Martin: Genital Evolution

I first met Martin in the mid-nineties when he began experiments in “cock skinning”, a radical sort of circumcision where large amounts of tissue are removed from the shaft of the penis, leaving tightened and scarred skin. While this was not his first journey into body modification, it began a series of heavy duty DIY changes to his genitals that continue to this day — he’s been subincised, closed that subincision, opened it up again (and repeated that more than once), injected hydrogels, reshaped his scrotum multiple times, cut his own suspensory ligament, and more. Thanks to a bullet-proof immune system and the apparent ability to heal almost anything, his adventures just keep escalating.

Please be warned that this interview is extremely explicit and deals with highly risky activities, both in terms of the pictures and the modifications discussed.

Martin’s Subincision… One of Many!

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Tell me a little about yourself.

I’m thirty-six now. I was born in Austria, but have lived in the UK for most of my life. I am single and probably always will be unless someone comes along who accepts me for who I am — but I’d much rather be in a relationship. My parents have moved abroad and I have one sister that also lives abroad as well, so I am basically alone here in the UK, although I do have some close friends. I am gay and was very late in accepting it and coming out — I was thirty when I finally came out. I live alone at home with two dogs for company.

As for work and everyday life, I am self employed in the electronics trade — repairs to TV and video equipment. It’s a bad career to be involved in, and I would not recommend anyone else starting up in this business since it’s becoming less profitable every year as things become cheaper to replace instead of repair.

So you came out with extreme mods before you came out as gay — I guess it was easier accepting your interest in genital modification than your interest in men? Has it been doubly hard striking up relationships because of the genital modifications?

I have always been shy and have the fear of rejection, so even before any mods, I’ve never had the courage to ask anyone out. In those days it was only women that I was wanting to find, because that was expected of me by my parents and I could not accept the fact that I was gay. I knew that women never turned me on sexually, but men on the other hand did turn me on. Only the really cute ones — the ones where you could see their package in their tight jeans… it was always the genitals that really did it for me.

I have to admit that once I circumcised myself, it did make me even more shy to show my cock, and also, when I first circumcised my cock I did not know about the term ‘circumcision’ and I didn’t even know that other men were circumcised — I thought I made my cock different from everyone else’s! In those days I did not have access to any pictures of cocks and I had never heard about removing foreskin. In school showers all the boys had foreskins. Another thing that bugged me was that my circumcision scar was very defined. You could see the pale inner skin suddenly change to the darker outer skin, with a ring joining the two together. That made me feel embarrassed because I thought that people would know that I’d cut my foreskin off, but since then I’ve found out that that look is very normal in a circumcised penis.

Do you think your life would have turned out quite differently had you come out at a much younger age?

In a simple answer — yes! If I had the guts to say I was gay before I did any cutting, I might have just gone out and enjoyed myself among other gay friends. I might never have had the thought of that hole in the foreskin, and I might never have made that hole, and then never have had cut the skin, making me not get addicted to cutting in the first place…

If I had left my penis well alone as I was when I was born, I’m sure I would have had more courage back then to go out looking for a female relationship and might have gotten married… my genital mods have definitely changed my life, but I don’t really know for certain how much of a change it’s made because I will never know how differently my life would have evolved had I not cut my cock.

You mentioned that you run an electronics repair business — do you think your interest and talents in fixing electronics are related on some level to your interest and talents in “fixing genitals”? I know it’s a bit of a goofy question, but I was actually asked a series of questions along these lines myself by some TV show because I was customizing cars and had some in my yard when they came over to film.

Funny you should ask that — no, it’s not a daft question at all. There could well be a connection there. Since I was I kid I’ve always been into electronics and anything technical. When I got a transistor radio, the first thing I did was take it apart to see its workings. Everything I’ve had I’ve always pulled apart or tried to modify to make it work better, like modifying coils in TVs and radios to see what effect it had… That could also be why I’m interested in my cock, taking it apart and seeing how I can make it feel and function differently.

Ever since I can remember, I was always fascinated with my genitals. Even as a kid before puberty I used to play with my cock, making it go hard and tying rubber bands around it to make the veins stand out. At that time I could not pull my foreskin back and I didn’t even know what a foreskin was — all I could see was the very tip of my glans through the end of my foreskin. I remember my mother giving me a bath. She tried to pull my foreskin back but because it was causing me pain, I didn’t let her, but as the years went by and I entered puberty I started exploring my cock more by tugging on the foreskin, making the opening get wider and wider. I was always too scared to pull the foreskin right back, just in case it got stuck there, or worse yet my glans would fall out — the stupid thing was that I thought that my glans was a separate ball that was only held in place by my foreskin!

That’s pretty funny… I’m surprised how early your interested started to show. I think most people see it coming out about the time of puberty. Maybe that means it’s really hardwired in your case!

I remember when I was six years old I had a very strange thought… I saw my dad doing a job with concrete around a pipe, sealing it in a floor, and I had thoughts of filling up my pants with concrete so I could no longer access my cock. I thought concrete was so permanent that nothing could break it open after it went hard. I imagined myself wearing concrete pants for the rest of my life — an early thought of chastity I guess!

One day in the bath I decided to play and experiment again, and this time I pulled as hard as I could to got my foreskin right back. I held my hand out under my cock just in case the head fell out so I could catch it, but when the skin went back, I was so amazed at how the glans was attached and how very sensitive it was. This made me start off new experiments and I discovered masturbation a few weeks later — it was totally unexpected, but the first orgasm I had I can still remember today. It was so good that I haven’t stopped ever since that day.

For several years I just masturbated, but I always wondered what else I could do to turn me on. I knew that it was my dick that turned me on the most. I tried to look at girls, but they just did not turn me on sexually, although young men very much did… Not by their faces — I was more turned on by their cocks. I admired the bulge they displayed in their tight jeans. Back in the 1980’s tight jeans were very commonplace and it was fantastic to see guys wearing tight jeans as long as they showed a bulge. In those days I was twelve, and always promised myself that when I grew up and my cock was bigger I too would wear tight jeans to show off my bulge — and yes, that’s exactly what I now do, and always have. Seeing my cock bulge out of my tight jeans is more of a turn on for me than anything else.

Back when I was fifteen I saw a pair of leather punches — I don’t know why, but looking at how they punched a hole in a strip of leather made me want to punch a hole in the top of my foreskin. I never did but the thoughts of having a hole in my foreskin seemed to stay with me. About two years later I was getting bored of masturbating with the same old cock and wanted to make my foreskin pull back further but the frenum was in the way, so one night I got a very sharp pointed kitchen knife and pushed the point through the inside of the frenum and cut it through in an out-and-upwards direction. Because I still had a foreskin I put tissue paper over the cut and closed my foreskin up over it, but it hardly bled at all and it was healed within about a week.

What did it feel like? Was the cutting a part of masturbation, or were the two separate?

The cutting was a “now or never” spur of the moment thing in the bath. I was having a bath and had that thought about making a hole in my foreskin again, so I quickly decided to do it before I changed my mind. If I would have cum, I would have changed my mind — if I masturbate before the cutting, as soon as I cum the cutting thoughts are gone until next time. I actually use it as a way to slow me down and keep me from cutting myself too often.

It’s interesting the role that orgasm plays in it. I know a lot of people who even stop going to orgasm — almost, but not quite there — to avoid losing that feeling, and some even feel bad about the cutting after they cum…

If I manage to cum just after a cutting session, I do sometimes feel bad for having cut myself because the erotic excitement is gone, but my biggest piss off is after a major cut and I have to avoid erections in case of bleeding or popping stitches, and sometimes I have to wait for ten or fifteen days before I can masturbate again! It’s the downtime I hate, but the excitement of a newly modeled cock is so erotic, and that’s another reason why I alter and cut my cock.

