It's only been a week since I got dermal anchors in my cheeks but they are by far two of my favorite piercings.
At A Glance Author Caitlin Contact Caitlin@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Matt Studio Enigma Location PB, San Diego I had been thinking for a while about getting cheek piercings even though the only
place I had seen them was in pictures of people online. I was at the beach with some of my friends, and I saw a woman who had gorgeous cheek piercings. Seeing the piercings in real life was what made me decide I should finally bite the bullet and get it done.
I did a lot of research online, and found Enigma through the APP website. I called the studio to see if they were willing to do the piercing, as many experiences I had read stated their local piercers were not willing to perform the piercing. The person on the phone (I assume it was Matt as he seemed to remember talking to me when I came in later to get the actual piercing done) said they would do the piercing, but advised me to get dermal anchors instead. I did some more research, and was somewhat daunted by how little information I could find on the internet (I later learned that this was due to the fact that the procedure is only about a year old), so decided to go talk to them in person.
I was still set on the cheek piercing over the dermal anchors when I first, but I told myself that if they convinced me to do the dermal anchors I would wait and do more research so I would be sure hey were what I really wanted. The piercer who was working at the time answered all my questions and basically squashed all fears I had about getting the dermal anchors. The anchors are done with medical grade titanium so if I should have to do an MRI I will not have to have them removed. Also, if I ever do decide to have them removed the scaring will be barely visible. They told me that they had never put in dermal anchors to later have them rejected. I decided that with this information along with all the horrible issues people whose experiences I had read online had experienced, I would go with the dermal anchors.
I gave myself sometime to think and decided that I really wanted the anchors. I went back to Enigma on Saturday morning. They took my info, had me confirm I was sober and then the piercer, Matt, came out to talk to me. He told me glad I decided to go with the more expensive choice and get the dermal anchors instead of a throughtheckeek piercing. Honestly though, the price difference is worth it for the faster healing, and no worries about a spit duck leaking through the piercing or the ball on the inside of my mouth wearing away at gums or teeth.
I talked to Matt about which jewelry I could use and when I would be able to change it. The person I had talked to earlier had told me they would do the piercing with flat disks which I would later be able to switch out for any internally threaded 14 or 12 g jewelry. Matt told me it would be fine to just do the piercing with a gem instead of the disk as both were fairly flat, and let me pick the size of the gem. Even so, I was instructed to come back to Enigma if I wanted to change the jewelry or have the piercing removed. Matt put together the anchors and went into the back room to get everything set up. At this point, I was pretty nervous so I paced back and forth to calm myself down.
I went into the back room. Matt had me sit down and we began working on placement. I think it took 6 or 7 tries to get the placement where I wanted it, but in doing so I realized I have an incredibly unsymmetrical face. We finally decided to do as close to a visually symmetrical placement as possible.
Matt explained how the piercing would go, and had me lay down. By this point, sitting there and having the procedure explained to me, I had calmed down a great deal. He had me take a deep breath and then stuck the needle into my cheek. It did hurt, but it really wasn't that bad. The shot the dentist gives you hurt way worse. Once the needle was in the jewelry had to be placed, which felt more like an annoying pressure than a horrible pain. The jewelry in my right cheek wasn't in perfectly so it had to be adjusted and then we were on to the left side.
The left piercing was more uncomfortable than the first but I think my adrenalin had kicked in so there was very little pain. The left piercing took at most 2min and the right probably took 30-45 seconds. Immediately afterwards I was very aware of the piercing but the pain was minimal.
I got lightheaded when I first sat up but when I was finally able to look in the mirror I was floored. There was a small amount of blood around the piercing but other than that they were gorgeous. I was instructed to come back to Enigma if I wanted to change the jewelry or have the piercing removed.
I went out to lunch with a friend right after the piercing and the was almost no pain except for when I would laugh. There was absolutely no swelling. I went to work later that night and had many complements on my new piercings. Little kids really seem to like them, too, many little girls stop in their track and watch me walk by, marveling at the sparkles in my face.
There was a small amount of blood around the piercing but other than that they were gorgeous. I had work later that day so I washed off the blood and headed of to work, where I was flooded with a barrage of compliments from everyone who walked by.