At A Glance
Author	DRybes
Contact	DRybes@bme.anon
When	Three months ago
Artist	Rob
Studio	Artistic Creations
Location	Toledo, OH

It was a warm night in late June. I stepped out of my car and approached Rob. He was sitting outside the studio on a bench, leaned back and having a cigarette. The matter at hand that evening: repiercing my migrating handwebs. He put out the smoke and we were about to go inside when I asked about a piercing I'd seen on BME a while back that had always piqued my interest.

"An eyelid? I've been wanting to do one of those since March." He pulled out his album and showed me a guy he'd done a few eyebrow bars on. He explained that he'd wanted to go close to the eyelid, but the guy flinched too much for the delicacy of the area, and the photo represented the closest Rob had dared to go. The bars were quite close to the eyelid, but they were not what I'd been thinking of. I didn't want a facial surface bar, I wanted a full blown, "stupid human trick" eyelid CBR.

We talked about it for a while, having both read all the information on BME about it (as you may know, Shannon put together a wonderful article in 2004, complete with interviews). It was exciting to think about; I think for the first half of our conversation he was trying to make sure I wasn't just casually entertaining the idea. After a while it was obvious to him I was being serious, and we planned it out. Rob would talk in detail to a few piercers he knew who'd performed the eyelid procedure before, and he would print out all the information available about it online. He also decided to make a custom pair of clamps by machining them smooth, so the gripping texture inside couldn't damage the sensitive skin of my eyelid. "Call me in a week," he said.

After one of the longest weeks I've ever waited, I stopped by Artistic Creations the following Friday afternoon. It was almost 4; I had to be at work at 5, but I had my uniform on so it was just a matter of a short drive. The window was set at one hour... one hour in which to either do this, or wait several days for the next opportunity. I was far too ready to be pierced to wait any longer, though. I asked him if he was up for it and he said sure, but the clamps were in the autoclave so it'd be a little while longer. That about slammed the window shut, but I didn't give up. I went and bought some eye drops and grabbed a bite to eat, then returned. I had a good ten minutes to get pierced before I had to be on my way. Plenty of time, right?

I am one of the fortunate people with free space in the corner of my eye socket. This made it possible, in theory, for a ring to sit comfortably halfway inside my eye socket without actually touching the white of my eye. After cleaning the lid, Rob made a purple dot where the placement would work out the best. By way of a mirror I approved, and on went the clamps. Mentally I blanked out my vision in my left eye so I wouldn't be trying to see what was happening to the lid and mess it up. He asked me if I was ready, but didn't wait for my reply to put in the needle. It was unexpected, and I flinched at the pain. And I muttered a few things. I had been relaxed... this wasn't supposed to happen...

Turns out the clamps had slipped when I flinched and the needle had stabbed a bit out of position, but he hadn't put it all the way through. I sat up and got to see my eyelid with a fair amount of blood on it as I dabbed it with a paper towel. Round one had failed, but it didn't take long for the bleeding to stop. I laid down for round two, and Chaz walked up with a video camera and started filming. The clamps behaved for the camera - this time around Rob tightened them more and they kept their grip. I felt the sharp pain again, and the needle was in. Now began the process of getting the needle through and the jewelry in.

It was annoying because I could not see what was happening to my left eyelid... I could just stare at the camera looming over my head with my right eye. It took about 30 seconds for him to work the needle through. Then came the 16g CBR... this is the part that sucked. This piercing would have been a fast and low pain experience, except for some reason, the ring would not go in. It caught on a flap of skin about 95% of the way through the hole. Everyone could see it coming out the bottom, but it just wouldn't budge. Poor Rob kept trying to get it though.

The process of finally coercing the ring past the obstruction took over 5 minutes. I think what Rob eventually did was manage to carefully cut the little flap with the needle so that the ring could pass. What sucked is how it felt. It's not exactly comfortable when your eyelid is held perpendicular to your face by clamps. It's not comfortable by any stretch of the imagination if a needle is through your eyelid at the same time. But when you're trying to get a ring through your lid and it keeps getting caught on a piece of flesh, well that's just downright painful. It was a slow, dull ache that intensified in waves whenever Rob moved the ring... which was a lot. I tried to keep relaxed but I got into a rhythm of saying either "ouch" or a random 4-letter word every several seconds, in time with the waves of pain. All this was caught on camera. (Worst of all, the cameraman decided to stop filming and walk off shortly before Rob finally got the ring through. So somewhere on someone's camera there's a 5 minute video of me getting pierced then laying there, squeezing the bench with my hands, muttering profanity and in general being a complete pansy. Let's hope it never hits the internet.)

