Hello. I am mcnerdius. I won't go into very much about myself other than to say that although the goth part of me loves the idea of piercing, tattoos, and other similar things, the nerd in me likes to keep it toned down a little. That's right, "goth nerd."
At A Glance Author mcnerdius Contact mcnerdius@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist Monte Studio Body Mods Location Omaha This is part one of what will [for now] be a two-part tale. For now I will share my failed attempt at a simple ear project I grew to desire shortly after turning 16. I attempted the project when I turned eighteen. It failed to heal for reasons which are now obvious. At least, I hope it was that reason... later on, about a month or so from now, I will share what will hopefully turn out to be the successful beginnings of the same project.
The project itself is quite simple really: stretched lobes [about 7/16ths is all...], followed by a rook to vertical transverse lobe connection of sorts. Fairly simple, and I'm sure it's been done by others... but I haven't been able to dig any photos of such a piercing up on the internet. I've seen photos on BME and Google of either/or, but never a photo of these two in combination with each other. I really don't know what it is that drives me to want this exact combination of holes, but to me, it's perfect. Simple, yet still unique.
Anyways, when I realized this was something I was *going* to do, and my wife was supportive of, I gathered my information. I went to the only reputable studio with a significant history in Omaha that I knew of, body mods. There were other reputable studios for sure, but none had been around as long as body mods [as far as I know]. So I go and I talk to the main piercing fellow, and also owner I believe. He studies the sketch I made and my actual ear flesh for a while. He then tells me it's a reasonable concept for me, gives me a time and money estimate, and lets me know when he's got the time to start this thing. I nod and smile the whole time, of course feeling vastly moronic. I felt stupid because, clearly, I hadn't done my homework and didn't know what to expect. I had no friends into piercing or tattoos, and had no other way to gather information. My wife has 5 holes in each ear, but they are all gun-done at the mall before we met. Anyways, regardless, it all sounds really good at this point, so I ask him what exactly his first step would be. Seems dumb, I know, but he really hadn't gone into it... He tells me what he does in cases like this, with a somewhat small lobe and going to a medium large gauge, is stretching, rather than dermal punching. He then adds that he typically will pierce a customer at 10g, and immediately stretch to an 8,then 6, then 4g. It seems a little odd to me, even as one who has no experience. But, as I turned my brain off, it sounded good, given the fact he's done it many times in the past. So I set up a time with him and went home happy. After all, if you could go from nothing to 4g without punching in one day, you'd be pleased, right?
So I go in a few days later and he explains to me all the safety and sanitation stuff as he was doing it, which at the time was really all I knew about piercing. He scrubs up and pulls out a fresh needle... By the way, I can tell he's making an effort to let me know that the jewelry is autoclaved, and the needle's fresh... hands are clean, etc... So, after all that is done, he pierces me at 10 on the right side. It was really nothing. Pain for an instant, followed immediately by numb. He lets me breathe for a while as he helps another customer. Then he grabs an autoclaved taper, slowly stretches me to 8g, which wasn't all that bad either. It felt as if the taper was being moved, is all. When he took me to 6, it was actually less intense, though. I didn't believe him when he said it was done. But it was. He gave me a good five minutes to take it in, at which point he returns and warns me that this one's the worst. Looking at the numbers, they're all about a 25% jump in total size, but 6g to 4g was indeed a BITCH. It hurt like none other. So at this point I look in the mirror... left: no hole... right: 4g. SWEET. But now he has to do the left, which I was totally ready for. He gives me 5 to stay conscious... Upon returning, he gets another fresh needle and pierces the other ear, which I barely felt. However, upon stretching this hole to 8, much pain was experienced. The same happened going to 6. I noticed he gave me slightly less time between gauges this time, so that might be why. 4g, though, went in like it was nothing. I'm thinking I must've been so god damn numb from 8 and 6, that I'd gotten numb just in time for 4 to go in painlessly. Or some shit.
He goes over the care information, I ask a couple questions, pay up and that's that. I love it, don't regret it, and my wife and mom are into it. Couldn't ask for anything more, right?
Wrong.
To make a long story short... it didn't heal. I first thought I was over-cleaning, but he didn't seem to think so. I was back and forth to his shop for a while, and at about 1.5 months into healing he had me try 4g titanium, thinking it was nickel sensitivity. No luck. About a month after that he hopped me down to 6g glass, at which point I was running out of money and patience. Still nothing, though. Had I had the money and patience I'd have just put in something 10g or so, but it wasn't to be... I've since given up, studied up, and decided to try again. The right way.
I'm soon going to be re-piercing at 14g and going up from there. Slowly but surely. I'll post another experience after my first or second stretch is completed. Until then, a word of advice for everyone out there that is looking into stretched lobes: TAKE YOUR GOD DAMN TIME, AND DONT BE IN A HURRY ABOUT IT.
there will be pics going up at a certain point in the future, when it's not just an everyday run of the mill hole in my ear... until then, I may be considering adding 3 more holes to each ear, for an even 7, so if you have any ideas, or *anything* ... send it my way:
mcnerd@COWSHITtechie.com
Removing the word cowshit.
ps: apologies for those of you who had to see this with the old html formatting... i thought it was neat, but... it gave people headaches, so... nevermind ! thanks :-]