I'm the kind of person who is always in search of something new in body modification. I enjoy scouring the pages of tattoos, piercings, experiences, and articles that BME holds. In the past four years or so, I have accumulated several tattoos and ear piercings, and my journey is just beginning.
At A Glance Author Terah Contact Terah@bme.anon IAM terahbyte When A month ago Artist Brett Perkins Studio Outer Limits Location Anaheim, CA Recently, I'd been thinking about transverse lobe piercings. I read the experiences and looked at all the photos before I decided I wanted one. I wasn't particularly sure what I wanted when I went to talk to my piercer, Brett, at Outer Limits Anaheim, but he helped me out by suggesting a vertical transverse lobe. That was on a Sunday and we planned to do it on the following Sunday, since I had a pretty bad sunburn that I wanted to heal first.
The next weekend I drove over to meet my boyfriend in Anaheim and scarfed down a chicken burrito from Del Taco since I hadn't eaten all day. So after I was done, I went in to talk to Brett and pay and all that good stuff. We decided it would be best to pierce at a 12g. and use a barbell with flat backs to prevent snags and the like afterwards. Brett kindly allowed my boyfriend in to watch the process and then he began. He explained that since the needle would be going through lobe, it was possible for the lobe to roll or change shape, which would affect the exit hole of the piercing and make it sort of tricky to do.
He marked my ear showing the path which the needle would travel through my ear, not parallel with the horizon as we had originally discussed, but angling downward. I then tried my best not to think about the possibility of this being the worst thing I had ever experienced as far as pain. I had psyched myself up and I seriously did think I might cry because it would hurt so much. Considering it would be going through a fair amount of tissue, both cartilage and lobe, I felt justified in being scared. Brett had also told me it might take two or three pushes to get the needle through, which definitely intimidated me.
He prepped my ear and we tried to get my hair to stay out of the way. I watched him open up the package containing the jewelry and then the needle, and tried to relax. I took a deep breath in when I was told to and felt the needle slide into my cartilage and then nothing. Then I felt a sort of pop as it exited through the lobe. He corked the end to keep it from falling out and bit his bottom lip. Then, he said we might have to do it again. I laughed and asked if he was kidding. He laughed and said no, but he could leave it if I was satisfied with it being shallow in the front. I looked in the mirror and being the perfectionist that I am, I asked him to do it again.
By now my ear was all heat and I couldn't really feel anything, so doing it the second time around wasn't that bad. Brett cleaned off what blood there was and pulled the needle only halfway out; he was just going to pierce the lobe again so it would come out of the right place. He pierced it and I felt the needle pop through my lobe again. I looked at his face and I knew we'd have to do it again. It seems this time the needle had gone to shallow in the back. He said he had just overshot it, but I think I might have also jumped (not too sure about that).
I thought this whole thing was kind of funny, and we started again. This time he decided he would cork it and hope that would prevent my lobe from rolling or folding. So he pulled out the entire needle and started from scratch. He opened a package containing a new needle and cleaned up my ear. Brett used the same entrance hole in my cartilage and this time as the needle pushed through my ear. . .it turned out perfect! It exited exactly where it needed to and all was well. There was minimal pain, a bit of bleeding, and some swelling, but I was so excited that I didn't notice until I looked in the mirror. I thanked Brett for his great job and off we went after some conversation.
When I told one of my not-so-piercing-savvy friends about the experience she asked me if he did it for free since it took three times and if I would go to the same person again. I said of course I would go back to him! How I see it is this: No one is perfect. Everyone is allowed to be a bit off sometimes, and despite the extra effort needed in this particular process, I would do it again. Brett is an awesome piercer and person. I'm glad that he is a perfectionist, just like I am. He is absolutely genuinely kind and honest. My boyfriend and I have gone into the shop several times just to talk and I consider him a friend. It's hard to find someone who knows what they're doing and is nice to you on top of everything else in the piercing and tattoo business. The bottom line is I'd rather someone be nice to me then blow me off and act like an asshole.
It's been almost a month since I got my vertical transverse lobe and it's healing quite nicely. There is a picture on my IAM page and I plan on posting some new ones soon. Finally, I'll just say I think this is the greatest piercing that I've gotten, not only does it give me a satisfying feeling when I look at it, but I feel like it has started me on a new path to improving and expanding my ear project. Thanks for reading!