When he finally got the ring through, Rob made quick work of closing it and installing the bead. For the first time in what seemed like forever, I could see through both eyes. I immediately sat up and looked in the mirror. Around my eye was bruising from the intensity and duration of the whole thing. There was some blood as well. Perhaps worst of all, the left side of my eye was red instead of white. But I felt amazing. Aside from my throbbing eyelid, that is. I had triumphed over pain and now had one of the rarest piercings in the world. I stepped over to the sink with a few Q-tips to clean up my face, then turned around. Everyone was snapping pictures of my eyelid. It was awesome. My eye ached like a bastard, but it was awesome.

Then I looked at the clock and as my luck would have it, I was late for work. I quickly paid, tipped and left for work. The reactions of my coworkers varied from amazement to shock... it looked like I had been punched in the face, then busted a blood vessel in my eye. And it was sore all through work because I didn't have time to take any ibuprofen. But I lubricated my eye every hour or so with the drops and it was fine. No vision problems (I could just barely see the ball), and it sat how we'd planned. Within a few days (and a few nights where sleeping was a bit painful), I no longer needed eye drops to maintain moist eyes, and the bruising went away. It took another week for the redness in my eye to go away, but after it did my eye was completely back to normal. It was easy to forget it was even there most of the time.

I went back to Rob not long after so he could see it and he was surprised and impressed at how good it looked. Within about a month it fully healed, using a combination occasional cleaning and a leave-it-the-hell-alone method. Hanging a lightweight chain from the ring proved to be enough weight to irritate my piercing for a few days, even though it was healed (the eyelid is very sensitive).

Fast forward to the past weekend, when I decided I wanted to stretch it. As of yet I don't know of anyone who's stretched an eyelid piercing, but I was comfortable enough with the idea to give it a go. Yesterday I called Rob to see if he'd be in and he told me that today would be fine. So I walked into Artistic Creations this afternoon, only to find out he'd quit the night before. It upset me a little since he was the only piercer I'd ever had work on me, so I guess now I have to wait until he starts working somewhere else if I want any new mods from him. Even so, all today I couldn't get my mind off the stretching. I planned everything out this afternoon, made a variety of measurements and considerations, and arrived at a goal. I went online to BMEshop and ordered a 3/8" 10g black niobium CBR (this is the size I want to eventually reach, and those niobium rings are so awesome). This evening on my way home from running an errand I stopped by Steel Addictions, another of the several piercing studios in Toledo.

Oddly enough, the resident piercer at Steel Addictions is also named Rob. Both Robs in Toledo are first-class piercers with lots of experience, don't get me wrong; I highly recommend both of them. I'm just used to being pierced by the one, and prior to today I hadn't dealt much with the other (if that's not too confusing). This Rob was, like the other, as friendly and helpful as you could want any piercer to be. After having a laugh about the name coincidence I explained what I wanted to do and we picked out a 14g CBR, and he popped it in the autoclave while I waited a while. During that time two girls came in for piercings. Both had a friend with them (two sets of two), and both got industrials (two piercings in one) in their left ears. After seriously wondering if this whole day had been some sort of glitch in the matrix, I looked up and Rob was ready for me.

He hadn't ever worked with an eyelid before. This was fine by me since I'd never done stretching before and I sort of wanted to do it myself anyway. I put on a pair of gloves while he opened the tools up and lubricated the taper. Then I took the taper and curved it and with the help of a mirror on the wall, stretched my eyelid. It was tricky getting the ring in and working with the mirror image, but I eventually got it. At any rate it went faster than when it was initially pierced. I pinched the ring to the proper shape and Rob installed the bead - the one part I can't quite do yet. I paid for the ring and tipped him for helping me out, and I was on my way.

The stretched piercing was sore for about a half hour but it's almost back to normal now. Rotating it is still a little tight, but that's expected. I suspect I'll be back on the eye drops for the next few days, too. In about a month I will stretch again to 12g, and in time I will reach my goal of 10g. Photos will come soon.

Just a little disclaimer... I have both Robs, Artistic Creations, Steel Addictions, and BME to thank for my (unique?) stretched eyelid piercing. It will always be my favorite mod. However, I wouldn't recommend the eyelid as a first piercing or anything like that. It is not an easy piercing for a piercer to perform, especially if it's their first eyelid (this story is a just a small reminder that a lot of things could go wrong). Unless you are a very informed (and adventurous) member of the community, and you have some excellent piercers in your city, I recommend against this piercing. It's going to become more common in the future, and I'd go so far as to say it's a viable piercing, but you have to remember that there are reasons that people with pierced eyelids are few and far between.

Thanks for reading this experience, I know it's awfully long... please contact me if you have any questions.