I guess that was how I first started to get interested in modding my cock. I never intended to cut it anymore but then I guess I was already becoming addicted. I think as well because I didn’t have any access to touch and see anyone else’s cock back then, I just wanted mine to feel different.

So you did end up eventually making that hole in your foreskin?

The thoughts of having a hole in my foreskin never left me, so one night when I was alone I decided to try making a hole, and I cut a small hole from left to right in the area where I could see the ridge of my glans under the skin. When I made this hole I was so turned on at the sight of seeing my glans through the hole that I pushed the glans out through it… That looked really hot, and my proper foreskin opening was now all wrinkled under my shaft and a problem then started. I got very erect and my glans swelled up, and because the hole was too small, it began to strangle the glans and was becoming very painful. No matter how much I tried I just could not push the glans back out from that hole, so I had no choice but to insert the blade from a pair of scissors between the cut hole and the original hole, and cut through that skin. As soon as the blade cut through it, the tightness went away and a strange kind of looseness came, because suddenly the foreskin no longer had any tightness to it when retracted. It was hanging off under my head, which felt sort of uncomfortable but looked really fantastic, seeing my glans with no foreskin trying to slide over it. That said, it was very untidy looking, so one day I thought of trying to repair the skin by opening up the cut edges and sewing them together again, but when I did try that, it was far too painful and I gave up…

I knew that I could not leave my cock looking this untidy — after all, I was only eighteen back then and was planning to have relationships. I decided to cut off that lose hanging bit of foreskin, which really hurt, but after it was off, I knew that I wasn’t finished because there were still other areas that needed tidying up. From there on I spent several times cutting bits off to neaten my circumcision scar. Then came a day when I wanted to cut more skin off, mainly because I found it such a turn on to remove skin from my penis. The problem I had was that I didn’t have any loose skin left. I was already very tightly circumcised, but the desire was still with me to cut more skin off. I decided to cut all the skin off my penis shaft — the loosely attached skin that slides along the shaft when masturbating. I made a circular cut around the base, and another cut just behind the head, and then a long cut joining the two cuts. I slowly lifted the skin off as I was cutting it free from the shaft.

Did you ever have problems that needed medical attention back then, or ever get caught in any way? I had to go to the emergency room once, and it was a very embarrassing experience!

Luckily no, not back then. I was always ready with a whole roll of toilet paper just in case it bled too much. The circumcision was very manageable. The only problem I had was when I was cutting it off — I was sitting on the edge of the bath for nearly three hours trying to cut the lower part of skin off and my parents were due to come home very soon! That cutting was giving me so much pain I didn’t know how to finish it, but luckily I had the idea of going the the freezer and scraping ice from its internal walls into a cup and adding water. I dunked my cock in the iced water and that made it much more bearable and I managed to cut it off before they came home and clear up the bloody mess in the bath.

Lucky! Getting back to the cock skinning, what did you do after you cut the skin free?

When I was finished I was left with a raw shaft, and it was wet and bloody. I became erect and found that my skinned shaft looked so erotic to me — it was sort of whitish pink in color and it looked hot, but worrying at the same time, seeing my shaft skin start at the base of my cock for only about half an inch, then stop, leaving an opening in my body for my raw skinned cock to protrude from.

Martin’s initial cock skinning

It took a good eight weeks to heal over fully, with a new scar-like replacement tissue. The trouble I had was the fact that during healing it pulls together, and I was left with a much smaller cock than before. I knew I would never be happy with that so I thought that if I reopened the wound where the new skin joined the remaining old skin, I would pull the edges apart and wait for more new skin to grow in between. This did work and I repeated it twice, and was left with a penis that was about the same as the original length but the skin was totally immobile. The new skin is attached directly to the shaft and has no movement at all to it.

How does that feel in comparison? Is it still like that or did it separate and loosen over time?

In the beginning the shaft was extremely tight. It was a bit like an hourglass because of the tight bandaging I did to make the new skin heal tightly, but after a few months it softened up and became more normal in shape. The new skin is still tighter than normal skin, and even today and there is no gliding motion anymore. Before skinning it I could feel the shaft meat under the skin, and I could feel the ripples in the cock meat under the skin as I moved my fingers up and down it. I could see all the veins bulging through the skin, but now all that’s no longer possible. It bothered me to start with, but I’m now so used to it that I don’t even think about it anymore

The photos make it look like you’ve got no worries in the size department — were you aware of that as you were growing up?

It’s only since I’ve been sending pictures on the Internet that I’ve been getting responses saying that I’m quite big. For me I’ve always seen myself as being too small, but that’s only because I wish I was huge. I’ve always imagined myself having a cock that’s so big that I have trouble getting dressed — it’s an obsession for me to wear tight jeans to show a big bulge. It gives me confidence knowing that my dick is big enough to show through my clothes — if I don’t show a bulge, like if I wear baggy jeans, I feel less confident in front of others, especially if I’m among other guys and one or two do show a bulge… it makes me feel even smaller and underdeveloped.

After the skinning, how did you get into the subincision and other mods?

The skinning took place in 1992 and I didn’t do much after that anymore until 1997, when I got my first computer. The first thing I looked for on the Internet was for information about self-circumcision, mainly to see if other people also did it, and I stumbled across BME and I immediately bought myself an extreme subscription. That was where I first saw subincisions and bisections, and since then it’s been the green light and the inspiration I’ve been looking for to continue with my genital mods.

Before that, were you at all aware that other people were doing it as well?

In those days I was not aware that others did any kind of self cutting. I thought I was totally alone with it and felt like a freak because of that… I was very relived to find out that I was not alone anymore, and better yet, because the Internet is two way interactive, I’ve managed to chat and contact several others. It’s just a shame that they are all so far away.

Did you ever try “lighter” stuff along the lines of pumping or saline? Or was it always cutting that was the turn-on?

When it comes to non-cutting mods, yes, I’ve done several, but because they don’t last, they are not as exciting. I have pumped with an electric pump — it was a paint sprayer compressor I modified to suck in air through a tube. The vacuum was so strong that I filled my tube in two sessions, but after only a few sessions it was hurting too much in an aching sort of way, so I gave up.

I also used the compressor as an inflater — I attached a needle on the end of the tube and inserted it under my shaft skin and inflated my cock. The base was tied off tight, and I left the pump on until my cock was about to explode — it was so hard including the head. The thing that made me quickly turn the pump off was the fact that I could hear cracking noises in the head! The skin was about to rip open! I could not feel anything because I had injected anesthetic first.

Martin’s cock being inflated

Releasing the pressure

I got a large needle and stabbed my cock from all directions. The air hissed out of my cock, along with bubbles of blood. While I was tied off, after I had squeezed all the air out, I got a pair of scissors and inserted one blade in my piss hole and the other along the top center of my glans and I split it through — there was no blood and no pain, so I suddenly had a split head! I inserted a tube down my urethra and wedged tissue between the split, and then tightly bandaged the head up and released the band at the base of my cock to allow the blood to flow in again. Amazingly, it didn’t bleed at all… It went red, and soaked in blood, but it never ran or dripped with blood, so that was good.

Martin’s head splitting

I know it was a stupid thing to do — I knew it when I did it — but I thought I’d take the chance because I wanted to see how big I could inflate my cock. Yes, I was stupid to have done that, so don’t tell me I was because I know anyway!

I’d love to hear the stories of of your subincision and how you came to close it up.

Back in 1987 I was in the airport in Austria waiting for my flight, and that was the very first time I had ever thought about subincision. I didn’t know even that it was possible, yet alone knew that others did it — it was a thought totally out of the blue and I even remember where I was when that thought came to mind. I didn’t call it a subincision, I called it a gutter! I never did it for may years after, but I did decide to experiment with that thought, and one night in the bath I decided to lengthen the piss slit. I did this by tyeing off my cock, putting ice on it to deaden the pain, and got a blade and cut myself a meatotomy all the way to the rim of the glans. I was amazed at how easy it was, and the fact that it was even possible to do. It healed quite quickly but I found that peeing standing up was bad — it sprayed everywhere and I hated that, so after one year I decided that it must be possible to close it up.

