Off to go get severely wounded for fun!
 

I'm off today to go get my earlobes dermal punched!

A dermal punch is like a round needle with no bevel – think of it as a sharp, round, cookie-cutter for skin. The medical industry uses them to take biopsy samples, but piercers use them to make round piercings which remove an actual piece of skin.

http://www.bmeshop.com/images/zpunch.jpg

The one I'll be having used on me 6.5mm wide, or about a 2 gauge. They'll be taking a plug out a bit smaller than the diameter of a pencil. This will never, ever completely be able to heal closed. I'm putting in a pair of 0 gauge eyelets today until it heals.

http://www.steelnavel.com/images/19-TSFE_400.jpg

As soon as I get home late tonite I'll post pictures with some warnings on them, as it will be very, very bloody.

I can't wait! :thumbsup:

Hmmm... dermal punch. Isn't it less painful to just stretch the holes by using progressively smaller gage jewellry?

I think this is cool. Unless years from now it sags into a huge drooping hole.:)

Yes and no. Dermal punching puts significantly less stress on the skin as it actually takes a piece out rather than pressing against the skin tightly over and over for a period of months until you get it to the size you want. I have also already stretched my ears up to 2 gauge once, and due to work at the time had to remove them and the healed, leaving me with giant elephant earlobes! If I were to stretch them again I shudder to think that I might be able to fly if I hit a strong headwind.

As for the pain, I've been told its really not that bad. It is actually a surgical device, so its very sharp, it is supposed to feel like a papercut. Except for the blood. Every picture I've seen has had a ton of blood all down the neck, in the hair, and covering a t-shirt.

Why?

This doesn't look like the kind of hole that will heal up if you decide later you don't like it.

I had a friend who did this a few years ago... I of course, had the pleasure of watching. He said it didn't hurt... but look on his face when a freakin' chunk of his ear was being taken out told me differently. And yes, there was a lot of blood.

He decided a while ago he didn't like them anymore and took them out. Now his lobes look like they tried close... but instead they just shvriveled up and look kinda gross now. eep.

The hole won't ever heal up.

As for why, why not? Women have makeup, piercing and tattoos have been used for centuries to make people different. Gettting my body pierced, adorning it with ink, these things make me happy. I much prefer to be multi-colored rather than just plain. It makes me happy.

Obviously different strokes and all that, but I like to take the long view on these things.
I try not to judge people on 'opional' looks like tatoos or piercings.

I know what I thought was cool when I was 18 I didn't like when I was 25.

Likewise what I liked at 25 I don't like as much at 35.

Things which are removable are not an issue, but I am very reluctant to do something to myself that may seem like a good idea at the time but later I may regret.

I didn't know what I would be doing in life when I was 18-20, if I did something like this it would have some negative effects on me right now being I am a doctor and how I look is as important as what I know. It might not be fair or right that how you look is important in life, but its a fact that isn't changing anytime soon.

So perhaps for you this will just be a fun thing that won't change anything in the long run, but at least for me it would have been a disaster. (Try showing up for a interview to a orthoschool with a big hole in your ear, woulda been ugly)

Well, I have planned for it the right way. I went and talked to my boss about it, and its not a problem the big four letter computer company I work for down here doesn't have a problem with it at all. Most of the bog computer company's down here care more about your cert's than what you have in your ears. If they refused to hire anyone without piercings, they'd be pretty hard up.

I was amazed when I went to some interviews down here tho. 4 major software companys that I went to had front desk people with facial piercings. One of the girls actually had 16 that I could see including 3 lip rings, a labret, and a septum.

I love piercings. I have had plenty in my day...hehe.

I just don't like the idea of someone actually taking a chunk of my earlobe out. Plus, after getting the piercings that I have and taking most of them out... I realized how unimportant most were to me.

Tattoos will be next for me I'm sure. :)

That's not for me, all my holes are factory standard. But whatever floats your boat, man. Good luck.

I have so much respect for you by saying this. People ask me why I get tattoo's and piercings all the time, and that's exactly what I tell them. It's a preference of my own. A preference that makes ME happy.

Way to go Irishsean, right on bro.

