Transverse lobe piercing through flesh tunnels (or "trans-tunnel" piercings as I call them to save myself getting tongue-tied!) have always fascinated me and have wanted one done ever since I had my lobe piercings stretched. Why have a massive hole in your ear and not put anything in it? (other than a solid plug or a hollow tunnel). I decided over a year ago to go through and do it.. Normally before having a piercing, especially one that I do myself, I research the piercing. However this proved difficult for such a rarely-seen adornment. Going through BME I only found a small number of pictures of "trans-tunnel" piercings, and only one story by Spacey in 2001 (read the experience here: http://www.bmezine.com/pierce/01-ear/A11115/earselfd.html). The article I found very useful, even though the piercing I was planning was a slightly different alignment (Spacey's was vertical, where as I intended mine to be diagonal).
At A Glance Author Sheepboy Contact Sheepboy@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Me Studio @ home Location Manchester, UK A major obstacle that I have run into is jewellery. The easy bit was finding a barbell that was the right length. The tunnel itself was 16mm. There was an additional 4mm of flesh on one side of the lobe, and about 8mm on the other, so I estimated a bar of 30mm length would be enough (an additional 2mm to accommodate the initial swelling).
Slightly more difficult was getting a flesh tunnel that had the holes which the barbell would go through. I looked in several piercing studios and body jewellery stores both online and around Manchester but to no avail. The only thing that remotely resembled what I was after was a plain cylindrical nipple shield with a barbell through it (the same that was used by Spacey). Unfortunately it only came in one size and it was way too small for my 16mm hole. Then someone suggested drilling holes in the flesh tunnel I already had. After searching high and low for somewhere that could drill holes through surgical steel, I came across Tribal Body Art, based in Edinburgh which offered custom-made jewellery. They were very helpful and offered to do the drilling for just £5. So I posted the tunnel to them with a cheque, wore an acrylic plug to prevent shrinkage in the mean time and had the tunnel back on my door step in less than a week with 2 perfectly positioned holes.
As for the needle, I had recently purchased some 2mm cannula needles sold by Wildcat as I had heard how much better they are than the regular piercing needles I have used in the past. They are much more hygienic as there is no contact with the needle and insertion of jewellery is much less fiddly (and painful!).
Now I had all the jewellery I needed, the needle, and all the other piercing paraphernalia (latex gloves, surgical swabs, etc...) I was ready to go....
Coordinating the angle and direction of the needle was surprisingly easy considering I was doing it in the mirror (sorting out your left and your right can be tricky!) I turned the tunnel so the holes were at the required position. Pulled my earlobe up to expose the underside I was going to pierce through, then guided the needle into the lobe. I was worried I might be off target and have to fiddle with the tunnel so the needle and the holes were aligned properly. However my aim was perfect and the needle slid right through the hole with no fiddling required. After a brief moment of endorphinic "YES!!" I then pushed the needle further to into the hole on the other side. This was a bit more painful as there was significantly more flesh to go through. Nevertheless, the whole thing was over in seconds and there wasn't even a single drop of blood. All that was required to finish off was to remove the needle, slide the barbell into the cannula and then pull out the cannula, leaving the barbell in my ear.
Its now a week since and the piercing is doing fine. For after-care I sprayed the area with savlon and wiped with cotton buds twice a day. There has been very little pain or irritation. The only problem I had was the day after the piercing, the areas around the piercing became bruised and looked quite nasty. Most likely I went through a vein (usually I check for veins first with a mini-flashlight but the positioning of the piercing made this difficult). The bruising is now subsiding and my ear is returning to its normal colour.
So far I am very pleased with my latest piercing and it has met with pleasing reactions. I've had a number of ideas of other adornments I can put in my new piercing once fully healed. I have thought about a having a large body spiral or having two individual barbells with micro-spikes or even two slave rings interlocking inside the tunnel. I will post more pictures on BME as and when I try new things with it. Watch this space...