I think that 2007 is definitely “year of the microdermal”, a modification which I continue to believe is the single most revolutionary thing to happen to body piercing in the last decade.
When Jon Cobb first proposed it in 1997 (he called it “pocketing”), people laughed and thought it was silly that a section for it was added to BME. It took a decade for people to figure out the perfect method and jewelry, and now they’re almost commonplace, offering people an infinite range of new decorative options for their body.
This triple wrist was done on Ryan by John Blake and another piercer at the same shop. Ryan writes,
Everything is healing up fine — both of the side ones have given me no problems at all and these have been the most painless modifications I’ve ever done… a lot more practical than surface bars, which makes for an all-round better experience for the subject who is enduring the procedure. I got my first one, right in the middle and it’s only caused me problem upon problem as the piercer who did it (not John, although she works in the same shop) told me to keep it covered with an airtight dressing for a week, which did nothing but trap an infection under my skin, thus the problems.
I would recommend to anyone looking to have a healthy microdermal to take my advice and just leave it alone.
BME/News and Modblog highlight only a small fraction of what
Soooo beautiful11!!! I would love to see some live video of a microdermal implant, I believe you had one posted a ways back but some new ones would be great.
Im getting the stuff to start these soon. Im so excited! The jewelry is still kind of expensive though :(.
Getting my micro-dermal on saturday… can’t wait!!!
Apologies, but my comment has nothing to do with this post, and is actually more of a question.
If we submit stories / pictures to BME at this point, would we get “credit” for an account? I want to browse the galleries, but I don’t really want to subscribe at this moment.
definitely agree that microdermals are the biggest thing brought up to date lately…
although I know the industry is still playing a huge catch up game,etc…So there’s plenty of problematic microdermals going around.
But its caught on like a wildfire that’s being fueled with gasoline.
It is so reassuring how Shannon writes, “I’ll write again soon” at the end of each post. 🙂
The piercer is using a dermal punch which I have always found less reliable in terms of healing than the three point needle method. The punch actually removes a section of tissue meaning healing takes longer and the jewellery is not ‘held’ by the surrounding skin.
Any other piercers use the dermal method ? Are there advantages to it over the needle ?
Thanks for the comments. The reason we were going with the punch in that area is that area is pretty fleshy, so the skin can be pinched up and depth controlled. I would use needles in other areas where is is suitable , for example behind ears and fingers etc.
JohnBlake – That makes sense.
Those are lovely. I still don’t really understand how “installing” a microdermal works though… so I agree with #1, more videos would be awesome!
Thanks, everyone 🙂
I’m sure John could explain how it works better than myself but my understanding of it (in my case) is that the skin is pinched and then punched using a dermal punch (the same used to obtain biopsy samples) which allows the piercist, as John has said, depth control.
After the area has been punched, the jewellery itself is used to ‘pocket’ an area underneath where the punch has been done, giving the jewellery somewhere to sit comfortably by pushing the skin/flesh/whatever away from the site of the punch.
Jewellery is then put into the pocket, long side first and then pressure is applied to ‘pop’ the short end into the punched area, sitting nicely in its freshly made pocket and the post of the jewellery is on show from the area it is punched.
As I said, I’m sure John or Shannon could clear it up better than myself or if John will let me I’ll see about recording it next time, although I just had a 4th one done yesterday.
Thanks for all the positive comments 🙂
Ryan
They’re beautiful!
I’m inlove with my 5 stomach microdermals that i got this year.
I deffinitely agree that they’ve been a great addition to the piercing family. I dont think I would have considered getting surface bars where I’ve gotten my microdermals.
I love ryan’s microdermals, but i know he had a lot of trouble with the first one (not by john)
Anyone living in scotland should definatley think about a trip to retro rebels to see john, truely an amazing piercer… and a lovley guy 😀
Slipknot were wrong!
I have had problems since day #1 with my first one, I’ve had 3 infections and constant dryness around the site of the implant and redness around the area.
I was told by the piercist (of 12 years) that the ones that John had done on each side had ‘flared it up’ and caused it to infect, which is a load of crap.
Ryan
i had a middle forearm dermal anchor
it was super stuck in there
which was good but bad
it would catch on shit all the time
i would utter a curse under my breath and then it was over
it hurt like a bitch and sometimes would discharge a little
i finally had it removed but still for weeks found myself being super careful with that one arm
i found it funny but sad that i had adapted my movements to this piece of metal stuck in my skin
Well another update – the middle is infected. AGAIN.
I don’t know why, I keep my piercings clean and healthy after all I have 20 of them.
I’m totally stumped, every other one is perfect… even the new one!
Also, if anyone wants to stay updated with the progress of said microdermals, more info is on my page.
Hey. I got microdermals on each of my wrist about three weeks ago. The left one is swelling up. I never doctored them and was very careful not to hit them on stuff. I went to the doctor and it is infected. I really love them but the doctor said I have to get them removed tonight, before the infection sets into my bone. Is this my only option?