The decision to punch my flats came suddenly, almost without though. In my own mind, piercings are not something that is done to distinguish ones individuality, though it can be used as such. Moreover, they are small separate journeys that we all take, and when a group of people take the same journey and wear the scars as badges of their journey, there is a sense of camaraderie that develops from it.
At A Glance Author Stephen DeToma Contact Stephen DeToma@bme.anon IAM Sacred When Three months ago Artist Sque3z Studio Anomaly Studios Location Pasadena, CA Many people I am friends with have their flats punched out. I have personally performed the procedure for several people; many have the same piercing for reasons I've stated above. Ultimately, this was the reason I settled on having my cartilage punched out in a very similar position to many people I know. I wanted to walk that road.
Size was an issue; I was unsure of how big to go. Anything I was going to do, I wanted to be worthwhile, but I was limited to the resources available to me. Initially, an 8mm punch was my choice, but in an unfortunate series of events, 10mm punches came into my possession. Gaylin had been in the unfortunate position of losing her tattoo and piercing business to a fire. While searching the remains, she came across a handful of items that were not damaged by the fire and mailed them south to Anomaly. Inside the care package, mixed in with small bags of jewelry, were a small assortment of biopsy punches, 2 of them in 10mm. In an instant, I had my size.
I immediately called dibs on them. I was excited as hell, but it was the kind of excitement that washes over you in waves of alternating fear and intense desire. It's as if I had at that point gotten in line for an enormous roller coaster, a line that would take 3 weeks, being hit with alternating buckets full of drowning, stifling dread and the excitement of an amphetamine rush every time my mind settled on the procedure. Occasionally I would sit in the back room of the studio, spending time with the punches that would remove the piece of my ear. It was almost like picnicking in the shadow of the gallows.
Days turned into weeks. Anyone who has ever worked in the industry knows how quickly the best laid plans of mice and men can vanish in front of your eyes. Day after day the mantra of "Today is the day" came and went and woefully, excess cartilage remained in my ears. Finally, under the oddest circumstances, my time arrived. I was sitting at work when I received a phone call from a friend who worked as a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines, Tony. He said he would be arriving in LA that night and, could I pick him up and bring him to the studio to have some work done? Driving clients around normally isn't my cup of tea, but this was a friend. I arranged to leave the studio a bit early, drive out to LAX to get him and come back to do some work for him. I would then have Sque3z punch out my flats at 10mm.
Tony had a bit of work performed (nothing short of an awesome experience, but that's another story) and before I knew it, I was sitting in the big blue chair that I remembered so well from the past. I had put my iPod on with a rather abrasive mix of music. Fuel for my body and mind. Something told me that I was not going to be happy during this, so I shouldn't kid myself by listening to something peaceful and relaxing. I opted for the grinding mayhem of electronic music.
During the cleaning and marking procedure, I attempted to let my mid go. The room was quiet except for the music and the clicking of Tony's camera. It took me about 3 minutes to go completely out of my body. Unfortunately, I had neglected to tell Sque3z to simply proceed with his marks, so I was brought back to earth by him asking me to look in the mirror. It took me a second to clear my head, but I checked the marks and conferred with him that it was time to proceed.
It took me another few minutes before I had myself in the right space to take the punches. I remember breathing very deeply, trying to force every ounce of fear and tension out of my body. I was doing well until I felt the punch rest on my ear. At that point, I felt every ounce of sweat in my body let go all at once. I was drenched.
I was fucking scared. Hands down, scared. The thing was, even though I had felt my mind get sucked back into my body like a vacuum, and I was now entertaining thoughts like "ha-ha! Just kidding, let's not!" I was well beyond the point of no return. I was on the 3rd deep breath and before I knew it I could feel the crunching.
Remember those apocalyptic movies from the 80's? Nuclear holocaust, last man on earth type shit, zombies and such? There was always that point in the film where the button got pressed, the switch got flipped, the bomb got dropped and there was a big flash of light that filled the screen. I saw that flash.
For a moment, I was gone. I was out of my head flying somewhere else. It was like a door opened in the blackness and allowed the light of God to flood into my head. It was fairly incredible.
I was still riding the crest when I was told the jewelry was in. I took a quick look at what had been done to me. And at the blood that had flowed. I was fairly impressed. It hurt like hell but I was amazed at how quickly it had subsided. The second ear went nearly as quick and before I knew it, I was being stuffed with gauze behind my ears. I closed the shop up and headed home.
That night brought no sleep. I lay in pain, tossing and turning, basically waiting for Heather to leave the bed to go to work so I wouldn't disturb her anymore. Around 7a when she left and I had the whole bed to myself which finally brought sleep. I woke near noon and sat propped up in bed watching movies. I ventured into the bathroom to take a few pictures of the dried carnage that was attached to my head and had a quick wash and then it was back to bed.
The first week was one of the worst, the second and third improving significantly. By the 4th week, I traveled home to Massachusetts without issue and in relative comfort. But when I returned, into the 2nd month, I began to have pain. Pain that was escalated by things like, riding the roller coaster at Disney California Adventure multiple times. After that, I decided that not being able to sleep comfortably, have Heather touch my ears, etc, was not worth it, so I pulled the plugs.
I went empty and dry for 2 days. At the end of the second day, my ears had returned to looking normal, swelling was gone and they felt a lot better, so I decided to put something it. First stop: 2g.
I wore 2g plugs for a day before getting brave and trying to slide 0g plugs in. They fit perfectly. I continued in kind for the next few days until I was wearing 00g plugs. After wearing those for a few weeks, I decided to try and put the original 7/16th plugs back in one day in the shower; the slid right in.
So here I am, months later, healed, happy and comfortable, and wearing the size I wanted originally. Now on to the next step: stretching a bit to get the flares on a pair of Anatometal Bling plugs in...