Just shy of a week ago, I spent the day doing paperwork and running around. After I finished all that I decided to get some new piercings. I was now officially out of the military!
At A Glance Author BMGecko Contact BMGecko@bme.anon Artist Rock Studio Rock's Dermagraphix Location Alamogordo, New Mexico I stopped by the bank on base before heading to Rock's Dermagraphix in Alamogordo, New Mexico. People are leery of Rock's shop as it's not the cleanest, and the people that hang around there seem stoned half the time. Though I say their arguments have merit, I have had Rock do many piercings on me, and I am totally comfortable with him piercing me.
When I got into the shop Rock's wife Kat saw me and came and gave me a hug. It had been a while since I'd been in and she was happy to see me. She told Rock that I was there, as he was in the back doing an eyebrow pierce. I told Kat that I had just officially gotten out of the military and wanted to see if Rock had some time to do a little work on me that evening. It turns out that he did, and I was slated for a medusa and a labret!
I like the way Rock handles his work. Though he's there to make money, he isn't EVER rushed. I probably hung out for a good hour while the gear was sterilized and we could just sit down and shoot the shit. I'm sure this puts some people off that it can take so long, and it's made longer by the way he runs his shop. But I like being able to sit in a comfy chair, and bullshit with Rock and Kat, and the various people that pass through the place. As a side note, there was another military guy there who was in the shop and on leave and visiting his family. Rock was working on a tattoo design for him. The guy's uncle was in the shop, and though he didn't much care for body piercing, he was intrigued enough that he asked if he could watch my pierces being performed. Rock asked if it was OK with me, and I said it was, so I had a guest to watch my work!
So I'm in the chair, and we were doing the labret first. He had Kat turn the lights so he could check for veins and blood vessels with a small flashlight. There were no problems with that so he marked my labret off first (after he shaved the hair I'm now growing) and the placement looked fine. He clamped off the area and we were set to start. As an aside I like the way he clamps for a piercing. I'd had another piercer clamp so hard that it hurt much more than the piercing did. I think that's kinda wacky. Rock always clamps strongly enough to get a firm hold, yet gently enough to cause no discomfort. I'm clamped and ready to go. Breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth, in through the nose, out through the mouth, in through the nose... and thats when the needle slipped through! Some folks say no pain, no gain, but this was truly less than a bee-sting! I'm sitting there with a needle through my lip, with a cork on the end while Rock gets the jewelry and I mumble to the fella who is watching, "No pain, really..." The jewelry was inserted, and I rinsed my mouth out and was ready for the next piece, the medusa!
Before I go any farther I should point out that before I had the labret done, I performed the cleansing and hygiene precautions with Rock, as we always do.
Next came the medusa, and I was in the chair and a little more apprehensive about this one. I figured that it would actually hurt. I just get the heebie-jeebies! I've had a few piercings over the years, and I still get the sweat in my armpits, and my knees still shake a bit when I'm in the chair. I thought that this piercing would be more painful as I imagined that it had a better blood supply, more nerves and the like. When I stretched my septum up to 4 gauge, that part of my face went numb. I won't bore you with the actual procedure, but I can say the "pain" was a walk in the park. I felt it less than even the labret!
After both piercings were done, and I'd cleaned up I got the lowdown on caring for these new piercings. I learned that these were special piercings to watch for since there was differing tissues on each side of the pierce. Aftercare, as with all piercings were stressed. Along with the stuff he gave me, he also recomended zinc tablets which I picked up at the store later.
In retrospect of just shy of a week I can say that the "care and feeding" has been straight-forward and simple for thse new piercings. The pain was hardly a notice. I can say that the swelling of the bottom lip cause the "plate" on the back of the jewelry to go into the lip slightly. But now on the sixth day the swelling has reduced to the point where I'm comfortable with it. I can also add that I did not use ibufrofen to help reduce this swelling. The look is worth what really was a simple and painless procedure. If you're interested in these piercings I can only say that you need to go for it!