I've wanted my back pierced since the first time I saw it on BME about two yrs ago. It looked so pretty, 4 little balls just above the pants line. When I first saw it I showed the guys in the piercing shop when I went to have my industrial done, but they said they wouldn't do it because it was dangerous and would probably grow out anyway.
At A Glance Author spacy Contact spacecadet0001@hotmail.com Artist Dai Studio Body Fashions Location Newport, S. Wales, UK I did quite a bit of reading about it after that, and discovered about surface bars, but none of the piercer's in my area used them. I didn't feel comfortable about any of the piercers in my area doing something like that anyway, as my old piercer had closed down, and the rest of the shops around were a bit dodgy. I was thinking that I'd have to travel somewhere like London or Brighton to get it done. Then when we were out clubbing my friend introduced me to her mate who'd opened up a new piercing shop in Newport. I chatted to him, and he seemed to know his stuff, so I decided next time I had money I'd go in and talk to him about it.
I went into the shop a few weeks later, with a picture of the piercing I wanted done. Dai (the piercer) told me that there wasn't much point in doing it as the bars would grow out. I explained about surface bars and drew some diagrams, him and the other Dai discussed it and said to come back in few days and they'd think about it and measure me for some bars.
I came back in a few days time with some printed out info I had explaining all about surface bars, how they're put in, how they work, etc. Dai had a look and said he could do it, looked at the skin on my back to see if it could be clamped, and said it could be difficult to clamp my skin, but he'd try. He ordered the bars and told me he'd let me know when they came in.
A few weeks later he had the bars, and I went in to have the piercing done. Dai put the marks on where they were going to go, then him and Rob, the other piercer tried all sorts of ways to get the skin on my back into the clamps, it was hard because when my skin is squeezed in inverts in the middle. He clamped the other piercer's skin just to see, and it clamped no problem. After about an hour of trying he decided that the best thing to try would be to order a bigger set of clamps, and for me to come back then.
There another attempt that failed (I'd been drinking the night before and bled too much) and nearly made my friend faint, and I had to let the little holes from that heal up before I could have it done again.
I went in with my friend for her to get tattooed and I got to watch him use the surface bar for the first time on a guy having a wrist piercing. They did a wicked job and the wrist piercing looked so cool. They kept me posted on the wrist piercing over the next week, and said it was healing fine, with no signs of migration so we knew the surface bars worked.
I went in the next week, and he decided that he was going to do the piercings separately, let the one heal and pierce the other a few weeks later.
He set up all the stuff he needed to do the piercing while I chain smoked, then I went into the piercing area and faced forward, not moving, while he got the markings perfect, and showed Dai the tattooist to make sure they were perfect.
Then Dai the tattooist pushed my skin together while Dai the piercer got the clamps on. This time, with the bigger clamps, they went on after about two tries. The tattooist held the clamps, then the piercer told me then that he was about to push the needle through, and pushed it through. I felt a small scratch as it went in one end, didn't feel it go through, then it stang when it came out the other end. Then he took the needle out leaving the plastic thingy in there, pushed the bar though, took out the plastic thing and screwed the ball on. I was so happy I had it done, and so were they, he showed me in the mirror and I gave him a huge hug. I was bouncing round after with a huge grin on my face, it looked wicked : ) I paid him, told him I'd probably show him how it was doing on the weekend if I saw him out, and bounced out of the shop to show my mate.
It was a bit painful for the first day I had it done, very awkward to sit comfortably, and I had a bit of an uncomfortable nights sleep. It was a tiny bit uncomfortable for the next few days, but not as painful as I thought it would be.
Its fine pain wise today (a week later), I can even sleep on my back, so my piercer told me to get some tape when I sleep so I don't skag it. He took a photo of it today, too, for his wall :)
I've been soaking it in salt water and rinsing twice a day, and I've ordered some betadine from the chemist that I'll use for a few weeks to make the skin tougher. Its healing wonderfully though :)
I'll be getting one done underneath it in a few weeks.
There's some pics on my IAM page of the spinal piercing:-
IAM spacy
Or
http://iam.bmezine.com/?spacy
I've also written a bit more about the experience before I got it done, and will be updating it with the piercing's progress.
If anyone's got any questions about it or anything e-mail or iam me, I like getting messages :)
I'd really recommend body fashions for piercings and tattoos from the way they did mine and the other people I've seen getting things done. They're friendly, funny, make an effort to make you feel comfortable and do a really good job.