Cheek Piercings – Awkward little things
At A Glance Author .Only.Streetlights. Contact gothicpornstar@hotmail.com When Three months ago Artist Tom and Julie Studio Punktured Location Brighton, UK I'd been through the process of piercing a few times before – my tongue, my septum, my bridge, and each nipple – but the nerves built up for this one a lot more than I ever expected. This was 2 holes in my face at the same time. Two holes, and for me that was a pretty big step. Granted I already had a few facial piercings and was completely prepared for more, but this was still a pretty scary step for me to take.
METAflesh in Brighton, UK was the place I chose. I paid my train fair and arrived there to discover that they had suddenly shut down. This place was the only one I truly trusted and I cried for a fair while after I heard that they would never be reopening. When I had gone to them for my bridge and my septum I had experienced something that meant the world to me; the atmosphere they created was perfect and used to put me completely at ease.
Eventually, when I heard that METAflesh's Rob Goode would be working with Punktured, Brighton I decided that this place must be a good establishment and because I didn't want to stop my body modification experiences I would go to them. After all the formalities of booking a slot and making sure I really had the cash, and preparing myself mentally for the whole process, I arrived at the studio and was greeted with the familiar legal form.
I was to be pierced by Tom and I will admit that I wished Rob had started there by this point, I honestly felt like I was betraying METAflesh by going to Punktured at this point which is utterly stupid – but I still felt it all the same. Everything looked and felt clean but stomach was still doing back flips.
As soon as I got in there I made sure everyone knew that I have chubby cheeks and I was going to need long bars. Having read a lot of accounts about failed cheek piercings I knew I had to make that clear. After Tom prepared everything and I had spent about 15 or 20 minutes fiddling with the marking; obviously wanting complete symmetry and balance, we started. The whole procedure was pretty much a walk in the park with the exception of getting the balls on inside my mouth, at that point I felt a bit like I was being manhandled. I'd had 18mm barbells put in with 4mm balls on the inside of my cheek because apparently "labret studs just aren't made long enough" (I have since easily found 20mm labret studs).I questioned if that was going to be long enough and in the end was convinced. I felt very reassured. After a quick check in the mirror I paid and left.
It all felt quite good despite being a bit tender and I took the train home pleased as punch. That was the end of Day One.
The swelling kicked off and my face became agony. Smiling, laughing, winking was even out of the question for the next few days. Or so I thought.
Sunday was the day I got pierced, and by Tuesday night I started to worry that the balls inside were embedding into my cheek tissue. I emailed Punktured to try and get some advice as soon as I started to worry – expecting a reply the next morning or at least by lunchtime. No reply came and I was freaking out as my cheeks started to feel incredibly pressurized and no amount of ibuprofen or corsodyl was easing the pain. I called them a few times on Wednesday to try and get some advice but they were engaged everytime I tried over the next four hours or so. In the end I got through and was told to come in ASAP to have them looked at and changed up.
Not a minute of sleep found me on Wednesday night, I couldn't get comfortable at all. My face was throbbing and my teeth were aching – my whole face hurt and I was incredibly tempted to just take them out and forget about the dream of having metal dimples. I persevered, but spent most of the night freaking out and crying. Seems like I just wasn't willing to give up on them.
The next day the balls had completely disappeared, I couldn't feel them with my tongue and I couldn't touch my cheeks at all without intense pain. Back on the train it was with a bit of moral support in the form of my friend Kayleigh first thing Thursday morning.
Arriving at the studio I was greeted by Julie who told me that she needed at least half an hour before she could look at them because she had to autoclave new jewellery. I am obviously glad that I was going to be getting sterile barbells – but all this time I was stressed and afraid of what was going to happen to my cheek piercings. After we wandered the streets for half an hour, Kayleigh trying to calm me down I went back to Punktured again scared out of my wits. Julie was going to put 22mm barbells in to try and cope with the extra swelling, but I pushed to have 30mm because I already had 4mm balls inside my cheek and an 18mm bar. 22mm barbells wouldn't have given my cheeks anymore room if they decided to get larger; and would still be slightly indented. The bars had to be popped back through the folds of skin and the pressure on my skin was excrutiating. The new 30mm bars slid in place quite easily which was refreshing but having to get the new ball screwed on the back was a nightmare. I went through that twice with a lot of deep breaths inbetween stages.
My only task was to stay calm and relaxed as possible while this was all being done – honestly I think I did quite well but I don't want to test my ability to stay relaxed like that again for a long time.
Now, 8 weeks on I still have 30mm barbells in place, but with a lot more space on them. After an attempt 2 days ago to switch down to 20mm labret studs which failed because they were still a bit too tight, I'm anxious to try and get at least to 24mm.
In fact today's plan is to cut 2 lengths of PTFE down to 26mm and see how comfortable that is for a couple of days, then down to 24mm, and so on until I get to a comfortable but slightly dimpled size.
The flaps of tissue that swallowed up the balls inside my cheek still remain and are incredibly annoying. Slowly but surely they are shrinking and joining with the rest of my cheek tissue surrounding the exit hole – hopefully they'll disappear completely soon.
All in all, my cheek piercings were a nightmare, but I am already left with something that means the world to me, and is beautiful. After all, I'm the only one who can feel the flaps of skin inside my mouth.