An old idea... Shortly after doing the first piercings with success I thought about a deeper piercing. A piercing deep through the body's muscles would much more become a real part of me, than any surface piece. (Despite the fact I pierced them quite deep too). But what to do, which part of the body could be suitable...? And... is it possible? First question was answered when I saw piercings under the collarbone and through the mandibles. It is possible, but I don't like metal in my face too much, and I fear of a risk when penetrating the inner body cavity. The chain method is much more prone to infections during the first year, I didn't wanted to carry germs really into this part of the body. What else could be possible, where could a piercing really become irremovable bond to the body. Every big muscle should be possible. BIZEPS! And perhaps the muscles of the feet. But will a piercing in heal in this regions? All these muscles are moved all the time, so the piercing will. Ok, t he chains are flexible, but enough? So I had to try it on a place were damage (=scars) will be not to great if I had to give up and remove the piercing, cause it does not try to grow in. This is the story of the deep deltoid shoulder muscle chain, through two old scars (described in "unremovable piercings"). Despite some disturbing infections it healed fine. And again it was time to where and when. In spring I recognized it would be better to wait for winter, too much sports, swimming during summer would not be the best treatment. And I decided to do the biceps, when I discovered the anatomy of humans. The visible human project is great. So I found out, that very important arteries, veins and nerves are placed all over the important muscles of the thigh. It would be too risky to do anything there without really medical education. The situation is better in the lower leg, but a piercing there is very exposed during sports in summer. So injuries and infections would occur eas ily. But inside the upper arm, all important structures go though one place: The region between biceps and triceps at the inner side of the arm (hands are held to the body). And one quite important vein lies at the front side. So it would be an easy thing to avoid all important, sensitive and dangerous regions.
At A Glance Author Stormchaser Contact Stormchaser@bme.anon IAM Stormchaser When Three months ago Artist meself Studio at home Location Vienna, Austria I started the procedure late evening of 5th November 02. A least control where to pierce, squish the muscle gently with fingers of the other hand, feel the more sensitive, important region, avoid it, mark the planned entry and exit spot. Than I stabbed the new, fu**ing big, self abraded needle through the skin. Disinfection's work was done with Octenisept solution, which has a useful side effect to work as lubricant. This was badly necessary, as the entry hole through skin had to be stretched enormously. This procedure was hard and painful, and entry of the muscle was even worse, the muscle-covering tissue is very pain sensitive. None of these effects were new, I had suffered them during shoulder piercing too. But the new needle with it's bigger diameter made it worse. Nevertheless it became a painless procedure when entry was performed. Stabbing through the muscle's tissue needed a lot of power, but was free of pain. Only some feeling of a pressure indicated where the need le was. Than the exit. Again it was somehow painful to stab through the muscle's skin, and than through the dermis But it was much less pain than during entry.
So the needle was through in quite short time of less than a half hour (did it slow, to avoid unnecessary injury, tissue should be stretched not torn. And it would be important to have time to react if despite all planning any important structure would be threatened to be injured.
But now some problems begun. How to replace this needle by the chain? It was planned to pull the (sewing kit) needle together with the attached chain through the arm. But the end was much thicker than the needle itself, so it would have been another enormous, but not necessary stretching. So I gave up this and tried another way: I removed the needle and pushed a blunt silver wire with smaller diameter through the piercing tunnel. And this WAS PAINFUL!!! And it was a slow procedure, due to the fact, that the first movement of the muscle displaced the channel. A lot of curves were the result, it was hard to find the way. And scratching of something inside a wound is not really fine, even when it's blunt. When the wire was through I bend it tightly 180° (trying to avoid hook form, it should be really tight) and attached the chain, hoping it won't stuck too much inside the piercing channel. Nevertheless, 2 times the wire was of big enough diameter to be painful when pulling thro ugh, it scratched painful inside the piercing channel. And before being completely through it stuck shortly and I tore a little piece of skin. This again was painful like hell.
Despite these complications shortly before reaching the goal, I lost very little amounts of blood as a sign for little tissue damage. And really it started to heal fast, very fast. I found out that the muscle wants move below skin and there would be a lot of physical stress to tissue when skin is fixed to the muscle by a tight, inflexible piercing. So I allowed the chain to move in for about 4 additional centimetres. These 4cm are grown into the adhesive tissue, and can move freely, so the muscle's movement is independent of the skin (extreme movements can pull the skin a bit).
During first healing time it was never infected, and it was possible for me to work, using the arm with power after a few days. It needed about one month to finish the first healing. Since this time the metal is really a part of me, I don't think that it can ever be removed. 2 times the more sensitive inner side was infected till now for a short time (2 - 3 days). It never was too bad, but needless to tell, that it does not feel fine during this happenings. The restructuring of tissue around the entry points is in progress, but this will be a slowly process. And save from infections it will be not before this is finished in about one year. Despite this (slower) 2nd healing step it feels really nice, and really as a part of my arm most of time.
P.S.: Deep piercings are dangerous (as all heavier bodymods are)!!! Don't try it without INTENSE studies before, be aware of a residual risk. Problems every piercing can develop are more serious when it's deep, and again more serious when it is not removable.