I decided on a whim to have my bridge and dimples done in the same night, after checking out some piercing setups on BME. My piercer, Dustin was generally using me as his portfolio to attain an apprenticeship and license. These aren't generally the best circumstances in which an informed individual would want to get pierced, but Dustin researched his business and showed skill in his work.
At A Glance Author DefloweredOpiates Contact DefloweredOpiates@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Dustin Wigfield Studio Four Quarters Location Artemas, Pa Dustin had already ordered a few pairs of forceps, needles and jewelery from a reputable source and had everything sterile and single use packaging. We arrived at my house ready to set up a little area and get started.
I sanitized a table where Dustin donned his attractive latex gloves and laid out his prepackaged materials. I swished with Listerine and cleaned off my face with antibacterial soap. These piercings were going to be my 22nd and 23rd, so I was generally pretty calm and prepared, running over everything in my head about proper procedure.
After being marked, Dustin lined up the 14g needle from the inside of my mouth and did the piercing on my left cheek with no problems, he then inserted a 14g stud.
The right cheek didn't go as well as the first, as Dustin lost the hole while trying to insert the jewelry. This is when I foolishly decided that the bastard piece of jewelry was getting in there, for damn sure. I pushed and shoved with my gloved hands, but nothing worked. I asked Dustin against his better judgement to repierce and therefore, do a better job of getting the jewelry in place. By this point, blood was coating my face from eyebrow to collarbone. The other dimple hadn't even bled or swollen by this point. After Dustin repierced my right cheek, he managed to get the jewelry in place. I cleaned off my face, cleaned the piercings with saline solution, gargled with Listerine, and hit the sack.
The next morning, the swelling had become incredible and was really putting pressure on the jewelry on both sides. It basically looked like my cheeks were eating the piercings, along with honest to god chipmunk cheeks. Dustin and I had chosen larger jewelryto pierce with to accomodate for the swelling, but neither of us thought the swelling would be this bad. I decided to ice my cheeks to allow the swelling to subside, and I popped a few ibuprofen to help as well. This made the swelling reduce significantly to a comforatble, manageable fit. However this comfort was short-lived, and I would have to repeat the process every few hours. By the third day I decided that I needed to change the jewelry or else the piercings wouldn't survive. I changed them both to standard 14g straight barbells, after being cleaned, polished and autoclaved. The larger size allowed the piercings a lot more room to breathe, and they began to heal up pretty well.
About a week later, my right dimple became insatiable, and apparently "ate" the inside ball to my jewelry. The end of the jewelry (inside my mouth) worked itself into the fistule, lodging itself into the flesh of my cheek. The rest of the barbell became unscrewed and fell out, all overnight. The piercing healed, and I remain to this day outfitted with a new unlikely implant in my cheek which makes a real dimple when I smile. Its formed its own nest of scar tissue and hasn't migrated or become a problem. I had it checked out, to see if I would need to have it surgically removed, or something. The dermatologist informed me that the ball could basically stay there, as long as it didn't become suddenly agitated or I got an abscess tooth.
Two weeks after that, I noticed a problem with my other healed dimple. It appeared to have grown a little keloid. I knew there wasn't much I could do about it, but over the next three weeks, the "keloid" grew in size and color, leveling off at the size of a dime and purple-red, lurking right below my left dimple. It didn't really hurt, unless it was agitated in some way, although the epidermis had begun flaking and becoming discolored. This became an issue in my household, and I was instructed to "take that hideous thing out of your face". I refused, and was kicked out of my house. Going to live with my mother, a licensed esthetician, she informed me that this giant "keloid" on my face was in fact an acne cyst. She began treating it immediately. She used glycolic acid on the cyst, which broke the skin and began the healing process. I also got to suffer throught he joys of old school drawing salve and microdermabrasion. Since then the acne cyst has vanished and I am left with one normal looking dimple and one implant. It was a hell of an adventure.