I opened the healed sides — back then I didn’t have access to anesthetic so I used freezer spray, a spray can that’s used for cooling electronic components when tracing thermal faults. I sprayed it on my meatotomy edges and my glans became white, hard, and frozen on the two sides of the meatotomy. I quickly got scissors and sliced a chunk off the glans from either side. By then it was thawing out and becoming soft again, so I brought the two sides together and taped it up with surgical sticky tape. When the feeling came back it hurt so much I nearly cried… After that, peeing was done very slowly so as not to put too much pressure on the wound, and after a few days it had knitted together and it was totally healed in about two weeks.

It wasn’t until 2000 that I decided that I wanted a meatotomy again, mainly because I then knew that others also did it, so I decided to reopen my meatotomy again, but this time I stopped about a centimeter into the shaft. It was amazing to see the inside of my cock again, and because I knew others also cut themselves I knew I wasn’t a freak to cut myself, so I just continued to cut.

Returning to the first thoughts of a subincision back in that airport, when I stumbled across pictures of my first subincision all my memories came back to me. I just could not believe that someone had actually done that to their cock… Back then I had promised myself not to cut my cock anymore, but every time I looked at subincision pictures, particularly the full subincisions, I knew I wanted one on my cock one day too. After I redid the meatotomy, I left it to heal, always knowing that I wanted to extend it further. A few months later I cut it further using a clamp-and-cut method. I did this twice more and I loved the feeling of how my urethra fell open wider each time — the feel of air hitting the sensitive tissue gave me a real hard on, and I came after only a few strokes!

Closing his subincision

By the end of the year I had a full subincision and I loved it, but one night I was having a bath and I had the thoughts of extending my sub further, and as I got the blade near it, I wondered if it was possible to repair it again. I opted for the latter, and in an attempt to be “normal” again, I used injectable anesthetic and removed a strip of skin from each side of my sub and then sutured it all together. During the next few days peeing was rather painful and I had to control how hard I let the pee flow — it’s really difficult to trickle out pee when you’re bursting to go! But, after a week it was knitted together enough to not rip apart anymore. I left my entire shaft tightly bandaged so that erections didn’t put too much strain on the rejoined area.

Martin’s closed subincision

But that closure didn’t last, did it?

No — I have reopened it again, and this time it’s all the way to the scrotum. I plan on splitting the scrotum again as well and taking the subincision between the balls.

I assume everything you’re doing is cock-related? No changes to any other body parts at all?

I am only interested in modifying my cock. Other body parts don’t turn me on in any way, although some look cool on others… but for me it’s only my cock.

Let’s keep talking about your modifications… What came after the subincision?

A year after that I did my next extreme modification. I was not happy with the way that after my tight circumcision and skinning that my scrotum was pulled up covering more than half the length of the under side of my cock shaft. I had this idea to cut the scrotum away from the shaft to try and make it hang lower down.

I’m going to guess this story begins with “I was in the bath”…

Yes — I was in the bath and my scrotum was loose and floppy from the heat of the warm water. I injected anesthetic into the area that I was going to cut, and I then got a long blunt object (the handle of a screw driver), and I pushed this handle on the left side of my scrotum as far back as possible and felt for it bulging through the scrotal skin on the right side. Once I was happy with the position, I got a blade and cut from the right side through to the left, using the handle as a base to cut against. I cut until the handle pushed through to the other side. I suppose it could be classed as an extremely deep scrotal or lorum piercing.

Martin’s scrotal release

I then got a pair of scissors and inserted one blade through this hole and out the other side, and then slowly began to cut in an outward direction along my shaft. This was totally painless, and once I cut through, my scrotum fell downwards, exposing the tops of my balls and the raw underside of my penis. It did bleed quite a lot, but with compression, it stopped after about thirty minutes — I think I must have cut a big vein!

I then sutured the scrotum together joining the left side to the right, but left my penis raw above it. It took about two months to fully heal, and I did regrow about half way up the shaft again, but it was definitely lower down than before. I wanted it to be as low down as possible, so I decided to repeat this cutting procedure a second time around. Once it healed the second time, my scrotum was hanging very low and virtually between my legs. I liked it that way a lot but I wanted more and decided that I wanted to split my scrotum so I’d have two independent balls hanging.

How did you perform the scrotal splitting procedure?

I used the same technique of using the handle of a screw driver as a cutting guide behind the scrotum and I cut to it from the front. My goal was for maximum separation, so I made sure that I cut as high up the scrotum as possible. This time however I did not cut the scrotum in half — I decided to wait until the hole I just made healed, and I inserted a thick tube through that hole and formed a ring out of it, holding it together with a cable tie. After about three weeks it was time for me split the scrotum in two, so I removed that tube and had a nearly healed hole at the base to cut out from. I injected anesthetic again, and used scissors to cut from the hole downwards. After the final snip my two balls fell apart — I could suddenly hold them, one in each hand, about six inches apart!

I loved that new look and feel, but there was one problem after it had healed — because my scrotums were so small, they tended to shrivel up when cold and my balls would disappear up next to my cock leaving two empty scrotums that looked like two bits of loose skin. I wanted to keep my balls down in the sacks so I decided to do more cutting.

Martin’s split scrotum

The next cut was an attempt to make the neck of my left scrotum only thick enough for the cord of the testicle. This was a bad idea, but I did it anyway, not thinking about the consequences. I felt for my testes cord and pushed it to the outside edge of the sack. Then I made a hole in the neck of the sack right next to the cord. I left that hole to heal, using the tube as I did when I split the sack. After it had healed I cut the scrotum through the hole towards the center horizontally, leaving just the part that had my cord running through it. There was blood everywhere and I had to call for an ambulance as I could not stop the bleeding — that was the most embarrassing day of my life! But it healed quite well and my left testicle was now hanging in a scrotum from a thin neck, sort of like a pendulum between my legs… But after a few months, due to cold weather, it managed to squeeze past the narrow neck and up next to my cock, so it didn’t work as planned.

How did they react to you at the hospital?

An Indian doctor came to check me over, and saw what I had done. He said that if I cut too close to the cord of the testes, that the thin scrotal neck could swell and strangle the cord and I could loose that ball. I already had it in my mind that I was going to loose my left ball, but the doc then said that there was no point in suturing the wound together, because I’d already done a good job of that. I was surprised, and he looked at my then partial subincision and asked if I did it. I told him I did and he said that I would have problems with it later in life — I don’t know what he meant by that. He wanted to keep me in on an IV drip, but I refused and dismissed myself. They gave me a packet full of pills and I went home and was at work the next day.

How did the ligament cutting happen? DIY is certainly a better deal than paying $3000 or so to have a plastic surgeon do it…

I injected the area with anesthetic and pulled hard on my penis in a downward direction. When I felt the pubic area I could feel ligaments through the skin tensioning up and it was these ligaments that I planned to cut. I got a blade and made a hole just over the area that I could feel the ligaments through, and I cut that hole about half an inch across and dug the blade in on one side of the tensioned ligament and cut towards it. I could hear the tearing sound, and once I cut through it my cock suddenly felt longer and I could actually see it drop lower down!

Martin’s DIY ligament cutting

It was one of the easiest mods I’ve ever done. I sutured the hole shut and I was even able to masturbate the same night! I had bruising for about one week but I gained just over one inch when soft. But it still wasn’t enough.

Wow, I didn’t realize that it was that “easy” to do… Did you gain any hard length as well, or just when soft?

Yes, I found it the easiest mod ever, but I didn’t notice any more length when hard. I did notice however that my cock hangs lower down… I never did any stretching, although I should have, but having said that, I didn’t loose any length that I gained and I now can no longer feel the ligament under the skin anymore.

