Ok, let me start off by giving Wil a very big hand in cutting 5.18mm pieces of flesh out of my ear lobe with, very minimal problems.
At A Glance Author Chris Contact Chris@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Wil Smiley Studio New Breed Location Indianapolis, IN I've wanted to get a large(ish) gauge piercing for about two years now. Most of my friends, their friends, their friend's friends (you probably get the point on this one) have at least -something- done on their body at a gauge over 10, so I finally decided that I was gonna go ahead and get my ears dermal punched straight to a 4. I've done a lot of bad things to my ears, quite a few gun piercings, a few self-done piercings... and all of these had healed up, so I knew I had a ton of scar tissue which I couldn't get pierced with a needle.
I had met Wil about a week ago when my friend Tori went to get her industrial done. He had come across as very professional and he seemed like he was pretty gentle and caring with his customers and his work. Besides, he's a really cool guy once you get to know him. After he had poked Tori, I discussed a few piercings with him, namely a pair of four gauge tunnels in my ears. We discussed the possibilities of needles and punches both, and which we both thought would be the best route to go with all the scarring in my ears. So, we decided on punches.
I made an appointment and worked it out with my mom so that I could go and get it done. We walked into the place and there were two people getting tattoos in the front studios, so my mom was a bit weirded out that she could see those right when she came in, but she has more piercings in her ears than I ever hope to... so she was pretty cool about the entire situation. Wil came right out, got all the paperwork done, helped me pick out the jewelry I wanted and all that fun stuff. Then he led me into his room...
I took off my hoodie, knowing that there was probably gonna be quite a bit of bleeding, and laid down on his table, trying to clam myself down because I was so excited that I was finally getting my piercings that I'd wanted for so long. He talked me through the procedure, said that it probably wouldn't hurt too much, but that there was going to be a loud pop sound and it was going to be very hot when he got through. I said that that all was fine and my mom Ok'ed it, so we went to work.
He did my right side first, which I hadn't really done too horribly much to, just one piercing. He told me to take a deep breath, and then exhale while he did it. I inhaled as deep as I could and then I felt the pressure on my ear. I felt it go about a quarter of the way through when suddenly he slipped! It turns out that I had a lot of scar tissue in that ear, and he hadn't anticipated it and his hand had slipped. He took a moment, then pushed it the rest of the way through, rewarding me with a loud pop.
I was feeling very faint from when he slipped. I thought I had just gotten a free piercing for a moment... thought that maybe he had taken off a (bigger) part of my lobe. Turns out that it was great, and that one actually wasn't the bad bleeder. We took a few moments and he made sure I was all right before we continued. My left side, my really messed up lobe, was next.
We both knew exactly what to expect for this one, so it wasn't bad at all. He had to put all of his strength into this one, and it took him a lot longer to get through. He said that my left lobe was nothing but cartilage from all the scarring. He later showed it to me and it was all white. This one was the bleeder; it bled for about 2 minutes straight before we were able to get it to clot.
I laid there for about 5 minutes, talking about it and what had happened with the slipping while he cleaned me up and got the blood to stop running from my ears. I finally got to sit up and check them out. I loved them, I finally had four gauge tunnels in both lobes and they looked great. Wil made sure I wasn't bleeding again before we went to the waiting area and I tipped him. He asked me to come back in a week and show him, so I know that he cares about me and his work. I'm defiantly going back for my conch punch if I ever work up the courage for it.