My latest piercing was rather spur of the moment. It wasn't something I gave a great deal of thought to and was fairly spontaneous. I was going into Polymorph to have a meeting about our next performance and on the day decided I wanted a new piercing. I looked through the galleries BME and decided that since I can't seem to heal cartridge ear piercings at all, that I wanted a surface bar put adjacent to my tragus.
At A Glance Author GucciGurl Contact guccigurl@optusnet.com.au IAM GucciGurl When A week ago Artist Rob Valenti Studio Polymorph Location Newtown, Sydney, Australia This piercing is referred to in the galleries as a surface tragus or sideburn piercing, but technically it is not a surface tragus, and I dislike the name sideburn piercing immensely. It just seems so masculine. So after discussion with many people I have decided to call mine the Gucci, as my iam name is GucciGurl.
Feeling somewhat hungover from the prior nights festivities, I headed into Newtown earlier than expected to allow more time to be pierced. I spoke to Rob about what I wanted and he said it would not be a problem. He had not done one before, but I had every confidence in the mans skills. After our performance meeting wrapped up we went ahead with the piercing. I was marked up and ok'd the placement. I was in a rather relaxed mood so I was not too fussed with where it was placed as I knew Rob would put it in the best possible spot. I was not that nervous about the piercing itself as Rob had done my nape previously so I knew what to expect. I also figured a little 14g surface bar could not be half as bad as 8g hooks in your back and arms. Even those I dont consider that painful these days.
The piercing itself did not hurt, but the insertion of the surface bar was somewhat uncomfortable. I am one of those people who squirm at the thought of having my skin cut, or things being inserted under my skin. So this was the one part of the whole procedure that I was not looking forward to. Rob got it all over and done with rather quickly thankfully. It was pierced with a needle, a taper was threaded through, and then the jewlery. The discs were then screwed on and I was finished.
I had a look in the mirror and was rather pleased with the end result. I feel it is a smart choice for someone like me who can not seem to heal cartridge piercings. In one ear I have three lobe piercings, and in the other ear I have two. I only have one cartridge piercing which I had done when I was much younger (and witha gun I might add), and I felt I needed something else on that side of my face to make myself appear symmetrical.
The placement is perfect and unlike when I had my tragus and my rook
done, it is not irritated when I sleep or talk on the phone. After the initial piercing it was not sore at all, and I felt as if I had not even had a new piercing. It failed to swell up at all and is not at all red. I have been cleaning it once a day with saline solution and it's now day nine and I have not had any problems.
When I had my nape pierced it did not get red or start to get crusty for about two weeks, so I am assuming that my new surface piercing will get crusty at some time in the future. Thankfully my nape is now fully healed, however, but does tend to get red and irritated on occasions.
Should my new surface piercing look to be rejecting at any time I will remove it, as I do not want to be left with unsightly scarring. Yet I feel that if you look after surface piercings and give them then tender loving care that they require, and are pierced with the correct jewellery (ie a surface bar) you should not have any problems.
I would recommend this piercing to anyone who wants something a little different, something you do not see every day, just as long as you are willing to take care of it properly, and are informed of the risk of possible rejection. I would highly reccomend being pierced with a surface bar, as opposed to ptfe or bioplast. I have seen so many pictures of surface piercings rejecting using these types of jewlery, however, I am yet to come across a piercing which has rejected using a surface bar.
I dont think they need that much more tender loving care, opposed to a normal piercing. You just need to be mindful of the possibility of rejection. With my nape I only cleaned around the discs once a day and it has healed up nicely. Hopefully my gucci will be very similar.