Has it changed things like angle of erection and so on as well?

My angle of erection was pointing down long before the ligament cutting because of a lot of manual pulling downwards on my cock by hand at every available moment. Every time I had to go to the toilet, I always ended with a real hard pull on my cock in an attempt to stretch it — there was a time I could put the head in my mouth, but I stopped pulling on it because the results were too minimal. That’s why I opted for the ligament cut. Maybe I might try pulling on it again soon, as I might get more length now that the ligament is cut.

What other things have you tried to increase the size?

I had heard of Hydrogel and was given a contact address to obtain some. First I wanted my cock to look normal again before I injected it so I decided to close up the full subincision.

This was my second-time-round subincision, as I had already closed it up before and then cut it open again. I removed a slice of skin from along each side and sutured the two sides together, but this time I left a hole right at the base in order to pee through so my pee pressure would not disturb healing on the rest of the sub. After it was healed I had to close that hole in the base so that I could pee from the end again, and I removed a ring of skin from around that hole and sutured that open ring closed. For the first few days I was very careful not to pee too hard, and within a week I was able to pee standing up again. I managed to close my subincision down to a 5mm pee hole in the glans!

Opening up his “mostly” subincision

After my sub was closed again, I decided that I wanted my scrotum back as a whole so that I could inject the hydrogel into it and get a big round bulge, but I had problems with my left sack when trying to join it to the right one. I cut open the right sack until it was fully open in the area that was originally split, and then I tried doing the same with the left one but the narrow neck where the cord was running through was so close to the testicle that when I cut it open, my testicle popped out and fell in my hand, hanging from its cord. It was out of its internal sack too, and started to give me stomach cramp pains. I started to panic because I could not push it back in, and I fumbled about for several minutes in pain and finally I pulled my stomach in while breathing — that tends to pull the balls up. Luckily my testicle pulled up into the mutilated scrotum, and I quickly sutured the two sacks back together again.

Martin’s scrotal split reversal

It has healed surprisingly well. You wouldn’t think that my sack was ever split if it wasn’t for the scar along the center.

Then it was time for the hydrogel. I ordered 250ml and have used most of it. I’ve injected it into my shaft under the skin and it’s made my cock very thick, but I’ve also tried injecting it into the scrotum, but it seems to make lumps instead of evening out. It feels like I have three balls… I wasn’t happy with that, so I removed it from the scrotum again.

Were there problems due to the way your skin is attached so tightly?

No big problems — although it was not possible to inject along the bottom of my shaft because it was my closed subincision, so there were no skin pockets under there at all. Along the sides and on the top was loose enough for injecting the gel.

You ordered the Hydrogel from China I guess?

Yes, I did, but recently I have heard of something even better, apparently it’s a filler that’s made up of small spheres, like micro beads. The Hydrogel is good, but I can squeeze it back out if I wanted to — I’d like something that can’t be removed! I find the permanence of a mod so erotic. To get the Hydrogel out all I needed to do was make a hole in the area with a needle and squeeze it out like a tube of tooth paste.

But now you’ve opened your subincision up again?

I’ve always loved the look of subincisions and after repairing mine I was missing having it, so after nearly two years of having it fully repaired I decided to reopen it again. I have since cut it right up to the scrotum, and it’s longer than the original full sub I had by about an inch.

I like the feel of the exposed urethra so much so that I wanted to feel it all the time, rubbing in my pants, but because my sub is more of a deep groove I needed to find a way to open it out flat. I decided to remove a length of shaft skin from along the top of my cock. I cut off a sheet of skin that was about an inch and a half wide by three inches long, and I brought the edges together and sutured it, making my sub underneath open out really tight and flat when soft. I then wrapped my cock tightly in tape and dressings so that erections wouldn’t pull the sutures apart. After about two weeks it was time to test the results. I removed the dressings for the final time and let myself get fully erect — wow, that was rather painful to start with. The sub was so stretched wide open, it was shiny and very tight, and when soft my sub is now totally flat and fully exposed permanently. It feels great in my pants when walking about, but the skin has loosened up a bit since, and now there is no way that I could ever re-repair my sub. It’s now permanently open.

Martin’s top cut

It’s not going to end here. I plan on doing lots more in the future, and my next plan is to re-split my scrotum, because as with my sub after repairing it, I now miss the feel and look of having two balls. Next time I plan on first making a transscrotal big enough to push my cock through. I’m also very seriously thinking about a fully split penis — I would want it split so far back that when hard I’ve got the split starting right at the pubic area.

I can’t wait to hear what happens next. Thanks for sharing your story, and I look forward to talking to you again!

Shannon Larratt
BME.com

The Next Big Thing?
Microdermals and Surface Anchors

Microdermals — or “surface anchors”, or simply “anchors” — are a design of body jewelry that allows for a “single point” piercing. That is, a piercing that has only one visible end or bead. So for example, it allows one to place a single gemstone in a third eye position, and because of its design, no invasive procedure is required to implant it — it does not have the complexity of implantation of a transdermal implant (although it may have some of the complexity of removal). In addition, its versatile nature makes it an excellent tool for unusual formations of piercings as of course any number may be placed.

“THIRD EYE” MICRODERMAL PLACEMENTS;
LEFT: IAM:PUREANGEL BY BRIAN DECKER, RIGHT: BY JOHN DURANTE (IAM:JAWN D)

Since their introduction as a prototype by Custom Steel at APP 2006, microdermals have been explosively popular with most users becoming convinced that these could be the next big thing in piercing, and arguably the first “new” idea in some time. That said, the technology has been around in other forms since the mid-nineties — Steve Haworth went through several designs of transdermal implant which heavily influenced their design, as did the single point pocketings first promoted by Jon Cobb, as well as dermal anchors (gallery) and other DIY-anchor techniques. In addition, surface bars, and especially the later punch-and-taper (or punch-and-elevate) procedures, involved related techniques and healing, which influenced the design and development of microdermals.

Since they’ve been growing in popularity now for a solid six months, I feel somewhat tardy waiting this long to talk on the public record with artists performing microdermals, but the good side of that is that now enough time has passed that people can reflect on healing and the ongoing development of microdermals and related procedures. Let me begin by introducing the people I talked to (in no particular order), a small cross-section of the piercers and jewellers performing this procedure and making these devices. Ask around to find more!

BASIC MICRODERMAL DESIGN — A SMALL BONE PLATE WITH HOLES FOR TISSUE INGROWTH, AND A THREADED POST FOR THE ATTACHMENT OF DECORATIVE ENDS.

Oh, and just so there’s no confusion — these interviews were conducted separately, so don’t read anything into any implied interactions between them!

	Bryan Thomas Mojo Studios, Peoria, IL iam:cellfire	Didier Suarez Enigma Professional Piercing, San Diego, CA iam:DidierS
	John Joyce Scarab Body Arts, Syracuse, NY iam:j_scarab	Steve “Travelling” iam:micro-wave
	James “Wizzer” Wisniewski Hollywood, CA iam:Wizzer	Brian Decker Pure Body Arts, Brooklyn, NY iam:xPUREx
	Pat Pruitt Custom Steel Body Jewelry iam:[email protected]	JLo (John Lopez) Slave to the Needle, Seattle, WA iam:JLo
	IME Integrity Body Jewelry iam:IME	Shannon Larratt BME iam:glider

How would you describe what a microdermal is?

BRIAN

The idea is to give the aesthetic look of a transdermal implant but with the simplicity and safety of a piercing.

DIDIER

A microdermal is a single-point surface piercing with a threaded changeable end.

JLO

I don’t call them “microdermals”. I called them single-point-piercings until Industrial Strength introduced their surface anchors — I like that name. Eight or nine years ago I tried something like them, using 14g fishtail labret jewelry — which was a horrible disaster. Maybe a year and a half ago I saw somebody on IAM was using nostril screws and having some success. I tried some myself with not so good results — the results were 50/50 at best.