I wanna see some pics! :thumbsup:

Personally, I like tattoos and piercings myself, but not a fan of this dermal punch

Yes, think what we would be missing if all the flowers were only 1 color.
:)

You're much braver than I am! My ears are 5/8 inch, which is quite a bit bigger than 2guage, but I stretched, and it was done over the span of a couple years, which is much longer than necessary for anyone who doesn't know.

Good for you man!

Well, I just got home, I left at about 3:00 this afternoon and got back at 1:00 am. When I got there, the jewelry I had picked out ended up being too short for my fat earlobes, so I had to go get another pair. The ones I found were bigger than I thought I would be getting today, but I was cool with 0 gauge. When I got back to the shop, I was kinda nervous as the dermal punch was rather large.
I had my best friend with me, and she was keeping me cool. I laid back and relaxed and she set about getting me ready. After about 5 minutes of preperation, she asked me if I was ready. I said yeah, and she put a stack of tongue depressors behind my ear under the dot to stop the blade as it came thru. Then with a quick turn, she spun the punch thru my ear. It felt aproximately like my mom grabbing ahold of my ear when I did something wrong as a kid, which was quite often, so i was used to it. I bled like a stuck pig. It didn't really hurt, but I wound up with blood on my shirt, all down my neck, in my hair, everywhere even thru the gauze she had put down. The other side went about the same, the only difference was my ear on the left side has a little wrinkle, so there was a little bit of skin still hanging on after the blade went thru. One quick slice of a scalpel and it was gone. The bleeding slowed after a bit, and the plugs went in, and fell out the other side. It seems my ears are very pliable, so I wound up with 00 gauge holes and 0 gauge plugs.
A quick trip to my favorite jewelry website and a little extra for overnight delivery and I'll have a new set of eyelets on friday! It seems I'm oozing blood again, so I'm gonna go clean it up and finally crash, but I'll keep this updated and should have pics up soon!

glad it went reasonably well!

cant wait to see the pics!

Damn capillaries! Too many of them in the ear lobe.

I commend you on your courage. I would pass out before they even got started. Can't wait to see the pictures.

Gah! The girl at the piercing shop that was in charge of the camera didn't actually take any pictures! I don't have any of the meat cutlets or anything! Grrrrr!

As soon as I get my new eyelets in the mail I'll get some pics of the holes up here at least.

Nooooo! I wanted to see some pics!

I'll get the pictures from my girlfriends up here, and some pictures of my holes when I pop the new ones in at least. So ticked, its a digital camera, it was on, its not that hard!

I applaud your bravery and dedication to self expression.

But "ooooooWW!"

Interesting and fun fact!

So I'm sitting here tonite in front of the computer eating some chinese food I'd just ordered. Hot and Sour soup and pork fried rice with big chunks of pork in it. I mixed it all up and sat here hunched over my keyboard eating it happily. My vegan roomate walked by just as I was eating a big chunk of pork and looked at me in disgust. "Hey Veggie-boy, I don't make fun of your food, let me eat my meaty goodness in peace! =P" I snarled good-naturedly. He looked at me oddly and walked away shaking his head. Cheered by my defeat of the evil prey animal, I scarfed down the rest of my dinner and took my bowl into the kitchen.

My roomate was sitting on the couch watching a movie. "Mmmm, yummy protein with the screamings of little animals in every bite!" I teased him as I walk by. We banter back and forth all the time and neither of us take it seriously. He looked up at me, smiled, and said "Did you realize your left ear is bleeding like crazy, running down your cheek to your chin, and dripping into your bowl the whole time you were eating it?" Aaaaah! I looked down at the bowl and there were little bright red splatters on the soup spoon I had been using, and I looked up at the mirror to see blood running all down my face!

I choked up for a second, forced a smile, and said "Mmmm, more red-bloody goodness for me", and then walked slowly back to my room, where I'm now sitting downing a gallon of water and mentally retching. :thumbsup:

That looks and sounds like its going to hurt like a bitch!

I'm going to stick with tattoo's:)

I won't tell you where I THOUGHT you were getting pierced... or plunged... or whatever it is called.

Thank goodness it's just an ear. I'm glad it worked out okay. I wasn't looking forward to the pictures. I'm a bit squeamish and this is the third time today that my mouse hovered over the thread and I finally went ahead and clicked.

Man, I have 3 regular piercings and I passed out on the first 2. I got pretty woozy reading the description...

I wanna get some more though... :p :crazy: