Dermal punched septum. It has something to it, to the untrained ear it might not sound like anything important but to those who know anything about bod mod it will make them take a second glance. Sure lots of people have their septums pierced or stretched but how many out there have sat down in the chair and had a fairly large piece of their nose removed? Not too many that I know of. Also when you explain to someone what that big white thing is in your nose the reaction is priceless.
At A Glance Author Dan Contact dan@teambme.com IAM Dan_Toronto When A month ago Artist Russ Foxx Studio Foxxworks Inc. Location Alliston, ON If it is not already blatantly obvious this is an experience about me getting my septum dermal punched. The septum dermal punch is different from other punches I believe, with your ears or nostrils it is pretty much impossible to conceal while the septum punch, like the piercing, is there when you want it and concealable when needs be. It is something that I have been considering for well over a year and have been planning seriously for at least 6 months. I first got my septum pierced at 14 gauge a year and a half ago and have always wanted it bigger. Somehow the little ring wasn't enough, I needed more. I considered stretching but that idea seemed to not be great for me because it would mean that once I get it fairly large the bottom of my nose would start to drop down and it would be visible at all times. The punch however can be done high enough up that it is not obviously there. Over time this process was becoming more appealing and soon was a set goal for me. Af ter talking to my buddy Russ (owner of Foxx Works in Alliston, Ontario) about it I decided that he would be the one to do this for me. The next question was size, I told him as big as possible so we decided to use an 8mm dermal punch followed by a taper to stretch the hole up to 9mm. This is half way between 0 and 00. I was pumped everything was in place.
On Friday April 16 2004 a buddy from work who lives in Alliston drove me up to see Russ and get this thing done. We got into the room, set up and took out my small 14 gauge CBR to make room for the punch. After cleaning and me getting all my nerves out things were lined up. 1, 2, 3, *pop, crack, pop* push and the punch was through. The excruciating pain that I was expecting was not there. The worst part was most defiantly the sound, which send shivers down my spine. So I am now sitting in the chair with an 8mm dermal punch through my septum, time to stretch. Once again I am expecting some horrific pain. Ok her comes the stretch........done I didn't even feel it. Then time for the Teflon plug, which again was an easy transfer with minimal pain. By this time there was a nice trickle of blood slowly making it's way past the corner of my mouth and down my chin. Little did I know the worst was yet to come, o-ring time. We tried once, twice, three times and failed. The fir st o-ring really didn't want to get on there. We tried all sorts of different ways with different tools but nothing would do the job. Finally after close to half an hour we got the first one on and the second one thankfully didn't take as much time. As I was getting ready to leave the room he reminded me that my small CBR was still on the table. I picked it up, looked at it, looked in the mirror and tried to fit it back in it's old home. Amazingly enough after having it out for over an hour it slid back in with ease. I now had a 9mm septum hole as well as a 14 gauge one. It was time to clean me up and get the evening started. I washed up took a nice picture of the piece of me that was now sitting in Russ' hand and we were off. I took a couple painkillers as a precautionary measure because I had little knowledge of the evening's partaking. We ended up heading out to a party with some of his friends and drinking way too much. I was surprised the next evening around 5 when I woke up that my nose still wasn't too sore, a slight throb but nothing else.
I was still in Alliston and had to catch a bus home so I called Greyhound which it turns out has no weekend bus service to Toronto. Not cool, so we ended up driving to Barrie where we ate some Taco Bell and then to the bus. Jumped on the bus still excited from the previous day and made it home just in time to crash and get a good nights rest. Next morning no pain, a little bit of dried blood around the opening but that was to be expected, thank god for q-tips. My nose felt a little bit swollen but in good condition.
After a week it still seemed swollen and the o-ring on my left side was pretty much sucked into my nose, which was not good at all. I called up Tom at Stainless Studios and got him to make me a new plug and fix the o-rings for my healing nose. When I got there he took a look and pulled out a 00 gauge taper which scared me because stretching it even 1mm after it only being a couple weeks old didn't sound like fun at all. Once the plug was out it felt slightly odd to breathe but interesting. With no effort at all the new plug slid right in and after struggling once again with tricky o-rings I was set up and ready to rock. That was a few days ago and since then my nose it feeling much better and hopefully it will be all nice and healed up soon so I can begin the stretching journey!
I know that it has only been a couple of weeks but the healing seems much easier then getting it pierced small which I am very happy of. After care is the same as a regular piercing so nothing too special there. I can now say that I am the proud owner of a 9mm septum. Happy piercing and punching!