I'd had my nape pierced about two years ago by Scott at Progressive Piercing in Chicago. That experience was submitted shortly after the piercing. I had to remove the jewelry within a few days because the beads were beginning to pocket under the skin. In addition, it was just a bit too high for my taste. If I wore a button-down shirt that wasn't fully buttoned, it might show. That wasn't acceptable for my line of work. I had this staple-shaped surface bar sitting in my jewelry box for over two years.
At A Glance Author hypermike Contact hypermike@bme.anon IAM hypermike When A week ago Artist Luis Garcia Studio No Ka Oi Tiki Tattoo and Piercing Location Philadelphia, PA I've since had several piercers look at my nape to determine why a good piercing went bad. Unfortunately, it did leave scars. You wouldn't notice them unless you knew to look for them, though. Nobody seemed to know why it had gone bad.
Allow me to explain that three years ago, I lived in Philadelphia, three blocks from Infinite Body. Luis Garcia worked there at the time. I absolutely adore this guy. I still believe he is one of the best piercing artists I've ever encountered. More importantly, I trust this guy completely. I can walk into his shop and let him do his work.
Last weekend, I was in Washington, DC visiting a friend. In a completely random thought process, I decided I was going to go to Philly. And off I drove. When I arrived at my friend's house, I told him that I wanted to go down to South Street. Luis is now piercing at No Ka Oi Tiki Tattoo and Piercing on South 4th Street, right off South Street, and just a few doors down from Infinite Body. I wanted to show him pictures of my suspensions from the Rites of Passage BBQ.
As I was talking to Luis, I asked him if he had time to do a piercing for me. He asked what I was thinking of piercing. I told him I wanted to have my nape re-pierced. I think he was excited to do something slightly different. One would think that piercers have to get tired of piercing labrets, tongues, navels, nostrils and eyebrows all the time. I ran back to my car to get the surface bar so he could autoclave it. I told him I'd have to buy some beads from him. I also knew it was made by Industrial Strength, and all of their jewelry uses standard beads. He said he had a better idea, and that I should come back in an hour.
My friend and I did some walking, in search of food and an ATM. We somehow managed to kill an hour and then I landed back upstairs to wait for Luis. He had two nostril piercings ahead of me. He would have taken me ahead of the two clients getting nostril piercings, but the autoclave cycle had just finished, and the jewelry needed to cool off, first. I patiently waited.
When it was finally my turn, he called me back into his piercing room and had me stand up against the wall. He wanted to mark my neck while I was standing. Before that, however, he had to clean the back of my neck with Technicare. I hate that stuff, just because it's always cold. As he started marking my neck with the surgical ink pen, he noticed something. The dots he had drawn were closer together than the original holes. He believes that my original piercing was pocketing because the two holes were too far apart. I had explained that I needed this to be lower than the original piercing. He easily accommodated that request.
As he finished his prep work, he was explaining to me that he had been asked to speak at the recent APP (Association of Professional Piercers) convention on the topic of surface piercings. Here I was, getting a surface piercing by someone who is considered by the APP to be an expert on the topic of surface piercings. Have I mentioned how much I adore this guy?
He then had me lie down on the table so we could get started. He told me to start taking deep breaths and then to let them out slowly. It took him three breaths to get the needle through because of the precision required for the surface bar. He moved slowly, but methodically, and it worked out fine. All that remained was to replace the needle with the surface bar. That was exceptionally smooth. Finally, he put the discs onto the jewelry. That was the secret to this piercing. Instead of using regular beads, he used flat-backed discs. This serves multiple purposes. First, the discs have a lesser chance of pocketing like my original piercing did. Second, the discs are less likely to catch on clothing, meaning it won't tear at the piercing so frequently.
I have gotten the invariable question: "Didn't that hurt?" Honestly, no. Keep in mind that pain is relative. In the preceding fourteen days, I'd done a ten-point superman suspension, a four-point knee suspension, and I'd had my inner conch pierced. My inner conch hurt like no other piercing I've had. Compared to that, this was a breeze.
In our discussion on aftercare, he told me that the only two things he'd use to clean this piercing is a mild antibacterial soap and a saline solution. He advocates using the wound wash saline that comes in a pressurized can. It sprays almost like an aerosol can, except that its a solid stream. I use that to clean my inner conch piercing, and it works very well.
The first two or three days, the site around the piercing was a little tender, but tolerable. I was able to sleep on my back, even. Considering that I'd had my left inner conch pierced two weeks earlier, I still can't sleep on my left side, so being able to sleep on my back is a requirement. Today, the nape piercing is healing exceptionally well. I've had no lymphatic "crusties," no blood, and no puss.
I'm extremely pleased with this piercing. The placement is simply perfect. In fact, I can wear some T-shirts that cover it. I might have to go back and have a second piercing placed right above the first one. When I wear a collared shirt that's not completely buttoned, there is at least an inch and a half of fabric covering this piercing. It's perfect.
Good piercers are a great thing. But when you find an exceptional piercer like Luis Garcia, they're worth more than their weight in gold.