I remember seeing poorly done surface piercings on a less than professional piercing website a while back and thinking "Oh dear, those poor people. What would possess them to do that to themselves?" At that point I had no idea what properly placed/pierced surface piercings were supposed to look like, and thought that they were destined to look crooked, or migrate or just look plain ugly. I couldn't believe any one thought those barbells hastily shoved through a chunk of skin and left to reject were attractive. It was insane!
At A Glance Author tarrier Contact tarrier@bme.anon When A month ago Artist ryan Studio next! Location vancouver Fortunately, a few months later I was introduced to BMEzine. BME I had the opportunity to see some fantastically done piercings, including surface. I was also able to read about the risks and procedure and see what good piercings looked like opposed to bad piercing and learned what jewellery should be used and et cetera. (You guys really are an awesome resource!) By the time I reached grade 12 I had convinced myself that I wanted a cleavage bar, but I had yet to find a studio in my area that used surface bars and I didn't want put my body in a dangerous position and decided to wait until I could find someone with knowledge and experience with such precise piercings.
Halfway through the first semester of grade 12 I was sent out on a work placement for my Career Prep program to Next! Body Piercing and Aftercare. During my stay with Next! as their dishpig (as I was affectionately called) I was able to widely further my knowledge of piercings and I also had the chance to speak with one of the piercers there extensively about surface piercings. He explained the risks to me and the aftercare procedures and told me about his experiences with them. Everything he told me comforted me and made me even more excited about the idea. But I left idea alone for another month or so (I had a few different piercings already healing and I wanted to devote my body fully to healing my cleavage bar) before I decided to go for it. We discussed it again and then set up a time and a date. I went down to the shop a week later armed with my best friend Alli and a camera to keep our appointment.
Upon my arrival we chatted a bit and picked out a surface bar that would appropriately fit my anatomy (14 g, 5/8" x 1/8" in 316LVM implant grade surgical steel) and went into one of the piercing rooms. I took off my shirt and was able to keep my bra on while he worked on the placement (which took a good 20 minutes or so). He wanted to make sure it would be perfectly straight no matter which way I moved. So we talked and I laughed at his cold hands and he had to re-mark. Then he would re-mark and Alli would make a face and then I'd laugh and he'd have to re-mark. Then I would sneeze and he would have to re-mark. I can never stand still during these things. And on top of that it was like I'm standing there half naked in this sexy black lace bra (the only one I had clean) with my nipples sticking out because I was cold which made me find the situation even more humorous!
Once he finally had the placement down, I laid down on the dental chair and he had me inhale a bit of lavender to relax and he pierced me at the count of three. The actual needle going through flesh was slightly slower than your average piercing, I could feel the needle but it wasn't all that painful. I was expecting a mighty jolt of pain, but in the end I didn't even squeeze Alli's hand. (Okay, okay – I'm a baby, I had to hold a hand) He used a taper to insert the jewellery which was more uncomfortable than the piercing itself, then he screwed on the balls, cleaned me off (there was only a teeny bit of blood) and let me take a look at myself while he took a few snaps for his portfolio and Alli was taking some personal snaps. It was absolutely beautiful, dead center straight and sitting perfectly. I was very VERY impressed with the job.
I had my piercing done just under a month ago and the healing is going wonderfully, no signs of infection or rejection. However, it bled a bit last night when I was a tad intoxicated and kept knocking myself into things. I've been keeping the cleaning very simple – Pears soap and sea salt soaks and it's working out really well. I'm really glad I got this piercing and am actually thinking about placement for a few other surface piercings.