At A Glance
Author	Spacy
Contact	spacecadet0001@hotmail.com
IAM	Spacy
When	Six months ago
Artist	Dai
Studio	Body fashions
Location	Newport, S. Wales, UK

Seeing as a lot of surface piercing experiences are written shortly after the mod is done, so not a lot of said about migration, I thought I'd update on my spinal piercing. The original experience is here. This experience shows what happened afterwards.

Orginial spinal piercing

A while after I had it pierced a guy in town decided to come up behind me and twist my piercing bar. I didn't know him and had no idea why he decided to it, but it hurt. I think this may have caused problems later on. I got red marks on the inside edge of each side of the piercer around two months after I had it done. As time went on it became slightly painful if I slept on it. I solved this by taping an eye pad to it for bed every night. It cost me loads in tape! After 5 months a lot of it had grown out, one side (the side that was yanked) more than the other. My piercer told me I'd have to take it out and repierce.

Spinal after 5mths

I took my piercing out on 30th August. I'd been putting it off for days using the excuse to myself that I couldn't unscrew the balls. I was fiddling with it, and I ball loosened, then I had no excuse. Once I took it out I realised how much scarring was on it. Also, when I looked at the bar I saw it was slightly twisted. The guy must've twisted quite hard for the bar to become twisted, as it defiantly wasn't like that when it went in. The piercing lymphed for a bit after it was removed. I felt really naked without it, and carried the bar round everywhere until it was repierced (pathetic I know). I rubbed olive oil into my back every day to help the scarring. My piercer told me to leave it a week before I repierced.

Back after jewlery removed

Surface bar, notice the twisting

I went in a week later to get it done. They hadn't got the bar done before, so they bent it up there and then. This time the posts on the bar were at a 90-degree angle instead of 45 degrees. There's a pic below somewhere. It was 14g, just like the last one. They finished bending in, and dropped in a small bowl of liquid (think it was surgical spirit) ready for the piercing. The mistake I made was no asking them to get it out of the bowl of liquid for me to check it over. I had time for a quick look at it, and saw the posts were even and it was the right shape before they quickly whisked it away.

This time I had an audience cause quite a few people wanted to watch, which was kind of weird. One of the girls in there said she recognised my back from the photo on the wall because of my tattoo. I bent over the bench, and they sprayed the area with some kind of anaesthetic. One of the piercers pushed the skin together and the other held the clamps in place. They warned me, and then pushed the needle through. It hurt a lot more than the first one because of the scar tissue, I could feel the piercer pushing really hard, using a lot of effort. Both him and the other piercer said they heard the crunch. He took out the needle and inserted the bar through the cannula, this time I felt the bends go through. Afterwards they said my skin was in trauma. They taped some tissue paper over it, I paid and I was on my way.

Second spinal piercing, fresh

I found looking after it this time a lot easier, as I was used to protecting my back from knocks, and sitting in a certain way. I used the same aftercare as last time; strong salt soaks twice a day (1/2 teaspoon salt to 8oz water) to prevent an abscess forming, and betedine for the first two weeks to toughen it up.

second piercing after 10 days

Second piercing after 10 days close up. Notice scarring from last one.

I noticed this time it was a lot more painful to touch than last time. After about a month it starting to migrate, after 3 months it was rejecting and was so painful I had to take it out. It had been bleeding for a week or so. It was hell to take out because of the angle of the bends in the bar. When I took it out I realised the problem, the bar was covered in nicks and scratches. They felt sharp when I ran my finger along it. The bar had been cutting my piercing from the inside and that's why it never healed, was bleeding as was rejecting. I felt stupid that I didn't check the bar for nicks first, and also felt angry that my piercer was stupid or evil enough to put that in me.

second piercing rejecting

Second piercing with jewlery removed

Second bar. Notice the nicks and scratches

Now, 3 months later, I'm left with two scars like snakebite. It's faded slightly, but it's still noticeable and people comment on it. I miss my spinal piercing a lot, but I'm going to a decent piercer to redo it, maybe perforations in Brighton. I don't mind having the scar there, I think it looks quite cool, and it reminds me of my piercing that I'm going to get back one day.

Scarring 3 months later

I hope this experience has helped anyone considering a surface piercing, if anyone has any questions I haven't covered here feel free to IM or email me. These pictures can also be seen in more detail on my IAM page.