Microdermal Surface Piercings

Hello!

Excuse my nails... and hands... and existence I thought I'd write a little bit about Microdermal Anchors today, because I'm not sure if you've noticed but I have three!

....Okay, two rejected so I have one, but I did have three and I got them done at the same time! I'm sure you're wondering all about them, and the most important question - do they hurt?  All will be answered... Or I will try to get them all answered. It was a little bit spur of the moment when I got them done. Anyway, okay.

They're made of two parts: the anchor itself, which has three holes in the bottom, and what I am going to refer to as 'the gem'. I'm calling it 'the gem' because I didn't get to change my one. I had it almost a year when it rejected. I was always too scared to try and change it, and I really struggled even with the rejected one.

What's the appeal of them? Well... You can get them on pretty much any flat surface,  unlike other piercings, it doesn't have to be a dangly bit. (I'm talking ears, people.) For example, I got mine on my chest. But you can get them on your face, hips, arm, foot, collar bone... Pretty much anywhere.

I'd been thinking about them for a while. I wanted to get them on my hips. But, then I watched an episode of Tattoos After Dark and saw Chris Saint pierce two microdermals into this girl's chest, and I thought it looked really cool so decided there and then that they were what I needed.

While this is in my mind; "microdermal anchors", "microdermals" and "dermals" = all the same thing. I'm trying to stick to one term in this blog post but if I get lazy then... There you go.

Next question: how do they pierce you?

Good question!

For me, I had my chest marked for where I wanted them to be put in, then I had to lie down on the piercing bed.

If squeamish... Maybe skip this section and skip to the next picture.

My piercer made the incision with a needle. Dermal punches can be used as well. A Dermal Punch is basically an apparatus (wow big word) that... punches into and removes a small area of skin.

Anyway, after this, he then held some gauze on the area to soak up the blood, and next came the anchor. The anchor is slipped into this small slice of skin. The three holes at the bottom are to enable your tissue to kinda wrap around it which is what holds it in place. After this, and the gauze again, I remember the piercer checking once again my pattern for the gems "blue, clear, blue" and ... I'm sure it was pliers... Pushed down on the (hollow) anchor, sticky-up bit until there was an audible "click".

That happened three times in a row.

He offered me sweets a lot, and was really impressed with the fact that I managed the whole sitting without need for a break.

Next question:

How much did it cost you?

Honestly, this whole thing, the marking and the piercing, it only took about half an hour... And it cost me £90 overall. Which lets break it down, is £30 each, and with the amount of technical knowhow and patience, is actually a pretty good deal.

"Gail.... You've avoided this question! Does it hurt?"

Depending on who you ask, you'll get a different answer.

I know three other people who had these microdermal piercings on their collar bones and all three people told me "No".

I AM HERE TO TELL YOU THAT THIS WAS THE MOST PAINFUL EXPERIENCE IN MY LIFE, AND I ONCE GOT CRAMPS SO BAD I COULDN'T PHYSICALLY WALK.

(They're so tiny! Much like me.)

I was so, so grateful that my friend came with me to keep me calm. Honestly, I wouldn't have had the guts unless he'd come with me.

At one point in the piercing, the piercer made reference to the fact my leather shoes were scraping together as I tried to control the pain. I was also shaking pretty bad but I'm not sure if that was the coffee he'd given me instead of tea, or just adrenaline from the piercing procedure.

I was very happy with them. But rejection is pretty possible.

(Why is my skin so spotty?!)

Rejection is pretty common for these piercings. They are meant to be permanent which means that when they reject, it's a pain. In the above photo can can see two of my scars as well as two freckles and my one remaining microdermal.

Once they stick out of the skin, you are able to simply pull them out. I checked with another piercer. He told me he could take it out for me for £5 but that I could do it myself. So yeah, believe my words.

Once the anchor is sticking out the skin it's game over. A warning sign that this might happen is if you can begin to see the anchor below the skin ,which was the case between both my rejections.

My middle one rejected first, which is why it's a fainter scar. That rejected due to trauma, but was on the brink of rejection from the moment I was pierced (I moved in that one). The second one took me by surprise, I got out of the shower one morning and... It was just poking its nose out at me, as if to say "hahaha too late"

Overall:

For me, the microdermals were an extremely painful experience, that I will not do again. It was too much but I don't regret going through with this either, because I truely did love them. They were beautiful and meant I didn't have to wear necklaces! (effortless style? SCORE.)

S....'yeah. That was microdermals.

Are you thinking about getting any? If so, omg where?! Please don't me put off by me talking about the pain, because they are gorgeous once you get them, kinda makes the pain worth it :)

I'll see you next week but before I forget!

I chose my Facebook promotion this week to go to Shiona! Go and ch-ch-check her out! I have no idea why I did that. Okay. Bye!

Until next time, be excellent to each other.