After some consideration, I decided to get a surface piercing on my arm. Part of it was curiosity because I've never had a surface piercing, but this was also going to be to facilitate a magic trick.
At A Glance Author Travis Contact Travis@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Cannon Studio Acme Body Piercing Location Cincinnati, OH
I stopped by Acme Body Piercing on a friday after work. I talked to Cannon, the owner, for a while, and we decided to go with a catheter tubing with a ball on either end to hold it in place inside of a 10ga piercing. He had done a few others in the past, but from what he's told me, most of the people wound up changing their minds about them, and removing them. I think he's kind of hoping I keep this for a while so he can track the progress.
He explained the process to me, and I filled out the paperwork. We got into the room, and he began to prepare. Having never had a surface piercing, I was a little nervous. Cannon and I worked out where on the forearm would be the best place to put the piercing to minimize the chance of it growing out. Finally we picked a spot about 3-4 inches up from my wrist. This was chosen for several reasons. The aforementioned "not growing out", hiding it at my "real job" (in an office at a conservative company), and concealing it until the end of the trick that it is part of (more on that later).
He cleaned my arm, marked the entry and exit points, and clamped on the forceps. I'm not big on watching the actual piercing itself, so I looked away. There was a sharp, but very brief pain, and the needle was through. Once the needle pierced the skin, there was barely any pain at all. The anticipation was definitely MUCH worse than the piercing itself. The tubing went through and was secured with no problems at all. I've actually had stretching sessions that have been rougher. Though, there was a fair amount of blood, which I'm not used to with piercings. The pain thing was unusual, though. With my other piercings (I've had or still have a nipple, septum, frenum, tongue, and 2 earlobes at some point) the pain didn't start to subside until the jewelry was in. With this, once the actual piercing of the flesh was done, it was almost like the area went numb. I could still feel, but it wasn't painful. I guess it could be endorphins, but I'd like to hear if anyone el se has had a similar experience with a surface piercing. I have heard that the nape is a VERY painful piercing.
Here is a picture right after it was taken. And here is a picture of it 2 days later (I apologize for the crappy quality, these were taken with a camera phone). Once the scabs and bruising totally heal, I'll take more pictures. There will probably also be pictures on my my website once I start using it in performances.
I'm at 2 weeks now, and it's healing pretty well. I'm cleaning it with soap and water, and using cotton balls soaked in a sea salt solution as a compress every day. I bring away little bits of the scab on the cotton balls every time. The scabs look like there are about to fall off, and there is a little bit of dead skin peeling at the entry points. My piercer said that this was normal. The redness and swelling are totally gone. There was some bruising in a "halo" around the piercing, but that is almost totally gone now too. I was worried for the first few days because the redness encompassed the entire length of the flesh between the 2 entry points. I was scared that it would pop right out of my arm and I'd either have to give up on the idea, or have it re-done (possibly on the other arm). I've been told that there's a good possibility that it will grow out over time. My nipple ring grew out, and supposedly this is similar.
Once this is healed, I will be putting a safety pin through the tubing. This will be part of an "extreme" magic trick I will be performing with my sideshow. I make a safety pin disappear, and then reveal that like most magicians, I just snuck it up my sleeve. I roll up the sleeve to expose the safety pin going through my arm. I may put a bit of fake blood around it just for effect. Most of the stuff I do is real (e.g. fire eating, sword swallowing, blockhead), but I do occasionally throw in a magic trick or two. I'm still trying to decide if I should reveal that it is just a "trick" or not. In a way, it's real, but in another way, it's not. I guess I'll just play it by ear.