PAT	Sorry to say, but bending up nostril screws to be used as anchors is super-ultra ghetto if you ask me, and being a part of this industry, I hated to see something misused like that. There is enough talent in this industry to have stuff like this professionally made — hence the new microdermal.

JLO

A fellow piercer at Slave to the Needle, David, and I started drawing pictures and debating design ideas to create something similar to the transdermals in David’s scalp but much smaller. We wanted something that required standard piercing tools only — no surgical tools. Something any seasoned professional piercer should be able to do. Strangely enough, I got the call from Pat at Custom Steel that very week.

MICRODERMAL JEWELRY; LEFT: IME’S PROTOTYPES, RIGHT: IS SURFACE ANCHORS (ALMOST IDENTICAL TO CUSTOM STEEL MICRODERMALS), INSET: ANCHOR BY BRIAN DECKER

PAT

I started playing around with the idea about a year ago after seeing the dermal anchors being installed. I thought that piece of jewelry really sucked ass for that particular application (it was more or less a bent up nostril screw). I gave it a lot of thought before sending a CAD drawing to John Lopez to check out (because of his experience with dermal anchoring) and Phish (because of his experience with implants) to get some initial feedback in February of this year.

JOHN

When I first saw the dermal anchors, I knew they were a bad idea… but I thought it had potential. A few practitioners started doing variations of the “dermal anchor” with bent nostril screws, but I still wasn’t sold. The first true microdermals I heard of were Pat from Custom Steel’s pieces at APP 2006, machined out of solid titanium. This new design made far more sense to me. It had borrowed from transdermal design. It had little holes in the base that the skin could anchor in, but was small enough that it could be inserted easily, without the need for a scalpel, sutures, or elevators. JD from Industrial Strength had designed a very similar version, and offered me samples — I was amazed at how small they were. It was mind blowing! They came with a healing nub, very similar to transdermals, but any 14 gauge bead could screw onto them.

JLO

A few months after I talked to Pat, I was invited to visit JD at Industrial Strength. He flew me out to California and took me on a tour of his manufacturing facilities and showed me his version of the very same idea. He was calling them “surface anchors”. This is a great name because it doesn’t sound quite so “medical”. JD gave me a bunch to try out and I instantly knew these things were going to get big… and I still think they will.

PAT

Noah Babcock from Evolution Body Piercing in Albuquerque, who I would consider a master at surface piercing, guided me through potential installation procedures with such a small device, staying in the realm of common piercing instruments. The goal was to produce an implantable fixture, that could have interchangeable ends, that could be installed with no medical tools, but only common tools found in any shop — so no scalpels or punches… just piercing needles and tapers. The first prototype run debuted at APP 2006 and went out to a handful of clients on the down-low… they’re healing very nicely with no issues.

TYPICAL MICRODERMAL INSERTION — 1. ENTRY/EXIT POINT IS MADE USING A NEEDLE OR DERMAL PUNCH; 2. MICRODERMAL JEWELRY IS INSERTED INTO THIS HOLE AND USED TO ELEVATE A POCKET AS NEEDED; 3. JEWELERY IS SETTLED INTO PLACE.

BRYAN

After I saw pictures on Pat’s page I thought they were neat, and I tried one on myself.

STEVE

I started hearing about them this summer when several of my friends began talking about them and I got messages from manufacturers advertising them. At first I had a lot of fears and apprehensions regarding them, but my friends kept telling me of their successes with them. After I kept hearing positive things about microdermals, I did my first in August on a good friend of mine, a ‘third eye’ placement.

BRIAN

I actually began doing something similar about a year ago, but with a different design of jewelry that spiralled into the entrance. The piece had a central base point rather than the more common design which anchors itself mostly only on one side of the base. The idea, for me, came about quite a while ago, when I was searching for a more cost effective way of making transdermal implant pieces. The first one I did was, and still is, in the wrist of iam:Peck.

WIZZER

I also started working with the microdermal concept using hand-bent jewelry. I started using the microdermals produced by Industrial Strength a few months back and I am now working with prototypes made by IME of Integrity Body Jewelry. Overall, I’ve done over a hundred of these, every one being successful in both procedure and healing!

IME

I did a few with nostril screws in 1999, but ever since Pat from Custom Steel came out with them at APP this year I have had a ton of people asking me to come up with a design of my own. I have been prototyping them for a few months in my spare time and started doing them on friends, to make sure the design is stable.

MICRODERMAL PROCEDURE BY KEITH ROMAN (KYKLOP TATTOO, PITTSBURGH PA)

Does anyone specific deserve credit for developing the microdermal?

PAT	I think I can solidly hold claim to the latest design of the microdermal, hell, I even coined the term “microdermal”.

STEVE

I agree.

BRIAN

Yes, the pieces I make are based on Pat’s design. They’re much easier to insert than my older idea.

JLO	I think Pat and JD both were working on them at the same time, and IME at Integrity has come up with a variation that just might provide some specific solutions. I know that many piercers have been working on the idea for well over ten years.

WIZZER

I’m sure the idea of single-point microdermals or dermal anchors have been used by many people in shops never heard of, so I can’t give credit to anyone specific.

DIDIER

It seems the design was no more than a small bone plate with a 3/32” barbell post placed to one side. After the first prototype was made and we all started testing the prototypes, we’ve had three or four changes in the anchor since the beginning.

Why use a microdermal instead of a surface piercing, a transdermal, or even an older method like a dermal anchor (or single-point pocketing)?

BRYAN

Movement barely affects microdermals. Time will prove that statement, but I’ve seen microdermals be successful in places where surface bars would fail. The really great thing is the procedure — because they’re so tiny, there’s no need for an incision or sutures — it’s just a 14 gauge needle!

JLO

I’m not sure what the difference is between “microdermals” and “dermal anchors”. I’ll refer to the 14ga single-point jewelry as anchors from this point on. The main advantage of anchors over transdermal implants is they’re frickin’ tiny! The fact that a needle and a pair of hemostats are the only tools needed rocks! Anchors can be used to create odd number patterns that weren’t possible with surface piercings — they can be placed nearly anywhere you want. And of course, we can now “bedazzel” tattoos! Weeee!

JOHN	Microdermals should replace older methods like dermal anchors all together. I think there are some instances where a microdermal can replace a transdermal, but not in every instance.

BRIAN

A microdermal seems to be more stable in areas of movement than a surface bar is because of the reduce pressures, but I believe transdermal implants are a more permanent, sturdy, and stable procedure, mainly due to their size and centred bases, and less likely to tear or reject.

JOHN	I’m far more comfortable offering the microdermal to my clients, since it can be done without the surgical aspects that a transdermal requires, making it safer for myself and the client. A microdermal far easier to remove, with less scarring involved.

PAT

It’s a transdermal on a much smaller scale, but in comparison to the dermal anchor they’re one and the same — just a different base design with the interchangeability of decorative ends. I’m sure there will still be a place for surface piercings on some individuals, but with the microdermal, it opens up the door for precision placement, less trauma, faster healing time, and almost zero migration issues. Compare that with the issues involved with surface piercings! I do believe this will replace surface piercings.

WIZZER

These microdermals will be giving surface piercings a good run for their money, but won’t replace them. It definitely opens many new placement opportunities, and healing times are drastically shorter, and longevity better, than with surface work from what I’ve seen. I’ve also been using these in replacement of standard navel piercings on clients who have a “true” or “outie” navels! Another use for these are lip or labret piercings, making the concern about tooth damage and gum erosion a thing of the past.

DIDIER

I’ve also done them for labrets, cheeks, and other oral piercings for prevention of gum recession, and they work great.

