My ear scalpelling-the last resort
At A Glance Author iam:deadboy Contact iam:deadboy@bme.anon IAM deadboy When It just happened Artist Mark Gibson Studio Everything and Nothing I'm writing this while the experience is fresh in my mind and my ears are still throbbing. I have just got back in from having my ears cut. Here`s the story..
So a little bit of background info is needed as to how this came about. I went to the Peterlee tattoo convention a while back and it was here where I met the nice guy who was to end up doing my ears. A friendly guy called Mark Gibson from a studio called Everything and Nothing.
My ears were stretched up to about 5/8ths and had been bigger in the past. I have been terrible for downsizing and giving up on stretching my lobes on a whim. They would shrink then id incorrectly stretch them up in a rush. The joys of being a stupid youth with no research into the body modification i was doing on my own body. My left ear didn't like all this punishment and as a consequence had developed a thin spot.
I never wanted to get scalpelled originally because of the so-called "cheating" aspect of it. I wanted to be able to say id stretched all on my own with out the aid of blade. I downsized, taped up slowly and emu oiled my ears to death all to help thicken them up. I did this for about a year and managed to thicken my ear up to about twice its thickness. It still wants thick enough for how big I planned on going. I was upset with this and gave up on stretching.
The more I got into BME the more I learned/saw scalpelling and what it's about. I looked into it as a way to sort out my ear and finally get me to the size I want to be at. I carried on talking to Mark and the subject cropped up. He was willing to do it and as I previously knew him he was my first choice to do it. We arranged a date and that was it.
The day came. Me and my best mate were going to head up to Marks studio in Cumbria. We got in the car and started the 2 and half hours drive up to get my ears done. I get really nervous before any piercing something about the thought of it scares me and I'm not afraid to admit it. The satnav saying "you have now reached your destination" filled me with excitement and fear.
Marks shop was really cool it wasn't just a studio but also had a shop in the front part full of loads' cool things. He greeted us and asked us to go to the back where the separate piercing area was. I sat down and just tried to chill while he started setting up. Mark looked at my ears and then put on some gloves and got ready for marking. This was the first of many glove changes!
My left ear was a pain to mark and I think it took 3 tries to get it so we were both happy with it. I like the fact that Mark listened to my concerns marking wise. He rubbed the marks off and changed them to how I wanted without any fuss at all. He also changed his gloves after every marking/remarking. It made me comfortable and relaxed with everything. Once both ears were marked up I sat down and started breathing to try and prepare myself for the oncoming cut. The right ear was easy to mark so it isn't worth writing about.
"Ready to go?" said Mark. Guess it was now or never had to do this. I laid back and Mark changed his gloves. The clamps took a while to get on my ear they didn't hurt but the feel of them made me abit nervous. You would think that after all the piercings I have had that id get used to it and find them a breeze but no. Anyway the clamps were on and mark had the scalpel I could see it out the corner of my eye. That's when I started feeling nervous the thought of it freaked me out. Mark must have picked up on this because he stopped and told me about breathing and trying to chill out. He waited there then said "ready" I nodded counted to three with him then it happened.
What was I scared of? The scalpel felt like a papercut,it didn't really hurt anything like I thought it would. The cut took about 5 seconds and straight away I had gauze on my ear and pressure to slow the slight bleeding I had. Mark changed his gloves-again! Then came the jewellery insertion this part wasn't too fun. The jewellery was slightly tight to stop bleeding and it felt abit weird having jewellery touching an open wound. Even though that part hurt abit it still was no where near as bad as i thought it was going to be ,I thought the worst I guess.
Now that one was over and I knew what to expect the nervousness and fear I had was gone. I sat up and had a little rest while Mark prepped for my right ear. Yet again he changed his gloves I swear he intended to use a full box on me! I laid down and we got on with the second one, pretty much the same as my left. I laid down and the clamps were put on, this time I had no hesitation and Mark got on with it. The cut hurt more than the previous one but it still want anywhere near "bad" I bled abit more on this one though. Once the bleeding calmed down Mark got the jewellery in, it wasn't too bad but yet again was worse than my left. Still once having it done I wondered why I had been so scared! I now had a nice pair of 20mm throbbing and scabby lobes i was happy!
Afterwards I spent the day with Mark he cleaned my ears up and wanted to make sure everything was cool before I went home. I t was a great experience and Mark is a great guy. After my scalpelling we had a pull (my first!) but that's another story...