About 4 or so months ago, I was invited to join a forum on IAM, IAM: Indiana. Little did I know that this would, in turn, lead to the first of many IM's to Alan (iam: redneckzombi) as soon as I found out he was a piercer in Muncie. After the first IM he returned that informed me that he did, in fact, do scalpelling, I knew that he would be the one to finally correct the complete off-centeredness of my ear lobes.
At A Glance Author danny.frost Contact danny.frost@bme.anon IAM danny.frost When A month ago Artist Alan Studio Ground Zero Location Muncie, IN Fast forward to December 20th, which was the day that I had told Alan we'd be coming up to Muncie to get some work done. I'd informed him a few weeks in advance, which gave him an ample amount of time to order jewelry for the procedure.
I barely slept at all that night, not from nervousness, but moreso excitement. At around 1pm, after everyone involved (Myself, my friend Nick, and my girlfriend Dom) had taken showers and such, we got into my car, filled the gas tank, and headed out on the hour and a half-long journey to Muncie.
Good times were had on the way up, and consisted of listening to Andrew W.K. solely to get pumped for the whole day. Before I even knew it, we were already in Muncie, and looking for Ground Zero. We somehow managed to find it on the first try, and we pulled into the icy-as-hell lot on the side of the building. I almost managed to slip, but I luckily avoided embarrassment and caught my footing before falling.
After putting my cigarette out, we entered the building, and I was in awe at the selection of awesome-looking glass and organic jewelry. Alan came out and greeted us, and instantly remembered me, even though I'd forgotten to call ahead of time. He asked us who was going first (Dom was going to get her nape pierced while we were there), and of course, I was volunteered. Up until this point, I honestly had not been nervous at all, but it all kicked in at once. Luckily, I still had time to take in the entire situation because he had to autoclave the eyelets. At this point, he pulled two bags from a folder in a drawer, and asked me which of the pyrex eyelets I wanted to use, as well as which size. He suggested that I go for 5/8", since that was my goal originally, instead of the 9/16", stating that it was just a tiny bit more of a cut to reach what I was considering my final size. I went with his selection, and after about 10 seconds of debating, I went with the satin dichro eyelets, since they looked pretty awesome.
At this time, he went into the piercing room and put the eyelets, as well as the silicone o-rings (the eyelets came with regular black nitrile o-rings, but Alan said that he prefers silicone ones, since they generally don't cause any sort of reaction), and said he'd let us know when it was done. Right before he started the cycle on the autoclave, he came back out to ask Dom what length she'd decided on for the surface bar, and took the bar and discs from the display case to the room to be autoclaved as well. Then, the nervous waiting period began.
About 5 or so minutes later, he came back out, and informed me that it was time to proceed..The nervousness was in full effect now, so my legs were somewhat wobbly and hesitant to take me to the room. I finally got the courage up and entered, taking a seat on the doctor's examination bed-like table. He got out a toothpick and some gentian violet, and drew lines where the incisions would be on both ears. After we all agreed (Nick had come in to take pictures originally, but ended up just being fascinated by the whole procedure), it was time..or at least, it was supposed to be. Unfortunately, even after getting the dental bib-like thing placed over my ear and Alan being prepared to go, I was still nervous as all hell, to the point that my legs were shaking. After a few more minutes of random talk, I was finally ready. He had me do the regular breathe and exhale that I was used to, and on the exhale I felt a very dull slicing on my left earlobe..it's an odd sensation that's really hard to put into words. It wasn't at all like the "sawing" sensation I'd read about in most of the other experiences..it's really something one would have to feel for themselves. After about 2 seconds, the pain had disappeared, and it was then time to put the eyelet in. He put the eyelet in with absolutely no trouble whatsoever, and then he put the o-ring on.
At this point, I needed a slight break, so I went outside to have a cigarette. The cold Indiana wind felt unbelievable on my lobe, which was odd since it didn't hurt all that much.
After I came back in, we got to work on the right ear, the one that is generally much easier to stretch. Same procedure, inhale, exhale, dull slicing feeling, slight pinching feeling as the eyelet's being inserted, and that's it. The only difference on the right ear was that he had to make an additional incision so that the eyelet wouldn't be so tight in my lobe, to the point that it was painful.
After I was cleaned up, I got to look at my ears as they appeared after the scalpelling..and I was amazed, to say the least. My ears looked 100% better, and all it took was a simple angled cut.
Up next was Dom's nape..but that's an entirely different story.
The aftercare was simple..I did salt soaks for the first 4-5 days, until the random blood leakage stopped. After that, I just left them alone, aside from occasionally cleaning out the dried blood right behind the flares of the eyelets.
The only thing that actually worried me was when I was taking a shower and one of the eyelets began slipping out. I tried to ignore this, but it happened multiple times..So at that point, I figured I'd put something double flared in. The only thing I had available was a pair of stone eyelets and a pair of Kaos eyelets in 5/8"..I figured that the Kaos would be too tacky, considering that it was still a fairly fresh, but well-healing, area..so I opted for the stone plugs, since they were solid and would stay warmer in the cold weather we've been having lately. This hasn't proven to be a problem yet, so hopefully it works out..I'm about a month into the healing process, so I expect them to be healed up pretty soon. At some point, I may even stretch further..depends on what kind of jewelry I find for sizes above this one.
Now, as for recommending this to other people, it's kind of a last resort..I'd done everything else I possibly could, but unfortunately, my ears were pierced too off-center. I couldn't correct them using any other method, and I found someone that I trusted to perform the procedure. I recommend being willing to travel to find a good artist if this is something you're set on doing. Keep in mind, however, that scalpelling is basically permanent, as is most stretching beyond a certain size (for me, that size was 00g). So, if you're not worried about whether or not your ears can close, and you're set on either reaching a specific size, or correcting the placement, scalpelling's a good solution.
Personally, I'm an art major, so I'm really not all that worried about being able to make my lobes shrink down..haha.
Happy modding!