WIZZER

While working with these for the past six months, their popularity has been increasing rapidly. People who have no interest in piercing whatsoever seem to love the idea of having some “bling” off to the corner of one eye. A new door has definitely been opened.

DIDIER

Because microdermals are independent, it allows the skin to move, pull, and stretch freely. You still have to pay attention to the bodies folds and creases, but the free movement allows the body to heal with less scarring. Coming from the perspective of a service that could be offered to clients in a regular walk-in studio, I think it’s a less invasive modification than transdermals, and can offer some of the same desired looks.

JOHN

I kind of rate these new microdermals right along with surface piercings, but, to be honest, these microdermals in many instances are actually easier to do that some surface piercings. That said, most piercers don’t fully understand how surface piercings work, and most aren’t using the correct jewelry or placing them properly. I’m sure that many piercers won’t get how these new microdermals work. I only wish that practitioners that didn’t understand would ask someone who does, instead of trying to figure it out on their own by using clients as guinea pigs.

“FRANKENSTEIN” MICRODERMALS BY WIZZER

Do you consider it an implant or a piercing?

BRYAN

It’s easier to get done than a “normal” implant, since it doesn’t require minor surgery, but you are still putting something under the skin that may require some effort to get out. So it’s still an implant.

PAT	You’re using piercing-only techniques to install an implant — so it’s a hybrid.

BRIAN

Once healed into place, for removal the microdermal will need to be cut out. It still won’t be as difficult to remove as a transdermal, but the client most likely will have a very difficult time trying to remove them alone.

DIDIER

The tissue through the holes isn’t as strong as most would believe.

JLO	I think it’s a piercing. Definitely. In fact, I charge the same for an anchor as I do for a nostril piercing!

STEVE

It lies in the middle. Being that they can be inserted via traditional piercing techniques, they’re very accessible to artists who feel comfortable with doing piercings but not doing implants.

JOHN

It’s definitely closer to a piercing. One thing I love about these so much is they can be done with a piercing needle. In areas with strict regulations, where implants, or the use of scalpels, are prohibited, microdermals should be fine since the only thing you need to install them is a piercing needle.

DIDIER

I think it’s a piercing all the way.The anchor is like a one sided flat surface bar.

IME	It’s closer to a piercing in my opinion.

Do you mind describing the procedure you use to install them?

JLO	I pierce the skin using a 12 gauge needle, in a similar way to how I do surface piercings, but the needle only goes in the depth of the bevel and then comes right back out. Then I use a modified pair of hemostats to hold the anchor (with a mini disk screwed in), and do the insertion.

DIDIER

I’ve done over a hundred with needles. I used a 10 gauge at first, which I suggest for beginners, but I’m going between 12 gauge and 11 gauge right now. Some parts of the body require a small needle because of the thickness of the tissue.

BRIAN

I install microdermal pieces into pockets, fully in the subcutaneous layer of skin, through a 1.5mm punched hole. After punching out the entrance point, I use a small 2mm wide flattened elevating tool to make a pocket for the main, longer part of the microdermal piece. I turn the tool around and make a second, smaller pocket for the “heel” of the piece. With the jewelry threaded onto a 2mm taper, I insert the long section of the base into the larger pocket and push in and downward until the punched hole is stretched enough for the “heel” to snap down into place. Last, I unscrew the taper and thread on the chosen end piece to the base. Generally, the pieces I use have 3mm tall lifts, and are about 5 or 6mm long.

STEVE

My procedure was taught to me by Leo Ziebol of 5 Point Studios (iam:5point). To make the channel, I use a 1.5mm biopsy punch with a small silicon o-ring on it to control depth. I attach the microdermal to a threaded taper and slide the ‘foot’ of it under the tissue, using the ‘foot’ to elevate the skin and find a good area for the base to lie. The ones I’ve used have a smaller end on the other side of the base, and I massage and manipulate the skin to place this end at the same depth as the other side of the base. After making sure it is sitting well, I remove the taper and attach the end [bead] on top, lightly massaging the tissue afterwards to ensure it all sits properly.

IME	I use a needle. The microdermals that I have been making match the crescent shape a needle makes.

JOHN

I tried a couple with a 10 gauge needle. Everything went fine, but I found I like a 1.5mm dermal punch better since it is very similar to how I do surface piercings (using the “punch-and-taper method”). What I do first is clean the area with Technicare, and then mark where it is going to be. I pinch up the skin where the mark is, and insert the 1.5mm dermal punch straight down into the skin. Once that hole is there, there is no need to use a taper to elevate the skin like you would with a surface piercing — you can just use the leg of the microdermal to separate the tissue for itself. Using a pair of hemostats, I hold the microdermal by the healing nub, and place the long leg of the piece into the hole, lean it back, and pop the short leg into place. The whole procedure is very fast; faster than a surface piercing.

WIZZER

I use a 1.5mm dermal punch to create the initial hole for the base to be inserted through. I found that I get a better, more flush seating with the jewelry under the tissue using this method, as opposed to using a larger gauge needle. For easier insertion and better control, I use threaded tapers as a handle which screw into the base. Then it’s a simple pinch and push to seat the jewelry in the hole. The threaded taper then unscrews, and the desired threaded end is put in place. I only finger tighten my ends to prevent the base from rotating under the tissue when the ends are changed.

LEFT: BAT EYES TATTOO DECORATION BY KEYLAN LEVINE (IAM:XKEYX), RIGHT: TWO WEEK OLD CLEAVAGE ANCHOR BY DIDIER

How is the procedure from the client’s point of view? Is it something people want anaesthetics for, or is it no more traumatic than a piercing?

BRYAN

It’s on the same level as a surface piercing. Anaesthetics aren’t really necessary for doing them.

JLO	In certain parts of the body it can hurt quite a bit, but in other areas it’s just stupid-easy. Thicker skin such as the lower back creates a much more intense sensation, and thinner skin with a lot of elasticity such as the forehead or throat is easier.

DIDIER

I think the procedure is the easier than most piercings, if done right. Sometimes it can take a minute to make sure the anchor is sitting flat, but better then than later.

BRIAN

Anaesthetics are never necessary for installing microdermal pieces. The entrance punching is usually the most painful part of the procedure, and is very minimal. It takes less time to put in than a punch and elevated surface bar, and is even less intense than that. Installing a microdermal piece usually takes under a minute.

STEVE

The friends I’ve installed them on so far say it is a very light procedure — they have been quick, clean, and easy.

JOHN	Anaesthetics aren’t necessary at all. As I said earlier, it’s basically the same technique I’ve been using for surface piercings. The clients that I have done the procedure on have all said it was one of the easier procedures they have been through.

Have you done many?

BRYAN

Just the one on me.

JLO	Well over forty now I’m sure.

DIDIER

I’ve had the advantage of working with Industrial Strength from the first prototype. So, like I said before, I’ve done over a hundred, and I have a few projects that required multiple anchors.

STEVE

I have only done four — a ‘third eye’, and a set of three on a sternum. So far the third eye has healed without any incident, and the sternums, which at first were bothered by the person’s activities combined with the ends, are now doing well.

JOHN	At this point I’ve done a bit over a dozen of them, and have a few more lined up. All the ones I’ve done so far are still in, and have healed, or are healing fine. I’ve only removed one so far. That wasn’t due to any healing or irritation problems — the person needed it removed for her job.

BRIAN

I’ve done quite a few now, yes. They are growing more known and are a more stable option for a lot of areas than surface bars — but I only suggest them for clients who know they will not be as easy to remove as a surface bar.

How have they been healing, and what is your recommended aftercare?

BRYAN

Mine is about a month and a half old, and healing has been very, very easy. I’ve gotten a little crust out of it and that’s about it. I used the LITFA method along with H2Ocean five or six times — I’m really lazy when it comes to aftercare. So far, things are going well, and it’s been one of the easiest things to heal ever… much easier than a surface piercing.

