I had my lobes pierced 16 years ago when I was 14, in a beauty salon and done with a gun. The closest I had got to any form of bodyart at that time were seeing my friends' older brothers tattoos and watching TV documentaries that showed tribes people with stretched lobes and lip plates. Instead of revulsion I could only think, "Wow, how the hell did they do that?"
At A Glance Author clanky Contact clanky@bme.anon IAM Clanky Artist Don't want to say Studio ditto Location london My lobes healed without any problems and I wore ordinary studs and silver rings in them for years. Piercing and tattooing began getting more mainstream and it started to become more noticeable in my life when I was about 23 and I started reading rec.arts.bodyart. I began getting body piercings and stretching my lobes. I took the stretching slowly and over a period of 3 years I took my lobes from their initial state to 14mm. I realised too late that I should have had my lobes repierced higher; the bottom of my lobes were a lot thinner than the rest of my ears and I decided that going any bigger than 14mm was going to put them at risk. I kept them at that size for a while; all the while wishing I could go bigger. I finally decided this year that the only thing I could do was to get them scalpelled and started asking around to see if I could get someone to do them. I had a couple of offers from people, either volunteering themselves or someone they knew, but I wasn't rea lly happy with the options I had. A friend had recommended a studio in London for general piercing and I dropped in one day whilst I was in the area just to check them out.
It was everything I'd looked for in a studio, bright, spacious, clean and I had a look round at the jewellery before I had a chance to chat to the piercer. I asked on the off chance about scalpelling and he seemed a bit cagey to talk about it because in the UK it could be seen as assault for which he could be prosecuted. He realised I was genuine and we discussed it briefly, but I immediately felt at ease and I just *knew* he was the person I wanted to do this for me. He had scalpelled lobes before and said my lobes were ideal for cutting because I still had a large amount of flesh between my original plugs and my anti-tragi.
I went away to think about it. I knew I wanted it done, but I knew that scalpelling and stretching were totally different. I needed to be one hundred percent certain that I wanted to go through with this. A couple of weeks later I was passing through London so I went back to the shop to book my appointment. I was examined more thoroughly, just to make sure it was worthwhile having the procedure done, and we discussed procedure, healing and cost. I was going to book a week off and have it done so I could be on the road to recovery when I went back to work.
I counted the weeks, then the days and finally my appointment arrived. Typically they were running late so my agony was prolonged further, so I went to the nearest pub and sat with an orange juice watching the time tick by. I went back to the shop where my piercer said he was ready for me. I went into the piercing room and I was marked up, photographed and clamped. I waited for the touch of the blade and breathed deeply. Suddenly I felt an intense pain, which stopped almost as soon as it had started. I felt the pressure of the plug being pushed into my lobe. One minute I guess and that was it, all over. I bled quite a lot and spent the next ten or so minutes being cleaned up. Then it was time for the next ear, again the pain was really sharp, but over really quickly and the plug was soon in. Over the next half an hour my lobes went through a really sore stage, then were totally pain free and back to being sore, each time the pain was less and less. It's now been nea rly 48 hours since I was cut and I haven't had *any* pain for about 42 of them. I've not had any serious bleeding from them since leaving the shop and they've been really easy to clean.
I wanted to have photographs taken during the procedure, but the piercer said he would prefer if I didn't, as he was concerned about being identified by his tattooed hands and arms. I would love to be able to recommend the shop, and I probably will to people I know and trust, but the law regarding these practices in the UK is totally ridiculous. I find it absurd that someone I have asked to do this, and paid for them to do it could be prosecuted for assault.
So far everything has gone so well, hardly any *real* pain, just discomfort, I didn't end up being covered in blood and they look exactly how I wanted them.