At A Glance Author Vanessa Contact hardcore_nessa@hotmail.com When A week ago Artist Eric Studio Future Skin Location Ottawa, Ontario Born and raised in a small town called Almonte it is quite amazing how I turned out. I was 15 when I got my first piercings and now with 24 under my belt at only 18 this soldier is ready to retire. In spite of my 24 piercings and much use of the BME website I have not yet written a single article. So I figured I would start with my last piercings as a first to many more stories.
My cheek/dimple piercings are definitely in my top five favorite piercing list. At first I was fairly frightened of the pain factor. I would always try squeezing my fingers through my cheeks to see how painful it might be. The pain seemed quite harsh but I was later proved wrong.
Because I live in downtown Ottawa I have many choices in fine establishments to get piercings but my all time favorite would be Future Skin, where my favorite piercer Eric practices his dark arts. Being the picky pest I am I always demand the coolest jewelry. In this case 'purpuley' pink to match the beads on my nape surface bar. Much to our surprise we find that they have run of long flat-backs, but because I am stubborn and when I want something I always get my way we settle for plain barbells. Which I know is completely 'illegal' (in a sense) but in the end I always get what I want despite the consequences.
So after sterilization comes time for the usual prep work. Mouthwash, Iodine and Q-tips then comes the marking. Now cheeks seemed pretty straight forward, having dimples I figured it would be a cinch but alas I never win. Between smiling and having a straight face everything changed in matters of seconds. After 10 minutes of arguing between Nick (tattoo guy), Allison (Nicks girlfriend) and Tony (the desk man) we finally made the final dots which turned out to be pretty damn perfect.
So now comes for the piercing. After my trials with my fingers I'm a little nervous but then I figured well I have most likely been through most likely worse piercings that how bad could this one be.
The actual piercing went from the inside out and was practically painless. Although my pain gauge is apparently higher than most and have been warned never to give advice on how painful a piercing may or may not be (apparently anti-tragus piercings hurt). No tears unlike septum and quick and painless jewelry exchange as per usual Eric styles.
They turned out great the piercing really accentuated my dimples making them even more noticeable. And the 'purpuley' pink made it even cuter.
The healing process even though I'm still enduring it has gone not bad. With just over a week under my belt the minor swelling had gone down despite numerous hits to the face. Smiling at first was on the painful side so I would avoid comedies for a while. Because it is a partial oral piercing mouthwash is key after eating and smoking. The crusties at first were not even existent but now are building up as well as that white creamy stuff that likes to rear its ugly face once in awhile. But a little bactine always does the trick for me.
Eating is always the challenge with oral piercings. Since my mouth is full (tongue web, lower frenulum and medusa) adding two more just added more to the exciting challenge of eating. Also to add to the challenge was not having flat-backs. The scarping of metal on teeth somewhat reminds me of a horror movie soundtrack and is not very pleasing to the ear. Also once the swelling went down and the barbells had more length to them, catching and pulling from the 'chompers' is almost expected.
With tender love and care this piercing can look amazing. But as the new urban legend goes if you drink beer all day and refuse to clean your fresh cheek piercing they will be surgically scalpled from your cheeks. Let this be a lesson to all of you.
For my last (to my knowledge) piercing session this double whammy was definitely worth it. Although the OC transpo rides have gotten much more "please just take a picture it last's longer" ridden they are still two of my most favorite piercings. Best thing is right now only one other person that I know of has their cheeks pierced here in Ottawa. Which makes me pretty cool :-).
For anyone who was thinking about getting them done I hope this has been informative or at least humorous. And for those who beg to differ on the latter thanks for putting up with my dry sense of humor and beware I still have 22 more stories to tell and that doesn't even include tattoos!
Later days...