I decided to get my hand web pierced after looking at some pics on BME and after a couple months of vacillation I went and talked to Devin at Personal Grafix. She had never done this kind of piercing before and was reluctant because she was sure it would migrate and that I would be unhappy with her. I finally talked her into it and one night I called her up and told her to autoclave the bar as I was on my way. I got there and we went over the ropes and I had decided to have my right hand done as I am left handed and it would be easier to let the right hand heal. She was afraid to go in too deep but we got a spot marked and she decided not to clamp it for some reason even though I thought that would be easier. Anyway, she just pushed the needle through and it was very painful considering she had to force the needle through my hand because the skin was stretching. She finished and put a short 18 or 16 gauge bar through. It looked great! In the weeks that followed, it swelled a nd the bar was just way too short to allow for that and causing it to hurt and all that so I had to take it out... It was pretty painful after I took it out and I planned on going at lunch that day but by that time the healing process had already taken over and I wasn't going to go through the pain of having a healing wound re pierced. It took about a month before the knot of scar tissue that had formed under the skin to go away.
At A Glance Author ageniculata Contact vetgirl00us@yahoo.com When Three months ago Artist Don't remember his name Studio Personal Grafix Location Rome, GA Eight months later I got a wild hair and decided to try again. This time I talked to a guy named Chuck I think and he remembered me from the last time so I went down and explained how I wanted it and he could see the old scar, just a tiny dot, and we went by that. I didn't want it on the edge because of the fear of migration so we went in a bit deeper ( I have a good handweb) this time. I'd say almost a centimeter into the hand web right next to the muscle. This time he clamped it and pushed the needle through and it was no big deal. He used a bar about 1 inch and 16 gauge. It did bleed a tiny bit this time. It looked great of course and I was using the hand the next day with very little swelling and no redness. I had this done on October 11th.
It is now January and the bar is still looking good. It still drains lymph from time to time and gets sore if I bang it but I can take the bar out and there is a tube of scar tissue forming which will eventually scar down and heal. It looks good. No redness or swelling. I work in an animal clinic so I have been careful about getting stuff on it and it has never really given me a problem. It is hard to open bottles or things that I have to grip my hand around but I don't really notice the bar being there any more. I notice if I don't twist the bar around from time to time that it adheres to the scar tissue and it will make more lymph come out for several hours after. What I usually do is put some antibiotic ointment on the bar to keep it greased and it feels fine when I do that. I know that piercers don't recommend that but it seems fine for my particular situation. The scar tissue has made the web a bit thicker than the other but I think it will scar down in time.
I have had problems in getting caught in my hair and on sweaters and stuff in the beginning but now I am so used to it that I am not aware and that seems to have made all the difference. I live in a small town and I get some weird reactions to it. Some people just turn away and of course I get the "Why did you do it" spiel. Well, duh, because I wanted to, idiots. I haven't seen anyone else in this town with one and alot of people like it and want to have it done.
I think the smart thing was to get a barbell a little longer than I really needed so that it could heal properly and breathe like piercings need to do. I expect that it will be completely healed within 6 to 9 months as long as I don't get it caught on anything. That really hurts! I had originally planned to have both hand webs done but it will have to be when I am on vacation or something because I am left handed and I am worried about the healing process with using the hand so much. Plus it will be harder for me to clean with the right hand. I have considered having some knuckle piercing to further decorate the right hand but I'm still not sure.