At A Glance Author Clay Contact Clay@bme.anon IAM clay When A month ago Artist Vampy Studio Vampys house Location Norwich For a about a year I had been considering a large gauge medusa to compliment my 15mm labret. As I usually do once ive decided I want a new mod I let the idea slip to the back of my mind, and there it waited. Then 3 days ago while visiting Vampy and Gren, Vampy uttered 2 fateful words "im bored". At this an evil grin crossed my face, and I said "do you want to scalpel my medusa to 7mm for me?" with a giggle of glee from Vampy we began to make plans.
Although I ideally I wanted 7mm, we decided 5mm was a much nicer size to start off with. So out came the anatomy books. After looking at anatomical drawings of the area, it was decided that piercing and stretching would be a better option. This was for two main reasons, firstly their was a major artery in the area which we didn't want to hit and at 5mm the cut would be so small that piercing was much more practical. The plan was to pierce with a 3.2mm blade, the taper up to 5mm before inserting jewellery.
This raised another question, what to put in the hole? Initially it was going to be a 5mm steel tunnel. I had several problems with this due to the length of the piercing (My top lips think anyway and with the swelling I didn't it would work) so I asked Vampy what size ptfe rods she had. This turned out well, as she had a length of 6mm, which she shaped into a 5mm post with a 6mm flat disk to sit on the inside of my mouth and an o ring to go on the front. So Vampy got to work, and about 20 minutes later she had produced a lovely smooth polished piece for me.
As the time of the piercing drew closer, I began to feel very scared, id recently spoken to a friend who had just had his medusa pierced at 1.6mm and he said it hurt allot less then a labret, but this was the first time I would ever have been pierced and then stretched it straight away, and this was making me nervous. But I knew I wanted it and was damned if I was going to let my fear or a little bit of pain stop me, and I trust Vampy 110%, and have every faith in her skills as a piercer. While I was getting my self-ready, Vampy was getting everything set up. She placed the 3.2mm blade, and 2 tapers, one from 3mm to 4mm and the other 4mm to 5mm into a metal tray, along with the jewellery and a blob of technicare.
She then changed her gloves before marking me up. The placement of the mark was right in the middle of the little grove, right where I wanted it. Then it was over to sit down on the bench. Vampy then changed her gloves again, before cleaning the area (wiping of the mark) then re marking it. Because there is a lip on the back of the plug, it was decided to pierce from the inside out, and then taper that way. As my upper lip is so fat and because it needed to be held out at 90 degrees clamps would be needed. I didn't mind this, even if it was going to increase the swelling. So after a final glove change, we were ready to rock and roll.
On went the clamps for a final check for any veins to miss. Shinning a very small bright torch through the lip did this, and surprise surprise running just off centre was a big blood vessel. Luckily we would be able to just miss it, which is why it was a good idea to pierce rather than cut. So back on with clamps which took several attempts to place correctly (my lip get trying to run away) and we where ready to go. I firmly gripped the sides of the bench with my hands, while Vampy got the needle ready, then a few deep breaths, and hold it, it took what felt like for ever to get the needle in and out the other side. There was no pain until it hit the top layers of skin on the outside of the lip, and then it was done. Well the first bit was at any rate. Vampy took a step backwards and to get a better look, then asked me how I felt. I said I felt fine, and got up to look in the mirror. What I saw made me very happy, this big spike sticking out of my lip, I looked like a rhino.
Now for the next stage. I sat back down, Vampy asked me if I was OK, and if I was ready for the stretching. I replied that I was. She inserted the first taper into the back of the needle having lubed it up with technicare, and before I knew it the first one was in. Vampy asked me if I was OK, and if I wanted her to get on with it. I said yes and she pushed the taper about halfway threw. At this point my eyes where watering, so Vampy stooped to give me a break. After a couple of minutes I was ready to continue, and before I knew it was time for the second taper. This went in and hurt, my lip at this point was also swelling up quite allot, making the hole very tight. Vampy asked me if I wanted some xylocaine, and I did, so she went and got it and sprayed it onto my lip and the taper. This was great, with in about 10 seconds I could feel the whole area going numb. Then Vampy asked if I wanted to try and stretch it myself, so using my thumb to push the back, and two fingers to h old the lip, I began to push. It felt like forever before I stopped, and was told I was about a third of the way. After a couple more minutes I pushed it another third threw. This felt very uncomfortable as my lip was really swollen and this was making the hole very tight indeed. After another big push I managed to get it nearly all the way, just leaving a little bit at the 5mm end for the jewellery.
At this point Vampy took over again, and placing the front end of the jewellery onto the back of the taper, she pushed. Unfortunately the taper was flat backed, and the plug was tapered abit at the end, so it just kept slipping off. After several uncomfortable attempts, it was decided to use the 5mm tunnel and then insert the ptfe plug. So in went the tunnel, and out came the taper, leaving the tunnel half in and half out. At this point it was decided to pull out the tunnel and just fit push the plug in. This wasn't be any means ideal, but it worked fine, just slipped straight in. I got up to look in the mirror, before cleaning myself up and putting on the o ring. Although very swollen, I was in no pain, just very pleased.
During the first night, I woke up for no reason to find my top lip crusted in blood, no o-ring and the jewellery disappearing. I looked everywhere for the o-ring, but couldn't find it, so I pushed the plug back in and held while I slept. The next day I looked in the mirror and saw that my lip looked like a beak, it was so swollen. Vampy made me a longer plug for it that fitted perfectly and is extremely comfortable. It is now 6 days since the piercing, and while it remains a little sore and very crusty it is healing nicely, and nearly all the swelling is gone. I am very happy with how it's turned and the job Vampy's done, and cant wait to start stretching.