My friend Buddy Williams who pierces at Ancient Ink Tattoos & Piercings in Antelope, CA (you may remember him from the microdermals he’s been doing on an older woman) told me an interesting story about a client who came to him for help recently. A guy came in and asked if they removed genital beads, and Buddy said yes. When he was setting up and asked the client to show him the bead, he saw what looked like it must have been at least four beads collected in a single spot — genital beads can be especially prone to migration. Buddy asked him where he’d gotten it done, and got the simple answer, “prison”.

Two years earlier while incarcerated, his cellmate had used a sharpened toothbrush to penetrate and create a pocket in his penis (hey, it’s better than using it as a shiv to stab someone) and implant a large plastic bead. The bead, about 1/2″ in diameter, had been obtained by cutting open a spray paint can — I’m sure you’ve heard the ball rattling around when you shake the can. He wanted it removed because it was starting to become quite painful. It took Buddy about five minutes to get it out (that’s it in the autoclave bag) because of how much scar tissue was around the bead. The body seemed to be both trying to encapsulate the bead and push it out as well, as it must not have been entirely biocompatible — it’s unknown what type of plastic it was, but it had a very grainy surface (which may have been in part from starting to break down), to say nothing of paint residue that may have been on it at the time of implantation.

The bead was also surrounded by a large amount of pus, so it’s definitely a good thing that it was removed. Strange, who’d have thought that prison was not the most ideal place for genital mods… I guess those behind bars should stick to eyeball tattoos.