I have always been interested in large gauge ear piercings. After thinking about it for months and talking it over with my piercer Aric, who works at Mos Eisleys Tattoos in Grand Rapids, MI, I decided to have my ears dermal punched at 2 gauge and stretched immediately to 0 gauge.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When Two years ago Artist Aric Davis Studio Mos Eisleys Tattoos and Body piercing Location grand rapids (kentwood), michigan I talked to friends who had the dermal punch procedure done on them, although they all had there ears punched at smaller gauges, they reassured me that it didn't hurt, although the sound wouldn't be very pleasant.
At the time when I wanted to get it done, Mos Eisleys was closed for remodeling, and since Aric was the only piercer around that I trusted to do such a procedure, I had to wait until they re-opened. Finally the day came when the re-opened, and I made an appointment. The day I went to get it done, I dragged my roommate along with me, thinking I might need someone to drive me home afterward. I had to wait awhile because they were pretty busy, even though my appointment had been made for a tuesday, when they weren't normally too busy, so I sat outside, contemplating what I was about to actually do.
Finally, Aric came and found me and told me he was ready, so into the piercing room we went. Arics' apprentice Dave was there to watch and learn, and after they marked the placement on my ears and i checked it out in the mirror,Aric got out the dermal punch equipment and showed it to me and it scared me, but no pain, no gain. So I laid back on the table and he got to work.
The first ear he did, surprisingly didn't hurt much, although the loud popping sound wasn't exactly the greatest thing I ever heard. After he got the first plug in place and cut of the little flap of skin that the dermal punch didn't remove, he asked if I wanted a break before he did the other ear, but I figured if I got up, I would chicken out on the other one, so he went ahead and got started on the other ear. Since the first one was relatively painless, I wasn't as nervous about the second one but unfortunately, this one wasn't as easy. As he started pushing the dermal punch through my ear, it turned out that my other ear was super strength skin or something, and instead of going through easily, it didn't.
When the dermal punch got 1/2 way through my ear, it didn't want to go any further, and Aric told me he might have to scalpel it instead, but luckily, he kept going with the dermal punch, and it finally went through, but it hurt like hell. The pain only lasted a few seconds though, so I guess it wasn't too bad. After he got the second plug secured in that ear, I sat up to check out my new holes in my ears in the mirror, and that turned out to be the scariest part, I looked like I had just smashed my head through a window. There was blood all over my ears, running down my back and neck, in my hair, on my shirt, etc. After realizing I was ok, and wasn't going to die, I found the whole thing pretty funny, and as Aric claimed the blood made me look 'like a bad ass'. He cleaned me up the best he could, but I still had quite a bit of blood on my ears and in my hair, and on my shirt.
When I walked out of the piercing room, a group of girls waiting to get various piercings eyed me warily, more than likely having second thoughts about the piercings they were about to get, but I was happy and that was all that mattered to me. After getting my aftercare instructions from Aric, I was on my way, and it was a good thing I brought my roommate with me, because I was in no shape for driving at the moment.
Later that night, when I cleaned them for the first time, was the first time they gave me much trouble. They were still bloody, and washing them with anti bacterial soap burned a lot, but over all it was a great experience (minus the fact that any pillow I slept on for the next couple days ended up with blood on it). It's defiantly not a decision to be made without a lot of thought though since unlike stretching your ears, dermal punched ears will not close up since you're essentially removing a chunk of flesh You will have the holes in your ears forever, so don't rush out and do something you'll regret in a couple months. I am still extremely happy with my ears, and have now stretched them up to 5/8" since I got it done.