JLO

Healing seems to be fairly consistent from person to person, and body part to body part. I’ve noticed that it takes longer than I suspected — about three months. At about six to eight weeks they often become quite “juicy” and a bit angry. Then within a couple weeks they settle back down and finish healing. I only suggest warm, moist compresses when they itch, swell, or otherwise need attention. Otherwise I suggest completely ignoring them.

STEVE

The aftercare I’ve suggested has been the same I suggest for a standard piercing — keeping the piece safe, free from stress, free from irritants, clean, dry, and just generally giving your body a good environment to heal in. The healing processes have been uneventful and comfortable for the wearers.

BRIAN

Thus far I don’t know of anyone that’s had problems with my microdermal pieces. Even in the center of iam:amnesiac’s lip, it appeared healed in only a week or so. The only real problem I had with one was Steve Truitt’s nape — the piece I was using from Industrial Strength only had a 2mm rise, and the tissue in his nape was much thicker. We only had a disk end piece at the time, which made for a much too tight fit. The aftercare that I suggest is no different than with a surface bar — dry heat compresses and sterile saline washes is all I have my clients do for healing.

DIDIER

I’d have to say 98% success in healed healthy anchors. I’m suggesting cool saline pads for the first day or two, and after that I’m having my clients do warm compresses with saline. I’m asking that they not change the end for two or three months.

Wow, 98%? You think you’ll really get 98% success in the long run?

DIDIER

Time will tell. I think certain placements will do better long term.

IME	So far complete success. I recommend taping it for the first few days, keeping it dry, and leaving it alone — but I am a “leave it alone” kind of guy.

JOHN

Healing success so far has been great, and no problems have been reported. I’ve basically been telling people to leave them alone — keep all soaps, lotions, and everything else away from them. I do like the Simple Care Spray from Body Art Pro. The client can just spray it on once or twice a day — that way they feel like they are cleaning it, so I don’t have to worry about them trying something else that may irritate it!

WIZZER

My suggested aftercare for these is the same as any piercing I do: an inverted cup of warm saline solution, held to the piercing for five minutes, twice daily, followed by the area either air drying or being pat dried with a disposable, lint-free paper towel product or gauze. I usually dress the microdermals with a Tegaderm bandage after the procedure and provide two extra pieces for the clients to apply before sleep for the following two nights.

PROCEDURE ON IAM:CURSETHISMETALBODY BY IAM:MUTE-ONE

How robust are they? Do they hold up well to sleeping on them, impacts, bead changes, and stuff like that?

STEVE

Their relatively small size compared to transdermals, and some surface piercings, caused me to worry initially about how they would hold up to impacts and stress. So far, the wearers haven’t encountered any large amounts of stress on them, and I haven’t heard of it being a problem from my friends who install them. The bead changes I’ve done have been very simple and caused no irritation.

BRYAN

I’ve only snagged mine on clothes a few times, and it’s still in there! You need to be really gentle when changing the ends on them — it feels like you are going to pull it out. I’ve seen a few pictures of people who pulled them out while changing the ends on them.

JLO

Obviously, the longer they are healed, the more they can handle. After the body really grabs them they are quite resilient, but since they are so small, a good snag has the potential to rip them right out. One of my customers had to change her bedding completely because of the lace that constantly found a way to wrap around the disk! The ones I have on my temples get banged and pulled daily by my one year old daughter. I’ve had them for about five months and I don’t even pay attention anymore. No pain, and no problems at all.

BRIAN

I don’t think microdermals, with the most recent jewelry designs, have been around long enough to know. I’ve done end changes with no problems, but as far as impact resistance, I still think a transdermal implant will be more stable — but a surface bar less.

JOHN

For how small the are, they are very robust. I’ve done a couple on wrists, which are notorious for giving surface piercings problems… yet these microdermals seem to be holding up fine. The initial healing nub can get knocked around a bit, especially while sleeping, but it doesn’t seem to cause long term damage like it does for many piercings.

LEFT: LOWER NAVEL BY BRIAN DECKER, RIGHT: CLEAVAGE BY WIZZER

How did you learn to do them?

DIDIER

I started with myself, and other piercers and counter staff. After a few months I contacted most of my regular clients and offered the service in exchange for information on the anchors.

STEVE

I took the time to think about the procedure, and talked to a couple friends who had done them before attempting one. Leo Ziebol told me his procedure and I adopted it.

JLO	I have great guinea pigs working the counter at Slave to the Needle — these people let me do anything to them if it’s free. LOL.

JOHN

I talked with a few practitioners that had already installed them. I found out what methods they were using, and what drawbacks they had come across from them. I had a lengthy talk with Tom Brazda about them at APP 2006, before I even knew they would be so readily available. After talking to so many practitioners that I respect and getting their input, and since I had been using the punch and taper method for so long, I was confident in my ability installing these pieces.

BRYAN

Just common sense and asking other piercers some questions.

BRIAN

Yes, nothing more than common sense and second nature, I think. I’ve been doing implants and punch and elevate surface style piercing long enough that it just made complete sense right away.

Are any skills on top of “good piercer” required to install a microdermal?

DIDIER

I think most skills can be applied from piercing. In my experience, the motion of the needle is like a “dip” when doing a surface piercing. The finger position is a little different, but varies depending on how difficult it is to pinch the tissue.

BRIAN

With the method of insertion I use, a good understanding of measuring and feeling for tissue depth is important. Otherwise the piece may not sit fully in the subcutaneous layer, and may pull an end piece down under the skin if placed too deeply, or facilitate rejection if done too shallowly. Anyone who understands punch and elevate surface technique should have no problem with these.

JLO	Being able to read the grain of the skin and visualizing the jewelry in the tissue helps a lot.

STEVE

I think any artist that devotes an appropriate amount time and effort into researching microdermals is capable of doing them. This means someone who knows how to install them with minimal trauma, what qualifies as appropriate placement and use, a good base of knowledge and experience regarding aftercare, a sense of preparation in case something goes wrong during the procedure or during healing, knowledge on their removal, knowledge on sterile procedures and cross-contamination, care for the wearer, and good intentions.

JOHN

Being a good piercer is a start. Having some experience in elevating the skin for surface piercings would help — that can be from punch and elevate or from pierce and elevate methods. Knowing how the skin elevates and separates makes it easier to grasp installing these. Confidence in yourself is important, but without arrogance — knowing when you’re not ready, and having the morals, ethics, and responsibility to admit it is important, and unfortunately that is something a lot of people in our industry don’t seem to understand.

IME	I found it to be really simple.

PAT	Here’s the scary part — with the finesse of the design, you don’t even have to be a good piercer to install these!

LEFT: TWO WEEKS OLD BY KEYLAN LEVINE (IAM:XKEYX), RIGHT: BY JOHN JOYCE

What advice would you have to other piercers who would like to start doing this procedure?

BRYAN

After some research, practise on yourself first — or at least on a really trusting friend.

PAT

Like with everything watch, learn, and do research here on BME… or practise on friends and family. These are so simple to install — it’s pretty amazing. But I’m not gonna be offering the jewelry to just anyone. Due to the number of hacks out there that are willing to do anything to make a buck, I’m keeping my clientele to a very short list.

JLO

They’re easy enough. All you need to do is do them in your mind first. The not-so-obvious problems seem to show themselves that way. Then be ready to improvise when you actually attempt them. If they don’t sit right, don’t be afraid to remove them the next day and massage the skin and immediately reinsert them. Play with them a little and you’ll find a technique that works for you. Sky Renfro (from propiercing.com) is working on setting up a class too! That’ll be so awesome to experience other piercers’ techniques as well!

DIDIER

I would suggest video taping what you are doing, and taking your time. Do a dozen in four months — not in four days. Watch your video and learn from your successes, as well as your failures. And if you take your time, your success rate will be higher.

