When I got my lobes pierced late last year I never really had the intention of going big with them. Figuring I would just get them to around 0 or 00ga and call it good (Plus I thought it would be fun to have nostril piercings larger than my lobes). However once they healed up initially (we pierced them at 6ga) they started stretching themselves with no push at all from me. Soon after I found my lobes at 2ga with daylight showing around the top of the hole. The downside of this was that the tissue on the bottoms of my lobes was getting rather thin, something needed to be done.
At A Glance Author Marc Contact hydr0chl0ric@hotmail.com IAM hydr0chl0ric When A week ago Artist Dave Gilstrap (iam: bodmodboy) Studio Enigma Body Modification Studio Location Pacific Beach
I talked to a few piercer friends of mine and asked their advice. The results were unanimous in that I should go in for a redirection. This made me a little nervous in that I've never been touched by a scalpel before, and I didn't know if I would be happy with the end results (lobes at 1/2"). I thought long and hard and decided that in the end this was a good thing, and that as much as I tried to tell myself that I didn't want to go big in the lobes, I would end up doing it anyway (told myself I would stop stretching my septum at 4, I'm at 2 now ready for 0, and my nostrils originally were only going to be 0...they're at 00 now ready for 7/16"). I called up Dave, and set an appointment for a redirection.
The day of the procedure I found myself getting more and more nervous as the time went on. The more I thought about it the more jittery I got...it was more of a nervous anticipation than anything else, but it was making concentrating on my work a little difficult. Two of my friends were going to be coming down to pick me up from work, and we were all going to head down to the shop together and get various things done while we were there.
We got to the shop around 4 or so, stopped in and said 'hi' to Dave real quick then headed out to buy some sea salt across the street, and to go to Fatburger (as is my normal routine when getting work done).
Stephanie and Jen went first since their stuff wasn't going to take that long (lobe stretching and a vertical hood piercing). After those were taken care of Dave started to prepare the piercing room for me, and I went outside to have a cigarette to help calm my nerves. I went back in and he said everything was cool, so we grabbed the camera and headed back to the room.
I surveyed the tools and supplies that Dave had pulled out...everything was there: #11 scalpel, forceps, LOTS of gauze, sterile fields, a 1/2" taper, the 1/2" glass tunnels, etc.. I sat on the table and we set about marking everything out. About 10 minutes later everyone was pleased with the direction/length of the marks so we snapped a couple before shots and I layed down. I began breathing deeply, trying to lower my heartrate (which was through the roof). Didier came in and wanted to be the guy behind that camera, so Dave showed him how to work it and I went back to trying to calm myself down.
I worked to slow my breathing and focus all my thoughts on it, not really fearing the blade so much, but, more afraid of the new-ness of the procedure, and a little apprehensive of what to expect. Dave tells me he's going to get everything lined up and I know that it's almost time for the first cut. I take a few more breaths and he tells me to take a deep breath and hold it on the next one. I do, as I start to slowly exhale the room is silent aside from the didgereedoo music playing softly in the background. I slowly let the breath out and I feel the scalpel move swiftly through my lobe. It made a little bit of a crunchy sound (for lack of better description) as it went. I feel the forceps release and gauze go on while I hear his other hand grab up the taper. The taper slides through after a little push and I feel the jewelry follow. He pushes some gauze around my lobe. The gauze comes off to be replaced and I feel a drop of warm liquid move down the back of my head. My firs t thought was "Wow, I knew I was nervous...but I didn't think I'd be sweating *this* much". This drop was followed by another and another. I feel my ear fill with more liquid and I realize that it wasn't sweat going down the back of my head, but blood...
I open my eyes and look at Stephanie. I'm grinning slightly, the look on her face is less promising. Her mouth is wide open and she's looking quite pale. I shift my gaze to Didier who is saying something about the fact that he didn't record the cut. I can see my reflection in the lens of the camera, I watch my ear (which has more gauze on it now)...the gauze comes off and blood pools almost immediately. After a few minutes of this the bleeding stops and Dave trims off a little of the excess tissue, and fold the rest of the flap under so it will reabsorb later. We prepare for the left side now. Dave shows Didier how to use the camera again, and everyone shuffles around to new places to watch from.
The left side was basically the same as the right with a little less bleeding. Didier got a minute of footage from it, and we tried to clean me as best as possible, but, in the end I was tired and weak feeling so I told Dave not to worry about the back of my head and neck since I was just going to go home and pass out anyway.
All in all I was surprised at the total lack of any pain through the entire procedure. Everyone had a really good time watching/taping/cutting/being cut and while we were waiting for me to stop bleeding we were cracking jokes and laughing. Given the opportunity to do this again I would take it in a second. It wasn't until I was home that my lobes felt like throbbing fiery death (vicadin helped that). It's only been a few days but my lobes are recovering nicely with 3 daily sea salt soaks and warm rinses in the shower. Now I just can't wait to get the pictures and video back.