The fact is that sometimes procedures go bad and have to be reversed… Transdermal “implants” (I put it in quotes because they’re not quite implants; more like really intense pocketings) are one of those procedures that seems to be more problematic than most. Here’s an example where four transdermal implants sunk in and completely grew over. My friend Howie (aka Luna Cobra) — who emphasizes that he did not install them — took them out.
Note to self: Update BME/Risks.
I wanted to share with you some of the nicer heart-and-love-themed tattoos I’ve gotten recently. For a lot of people tattoos are a way of wearing their heart on their sleeve quite literally, a way of externalizing and sharing the way they feel with the world. Some people write poetry, some people get tattooed, and I suppose in a lot of ways many people’s tattoos are poetry.
Let me start with Selena‘s wonderful little “two sparrows pinning a patchwork heart”. It’s not quite finished yet, but what you see so far is by Joey Wallace at Karmic Tattoo in McDonough, GA.
I get a lot of anatomical heart diagrams indicating where various emotions and other concepts lie. This one for example is on Jen by Anji at HPP Ink in Eugene, Oregon. I assume those are transdermals by the way (but someone correct me if I’m wrong and it’s a surface bar):
Here’s another one by Rod Graybill at Dexterity Tattoo in Lancaster, PA on IAM:she rarely flies. The heart tattoo gallery I mentioned earlier contains quite a few other variations if I recall correctly.
This next one is on IAM:girl-23 who lives in Canada but is doing the long distance relationship thing with her boyfriend in Florida… That’s never easy, and she got this postcard tattoo done by Scooter at Atomic Tattoos in Lakeland, FL while visiting him this past December.
I’ve seen Link and Zelda couples (and siblings) tattoos before, and they’re always so sweet and nerdy. This pair was done by Billy at Temptation Tattoo in Denver, CO.
Finally, a heart that’s maybe not doing quite so well. IAM:LustKill had this tortured heart done by Dan Craft at Jersey Devil in Blackwood, NJ.
As always, please don’t copy any of these designs, and I hope you’ll take the time to email me your tattoo (high res pictures please) for BME at [email protected] — don’t forget to be sure to tell me the artist credit and anything else I need to know.
Thanks to my friend SilverSweets in Singapore for this “matching mods” photo of a series of forearm implants and a cutting (lots more great shots on her page):
Earlier today I was looking at some fancy-pants Rhinestone brass knuckles on boingboing. If people think that’s cool, check out Krissy’s implanted silicone brass implants by Joe Amato in Florida. You may also remember Joe as one of the gonzo piercers who brought us eyelid piercing.
The procedure took a few hours (after which Krissy went back to work the same day) with most of the time being spent laying anchor stitches to reduce shifting. Healing was uneventful with some bruising and swelling for the first week. Mederma treatment is starting soon to minimize the insertion scar.
The last cover article posted to BME, Non-Medical Silicone Implants For Dummies v1.0, discusses the pros and cons of silicone, including some of the issues in its removal when things go wrong. I thought I ought to emphasize how serious removal is with a few gory photos — the more difficult a modification is to reverse, the more seriously it should be debated prior to getting it done!
With as many as 10% of people estimated to eventually remove their implant (and that number may well rise in the future), be prepared to go through a removal that, as with tattoos, can be more of an ordeal than getting it in the first place. Live for today but plan for tomorrow, right?
Steve Haworth has been playing with a piercing-style method for implanting genital beads with a reduced level of trauma. Normally either a larger gauge incision has to be made and/or a taper has to be used to stretch the holes up to the size of the bead to place it under the skin. Using his “squishy” silicone beads, he reduces the incision size required to place a 1/4″ bead down to 8ga.
The tools: A. a 1/4″ taper for comparison (this is what would normally be required to place the bead), B. a pusher rod which will later be used to push the bead into the skin, C. the bead reducer which will “inject” the bead, D. the 3/16 taper which leads the bead into the hole, and of course E. the silicone beads themselves.
First the bead is placed in the reducer and then compressed down into its tip, squeezing it from round to a nearly cylindrical narrow form.
The bead reducer is then attached to the 3/16 taper.
The taper and reducer assembly is pushed into the fresh piercing (made with an 8ga needle for a 1/4″ bead, or a 10ga needle for a 3/16″ bead) behind the needle, and then release the taper, leaving the reducer in place.
The pusher rod then pops the bead out of the reducer, leaving it under the skin and it expands to its normal 1/4″ form.
Steve is talking about offering instruction in this method at his advanced beading seminars, and may be selling the tools and beads on his eBay store in the future. The only problem that I can foresee from this method is that so far silicone has had an unusually high materials reaction (ie. allergic response) in comparison to titanium, steel, and teflon beads. This reaction is not supported by the scientific literature on the subject, so it’s yet to be determined why silicone from Steve has seen these complications.
As you probably know I have magnets inside my fingers, implanted courtesy of Steve Haworth (made by Jesse Jarrell and previously covered on BME). My magnets are mostly intended to be functional, to give me “magnetic vision“, but Steve and his partner Cookie recently opted for something far more romantic.
Each one got two magnet implants done; one in the fingertip, and the other behind the knuckle, positioned so that if they are holding hands, the magnets draw toward each other, linking them. It’s yet to be determined whether there will be a noticeable sensation or not (the magnets are very small), but on a purely symbolic level I really love it!
If you’re interested in something like this (or are an implant artist looking for silicone coated magnets), you can contact Steve via his website at stevehaworth.com.
I think by now most people have seen pictures of Jocyelyne Wildenstein, who used extreme cosmetic surgery to transform herself into a cat (sort of) in a failed attempt to win back the love of her billionaire husband. Well, last night Entertainment Tonight featured a new male champion of bizarre plastic surgery, Steve Erhardt, who has spent $250,000 to look more like a Ken Doll. He’s even the first recipient of bicep implants (well, not including Jesse Jarrell that is; he’s had custom muscle-wrapping implants for some time). Click the pictures below to skip to his story and see some video.
However, unlike Jocelyn who transformed herself to seek someone else’s approval, Steve claims that this is a personal decision and it’s making him happy — if that’s really the case (rather than an excuse), more power to him, and screw anyone who denounces him for these decisions.
And yes, he did go to the same doctor as Michael Jackson. Why do you ask?
