At A Glance
Author	San
Contact	San@bme.anon
IAM	BlueStar
When	Three months ago
Artist	Mike
Studio	Artistic Impressions
Location	Niagara Falls, ON Canada

I've noticed over time that hand-related piercings have a tendency to be more painful than others. I was bored one day and pierced my handweb with a 14 gauge needle and 14 gauge jewellery. I went too deep on the exit hole and it swelled over the barbell, and I gave up on it after changing jewellery one too many times. I said, "To hell with it" after this.

One of my friends called and arranged to meet. My brother borrowed my car and didn't leave the keys to his moped, and my parents had the other car. The motorcycle was out for me, since its about 300 pounds too big for me. Uh oh. Public transportation. The stop I got off at was right across the street from Artistic Impressions. This gave me ideas.

I went in and chatted/hung out for a bit, realized I was about an hour late for meeting my friend, went to meet her briefly then went back. Ralph said, "Why don't you get your handweb or something done?" Interesting idea.

Insert: I am a horseback rider, but I was not at the time. I'd get the piercing done again, but it would get in the way of holding the reins far too much and would be inconvenient and risky.

I said I'd do my handweb, Mike quoted me a price, all was well. We went into the piercing room, with some followers to view the piercing and Mike cleaned off the web between my index and thumb and marked it. I okay'd the marks and he selected a small 14 gauge barbell.

I was a bit nervous because when I pierced my handweb myself it took a lot of force to get the needle through, and it did hurt quite a bit. I knew Mike would go a lot faster on me than I would on myself. This was my first piercing by Mike.

My handweb was clamped, not too tightly. I knew the clamps were there, but they weren't uncomfortable or anything.

"Deep breath in. Deep breath out".

A shock of pain hit me as I was pierced. Way more than I figured there would be. I sucked it up and continued to sit calmly and let Mike do his job. The jewellery insertion was a bit bitchy and there was a lot of pressure, but the pain was gone by then. It was a painful piercing, but after the piercing, it just goes right away.

I looked at it and I loved it. I could close my hand, and you couldn't see it. I tried to get ahold of my brother, who locked himself out, to try and get a ride back home, since it was a pretty far walk and I hate busses. I walked up the hill and called Bill, who came and got me, and we detoured to the liquor store. I grabbed a case of orange smoothy with rum and went to Bill's and drank.

There was no blood, at any time, during this piercing.

The next day was a family affair and my hand hurt. I had swelled and it was very uncomfortable and I knew I had to change the barbell. I took a short, but longer, 14 gauge barbell out of my inner conches (which I've had for three and a half years, they're healed!) and tried to unscrew the barbell with one hand. No way in hell this was happening.

I grabbed some Kleenex and had my brother use that while touching the balls to unscrew it. Amusing point is that he almost threw up. The barbell was out and there was a lot of relief in my hand. I switched the barbells, but after a couple of days, it wouldn't settle down, so I let it go. I'm sure drinking didn't help, and we really didn't expect much in the swelling ways. I realized I had screwed around with it too much, and it would be easier to take it out and re-pierce than to deal with it. So I made arrangements with Mike.

I started horseback riding again. I payed special attention to the way I held the reins one night to see if I could ride with it. I realized I couldn't, which sucked, since it was a fun little piercing to have. It could have worked out, but in the end, I would have lost it anyways, due to horseback riding.

I don't suggest this as a piercing to do yourself because of placement. I found it to be fairly painful and got in the way a lot. It was a spontaneous decision and if it were easier to deal with, I'd do it again, but healing it would not be fun. Mike did a good job, the placement was great, but it didn't work out for me. Hopefully it works out better for others, but this is my warning.