I remember vividly the first time I saw a dermal punch. I'd gone into the shop with my daughter for her first piercing (a cartilage piercing in her right ear) and was talking to Pete and he said, "Hey, check this out," and showed me a 0g punch. It reminded me of an apple corer. Anyway, I remember I felt kind of queasy looking at it and my daughter (who is 12) looked at it, pulled a face, then looked at me and said "no way Dad! You're not doing it." I fully agreed with her at the time. The thought of a huge chunk of me being removed like that made my stomach turn.
At A Glance Author Wolfye Contact Wolfye@bme.anon IAM Wolfye When It just happened Artist Pete Studio The Piercing Urge Location Prahran, Victoria Anyway, as they say, time passed...
The next time I went in to the shop, I was talking to Sarah who does all of my regular piercing for me, and she told me that she'd had her outer conches dermal punched a few days before. They looked really cool, and that got me thinking. The problem with me thinking about something is that once I start thinking about it, I start wanting it and pretty soon I was talking to Pete about getting one myself. Initially I thought about getting my ear punched at 8g as I already had some jewellery of that size from my previous lobe stretch, but he didn't have any dermal punches of that size, and as I also had a 0g tunnel lying about it was decided that I'd have an 8mm hole in my outer conch instead. So we arranged the date and the time. As it was a sunny day and I wanted to do some photography in Geelong we made the appointment for 4pm in the afternoon. I figured I could get out to Geelong in the morning, take some photos and then stop in at the shop on the way home.
Even though we didn't leave the house until two hours later than I had planned, I still managed to get heaps of lovely photos and make it back a half hour early which was good as I was a little dehydrated and I had time to drink a few cups of water before we started.
Pete got everything ready, while I get the camera out and explained to my son how to take a picture with it. Pete marked my ear where the future hole would be and showed it to me in the mirror. I couldn't see it too well, so he took a photo with his digital camera and I asked him to position it back a little, closer to the edge of my ear. When it's healed, I'd like to have a ring through the tunnel and I figured it would be better closer to the edge. Then he cleaned my ear and marked it with the purple liquid in the little bottle (iodine?) and we were set.
Then I needed to pee. Too much water I suppose.
Anyway, bladder emptied and back in the room, Pete asked me to lie down. My son got ready with the camera. I remember breathing steadily and slowly, in anticipation of the adrenaline hit that follows hot on the tails of a piercing. I felt the apple corer against my ear, some slight pressure as it went through, nothing like I had expected. Pete had said that it would be unlike other piercing experiences I had had and that people were saying it was relatively painless. I have to agree.
Next, Pete removed the apple corer and pushed a taper through the hole and then followed the taper with the tunnel. There was a bit of blood, but not a huge amount and it kept bleeding for a while from one spot. Pete stuck a small piece of paper to the spot to soak it up a bit, Normal Gunston style. I sat up and Pete handed me the bit of my ear on the end of his finger saying, "It's like a little sandwich". It was actually. Three little flesh coloured discs one on top of the other, two pieces of skin either side of the piece of cartilage. My son took some photos of it on the end of my finger and then I put it on my tongue. A couple more photos and then I swallowed it. Sadly, the photos were too blurry and you can't see me eating it. A bit did get stuck in my throat and I needed some more water to wash it down. I'm not sure that Pete believed that I would really eat it, but I reasoned that it was a part of me and I didn't want to just throw bits of myself into the bin. It was kind of like swallowing a pill actually – and no, I didn't chew on it :P
Pete told me to lie down again as I was looking a bit pale. He went and looked after another customer while I relaxed and then came in to check on the ear. He took off the piece of paper as the blood had stopped dripping out and then decided to change the rubber ring on the back of the tunnel as he didn't think it would be tight enough, and as the tunnel is somewhat longer than the hole in my ear, he pushed the ring along it so that it sat hard against my ear with instructions to back it off a little the following morning after a good soaking in salt solution.
Last night I gave it a good 5 minute soaking in hot salt water before I went to bed. I slept on my left side and when I woke in the morning it was all looking and feeling good. I boiled the kettle to make up some more salt solution and waited until it was cool enough that I could put my elbow into it before sticking my ear into it. (I find that my ear fits nicely inside a regular coffee mug. I rest the mug full to the brim with hot salty water on a folded towel on the floor and lie there for five minutes while my ear soaks.)
After the soaking, I took the mug into the bathroom, washed my hands with soap in hot water and then carefully backed off the rubber ring to where the groove is in the jewellery. Then I soaked a little ball of cotton in the hot salty water and gently dabbed at the back of it to clean away any dried blood that was remaining. There was a little bit still there and it came away easily with no further bleeding. It's now less than 24 hours since I got the new hole in my ear and I've got to say it's one of the least painful piercing experiences I've ever had.
In fact, the only problem I've had with it was having to shoo the flies away from my ear as I walked to the train station this morning.
Thanks Pete!