It was the early 90's. I was just a kid and on the first page of a magazine was an advertisement that had a man sitting with his tongue sticking out and a barbell through it. It was something odd yet strangely awesome. I was amazed. Since then I've always been somewhat fascinated with piercings.
At A Glance Author DRybes Contact DRybes@bme.anon When A month ago Studio Artistic Creations Location Toledo, OH Fast forward to spring 2005. I just turned 18, and no piercing I could think of really appealed to me when I thought about it on my own body. Then my friend who wanted to get his tongue pierced linked me to BME one day. I didn't really look at the site for a while, but in the next few days my friend and I talked quite a bit about piercings. I'd joked more than once before about having a hole in the middle of my hand a-la-Jesus and I thought... whoa. What if I could actually do it? I looked for existing examples. Sure enough, there was a picture or two on BME of piercings in the middle of the hand. This was too awesome. Excited, I went around to a few local piercing studios.
Well, when you dream too big sometimes you have to compromise. I'd guessed a deep hand piercing would be a specialist sort of thing but I wasn't expecting to get practically laughed out of the studio. However, this did happen at one place, and it shall go unnamed. I think it had to do with the fact I didn't have any other piercings, but they could have handled themselves better, and it cost them my business. Anyway, the verdict from both friendly and unfriendly studios was that only a few piercers in the country would attempt something like that, and I didn't live near any of them, and none were on tour at the moment. The problem was I sort of got attached to the idea of a hand piercing. I wanted one pretty badly now. With the help of a few friends, the internet, and BME I decided a hand web piercing would satisfy whatever this weird compulsion in me now was. It was late (this had all happened in the same day) but the studio that had been friendliest was open until 11 so I drove there. I don't think I'd ever been as nervous as I was when I arrived at the place. I must have smoked for a half hour non-stop before I walked inside.
I went to the counter and after a brief wait, had a very straightforward conversation with the man who would pierce me. While waiting I had looked through some of his work, but what he had done to his own body was proof enough to me he was good at his job. I explained I wanted a hand web on my right hand, since I'm left-handed and had no idea how much it would hurt or how debilitating it would be. I work concessions at a movie theater and this was just days before our new cinema's grand opening. He assured me that it most likely wouldn't interfere with my job and that it would be fast to heal. He also showed me the scar where he used to have a hand web piercing between his left index and thumb, and told me about how it kept getting caught on things and eventually rejected. I'd thought about that already and didn't really like the look of piercings there, so I decided to go for the other three webs between my fingers. We went through the procedure and aftercare instructions, then I filled out the paperwork and he prepared the area. As I sat and my hand was marked with a purple surgical marker I didn't realize how much I was shaking until a woman who was going to watch me get pierced pointed it out. My first time, and I was getting three piercings. So much for taking it slow. But I wanted it so much now that it had to happen before I could calm down. The area was clean and my piercer had on his mask and gloves. He took a needle from an autoclave bag and stuck it in a glob of lubricant, then removed a barbell from another bag and unscrewed one ball. We were all set and ready to go.
It's not every day you get to watch a needle go through your flesh. He did the middle piercing first. He just clamped my hand, set the needle on the marking and asked if I was ready. I said yes, and down it went. It was one of the weirdest feelings ever when the needle came out from inside, and it hurt, but not as much as I expected. Then he slid the end of a barbell into the hollow needle and pulled it through. That part hurt more than the actual piercing, but only for a moment, and then it was in. He screwed on the end of the barbell and it was finished and practically pain free. I stared at my hand for a minute and smiled. I was still shaky as hell. But it looked just like I wanted and I felt awesome. He went ahead with the other two very similarly and in only a minute or two I was finished and ready to leave.
When I got home I just decided to show my parents up front (I hadn't told anyone I was going to get pierced). They didn't like it at first but in a matter of days everyone was perfectly fine with my newly adorned hand. That night my hand and fingers ached, but by the next day it was practically back to normal. I figured that if it was only going to be difficult using my hands for a day or two, as it seemed so far, I should go ahead and get the other hand pierced before the theater's opening in a few days. So not 24 hours after an incredibly exhilarating night I was back having the same thing done to my other hand. Aside from hurting just a bit more it was basically the same as the right hand. Now my hands were symmetrical again and equipped with silver barbells. It was the most pleased I'd been in a long time.
Now it's about two months since I got pierced, and I still love my piercings as much as I did the first day. I couldn't play guitar or do certain other things that were stressful on my hands for a week, but after that I could function normally. The bars don't get caught on things very often and don't usually hurt, and I believe I'm healing nicely. I'm very glad that none of them show any signs of rejection. Unfortunately, three of the six did get mildly infected, but the infection only lasted a short time and is almost completely cleared up at the moment (I'm currently taking antibiotics for an ear infection and they're helping my hand too). I guess I should have expected it, seeing as how much bacteria comes in contact with your hands during the day. Anyway, now my hands are always a conversation piece. Whether they like them, hate them, or find them just plain odd, almost everyone who sees my hands wants to talk about them and ask me a question or two. I didn't do it to be different, but there's something very satisfying about having a very unusual type of piercing. And honestly I love the clangs and clicks whenever I set my hand on a hard surface, or hold a railing, or pick up a glass.
My advice to anyone inexperienced with piercings who wants to get one, whether they've been thinking about it since 1993 or since five minutes ago... don't let your ideas be limited by what's common or what you see in pictures. I would have never arrived at the piercings I have now if I didn't consider some incredibly odd ones first. Also, don't neglect to take care of your piercings until they heal. Infections aren't good for your health, and besides that they look pretty nasty. Don't forget to tip your piercer... I didn't know you were supposed to at the time and I wish I did since he did a damn good job. I want to thank him and Artistic Creations, my friend Matt, and BME, for helping me modify myself. It's part of who I am now, and I can't describe how great it feels any clearer than that.