. I guess this makes me the person who *stopped* experimenting in college, which is probably funny and/or sad, I'm not really sure!
Now I'm 25, and it's been around 7 years since I've had a piercing, and 5 years since the last one came out, not counting a lonely 14-gauge ring in each earlobe. When I had to take those out to get a passport photo done, I went to Anatomic Adornments, a piercing studio in Vancouver that I had heard only great things about, for some help removing them. As soon as I hopped up on the table, it was all over! Although I'd never had a piercing done there, somehow even the smell of the place brought me back to my past, and my head was spinning, remembering how much I loved piercing and all things related to it. I decided to trade in my 14s for some 12s (ooohh, extreme, I know!), and begin the stretching process over again, and I also decided that I'd be back soon for some more work.
After sleeping on it for a few days, I decided I would re-do my conch. I can't put my finger on why, but I had always really, really loved that piercing. I find it really pleasing aesthetically, and I figured that ear piercings would be a safe bet for work. My piercer was a really nice guy called Corey, and while he was getting set up I mentioned the fact that I had had my conch done before, but the scar tissue wasn't even visible. He seemed kind of interested, and asked how long it had been in for, and when I told him two years, he said that the piercing was probably still there, just smaller.
I was really surprised, since there was absolutely no evidence of it still being open, but I was happy to let him try. He managed to slip in a taper and a 14-gauge ring very quickly and with almost no pain. I was so thrilled, I get to have a piercing that feels brand new, but is also a bit of a throwback and reminder to my younger, wilder days, AND I get to skip the healing process! I was about to leave, but then I figured "what the hell," and asked if he would mind trying to do the same thing with my old rook piercing.
He said sure, but this one was a different story. It was not a trivial process to get the damn thing in. It took a while, and there was a lot of teeth clenching on my part and reminders to breathe on his. From what I can recall, I think it was quite a bit more painful and definitely took longer than the original piercing. When I finally thought the taper was through, and it would be just a matter of inserting the jewelry, he told me that he needed to do some stretching before he could put a 16-gauge ring in. I sort of wanted to cry, but we made it!
He wouldn't charge me for anything but the jewelry. I tipped him, but in retrospect probably not enough. It's now just a few hours later, and not only do I have two "new" piercings that bring back some nice memories and look great, I haven't taken any drugs and the tenderness is pretty much gone. Plus, I still got a delicious endorphin rush that lasted for a couple of hours.
My experience has left me with two pieces of advice to share: (1) if you have some old piercings that you thought were gone for good, don't be so sure, and if you want them back, you should definitely look into it, and (2) if you are in or around Vancouver, go to Corey at Anatomic Adornments. He's very nice, and a bit of a miracle worker.