BRIAN

Even if piercers are seasoned and have no problems with getting the pieces into the skin, they should limit them to clients who understand they will be difficult, and most likely painful, to remove.

STEVE

There are lots of very talented and friendly artists doing these procedures — talk to them and make sure you feel comfortable with every step of the procedure before attempting it. Understand everything from the purchasing of the jewelry, proper sterilization and installation, and long-term aftercare, and its possible removal.

JOHN

Ask for help. Ask someone you respect that you know has done these — find out how they did it. If you live near someone doing them, ask to watch them do one. Hell, ask them to do one on you! Then you get a firsthand experience of how they are done, and how they heal. This is all knowledge you can share with your clients.

PAT

The long-term degree of adherence of the microdermal to the underlying tissue is still unknown… Noah has the longest running microdermal of mine to date at six months. I have a feeling with the microdermal being implant grade titanium, these may have to be cut out and away from the tissue that bonds to the titanium. People should consider them permanent as long as healing and removal information on fully healed microdermals — one year plus — remains unknown.

IME	Look around as see what other people are doing. This is a newer item and a lot of people are doing different things — try and check them all out.

What advice would you have to clients looking to have one of these done that isn’t already a friend or regular of a piercer doing them?

DIDIER

If your regular piercer can’t do the procedure, ask for a referral. Do your homework — like for any other piercing.

STEVE

Make sure you feel safe and informed on the procedure. Also, these particular pieces are new inventions in our industry and we are still learning about them — keep that in mind.

JOHN	While they seem to be working our really well, their success can’t be guaranteed. Along the same lines though, no piercing can really be guaranteed…

JLO	Until anchors have been around for four or five years I think we must think of them as being in a trial phase.

BRYAN

I probably wouldn’t do one on a client — maybe on another piercer who knew the risks and such, but these things are still too new for me to be doing them on customers. Besides, removal will require some cuts…

BRIAN

Clients need to know these pieces are borderline permanent, with respect to ease of removal.

JOHN

Research it, and research the artist doing it — research everything. Make sure you want it and consider it a permanent choice. I know these aren’t as “permanent” as transdermals, but they are more permanent than your standard piercing. Even if the microdermal isn’t permanent, any scars left behind from it (or any piercing) can be.

LEFT: TEMPLE BY KEYLAN LEVINE (IAM:XKEYX), RIGHT: SELF DONE BY BRYAN

Does the design of the microdermal still need refinement, or do you consider the current design “mature”?

JOHN	It’s still new and in its testing phase as far as I’m concerned.

PAT	My original design had a lot of time and thought into it. Aside from the variables (number of holes and post length) there isn’t much room to improve upon. That said, I am working on some finer points to the microdermal that I’ll discuss and debut at a later date.

DIDIER

I can’t see what I would do different with the design. Anything to make the anchor less likely to reject or pull out would make it more difficult to insert or remove — I’ve been told that Industrial Strength is also working on different variations of the anchors.

STEVE

I’ve only had experience with one model of microdermal, and I thought it was very appropriate for its usage — but I won’t be surprised if we see better models out as the popularity of this jewelry rises.

BRIAN

For ease of insertion, I can’t think of a shape that would work better right now, but perhaps a design that doesn’t have permanent anchoring of skin through the jewelry would be a good idea. If the main section of the base looked more like a tuning fork with two “legs” rather than holes, the piece would still be able to anchor as scar tissue would build up in the gap, but removal would be much simpler.

WIZZER

I feel the Industrial Strength microdermals work really well — the only issue I have is the removal. With the healed microdermals, a small incision is needed to lift the “heel” of the jewelry out of the tissue. I’ve been using #11 scalpel to make this relief cut, but I’ve also heard of some practitioners using the side of a piercing needle. The other problem with the Industrial Strength microdermals is the rise on the base — all of which come in 3/32”, which I found a bit long for facial work.

JOHN	I’d like to be able to get the rise in a slightly longer length. I think in some areas an 1/8” rise is a better choice — being able to choose between the two would be great.

WIZZER

The prototypes I’m using now (made by IME of Integrity Body Jewelry) are available with as small as 3/64” rises, and in sizes ranging from 14 gauge to 10 gauge which work really well. This design also eliminates that “heel” which is found on the Industrial Strength microdermals and provides for a smoother insertion with a less invasive removal if removal is needed.

IME	I personally think that there is very little in the world that couldn’t use some refinement. Microdermals are no exception — just about everything can be improved on.

JLO	I am very happy with the Industrial Strength design — it’s certainly working well. I think Integrity’s design will probably work better in certain areas. IME is prototyping them, so we’ll have to wait and see.

LEFT: FOOT BY DIDIER, RIGHT: FINGERS BY KEYLAN LEVINE (IAM:XKEYX)

Do you think this has the potential to become a common or popular procedure?

JLO	Oh yes, I foresee them being as popular as nostril piercings at least.

BRYAN

They look awesome — I can see them being very popular! But I don’t feel that piercers should offer them to every customer that walks in the door — I don’t think the average customer is ready for something like this.

DIDIER

We’ve been trying to take our time working with these to assure they will be safe and effective for our industry. Things are just going so well with these that I see them being mainstream — even more than the surface bar. I see it staying as part of our list of standard procedures.

IME

I think so, for sure. It looks good on paper so far, but, it is a new thing — it’s going to take some time to see if they hold up. Personally I am very sceptical-slash-excited — as a piercer I’m just always making sure that what I’m doing is 100%, and a large part of that is the longevity of the end result.

STEVE

Microdermals definitely have the potential to become a popular procedure. I see more and more every day, but as their popularity rises I do fear low quality companies will start manufacturing shoddy representations of them without considerations for their usage. This has happened with virtually every type of jewelry so far, so I cannot imagine microdermals being exempt from it. Hand in hand, as they become more popular there will be a demand for low-cost procedures that might contribute to inexperienced — or uncaring — artists attempting them. Again, this has been true with virtually every new procedure we’ve seen. It seems inevitable, so I would urge everyone to make sure they feel comfortable and informed before allowing an artist to work on them — as you should with any procedure.

PAT

Yes, as you can clearly see, it will be popular. A week and a half from its debut at APP to a handful of people, Industrial Strength knocked off my design purely for the money and profit involved — they made insignificant changes, but, still, it was based on my original design. I was trying to test these out in a controlled fashion, put several out, get feedback, refine the design, do another test, and see if there are any issues with healing… But then Industrial Strength took this and ran straight into production, offering them to the masses, with no research, no development, and no testing. Because of this, several piercers are installing microdermals on a daily basis, making them commonplace, just like navel piercings. I guess time will tell on this. …but, yes, these will be the “next big thing,” if they already aren’t already.

JOHN	Commonplace, yeah, sure… popular, eh, I don’t know… It’s not going to be the next navel or nostril, but it may be the next surface piercing!

Anything else you’d like to add?

DIDIER

This is the first new anything to come along for piercing in a long while. More information will be available soon. I’ve been ask to sit on a panel on Anchoring for APP 2007, and look for a class through Professional Piercing Systems as well.

JOHN	I just want to thank Pat and JD for pushing boundaries and working on this design.

IME

Pat Pruitt of Custom Steel was the first person to start making these things and I feel that he has received very little credit this year. We as a community of jewelry makers in my opinion come up with all kinds of different things to make, and rarely do we get things like patents, seemingly leaving it to the “goodwill” of the rest of the community to not steal our designs — or start making something that is so similar to the original design that it looks like nothing but theft.

PAT

Aside from my personal soreness with a Custom Steel original being knocked off in record time, I think a word of warning should be sent out. That would be the long term applications of installing microdermals. Let’s not fool ourselves… this is an implant!!! This is not a piece of jewelry. I feel that removal down the road is still an unknown, and with the ease of insertion any Joe Hack piercer can install these… but removal on the other hand will require some skill.

Shannon Larratt
BME.com