Not many people have written about microdermal anchors on this site, so I thought I'd add to the collection. When I decided to get my microdermals as a coming of age, turning 18 sort of thing, there was no doubt about where I'd go to get it done. About 5 months ago I had my tongue done here with absolutely no problems, in a completely hygienic and comfortable environment (it actually resembles a doctor's office more than a piercing parlour) and with totally friendly and perfect service.
At A Glance Author mia Contact mia@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Dr Richard Janus Studio Sydney Medical Body Piercing Clinic Location Sydney, Australia The biggest perk though - Dr Janus is a certified doctor and can use anaesthetic in all of his piercings.
Before you call me a wimp for needing anaesthetic, keep in mind that I do agree that pain is part of any body modification experience (and believe me I had my fair share of pain in the healing stages of my tongue piercing!) but with procedures like microdermal anchors which are so new, I would trust the piercer a LOT more if they had plenty of time to get it right - instead of rushing it to minimise the pain for the piercee. And I absolutely trusted Richard to do it perfectly.
So I got there in the afternoon with my older sister, who isn't into body mods but wasn't about to stop me (how could she anyway?). She had the camera ready to film my experience, and I'm glad she did because it was amazing to watch it later - during the process I pretty much have no idea what's going on, since I'm completely numb, can't feel a thing and have my eyes closed.
We started by looking at the little anchors (they are SO small!! much smaller than I expected) and for the external jewellery bit I got to choose between a plain metal post or a silver ball with a diamonte stud. I chose the diamonte stud because it was a lot prettier, even though the post apparently made it easier to clean. As of today (4 days later) the balls haven't been hard to clean at all, so I wouldn't say it made too much difference. I really didn't want a metal post sticking out of my face for 4 months! (That's the time you have to let it heal before you can change it).
So let's get to the nitty gritty bits. After about 10 minutes deciding the perfect placement for the two dermals (I have one near my temple next to the eye, and another on my cheek where an anti-eyebrow piercing would be) I lay on the bed and Richard gave me the anaesthetic - two tiny injections. The pain isn't worth mentioning, it's like any other injection. I have always been squeamish with needles but it was very comforting to know that this would be the only pain I felt for the whole process, so I wasn't too bothered!
We waited around 15 minutes for the anaesthetic to fully work properly, and then it was showtime. I lay down again and (this is where I shut my eyes, so I'm telling you the process from what I see in the video my sister filmed) he prodded the 2 spots with something sharp to see if I could feel it, and I couldn't at all. I couldn't even feel that he was prodding me with anything! This was a good sign of course.
I'm sure you know how dermal piercings work but I'll describe the process briefly - first you get a dermal punch (which looks like a pen) to make a hole in the skin about 5mm deep (I'm guessing from the video), then it gets taken out and the little bit of skin is removed (which looks awesome if you're filming!). It bleeds a tiny bit but not very badly. Then the anchor is inserted into the hole you've just made, and the jewellery is screwed onto the anchor. And that's done! I got 2 done, and each takes about 5 minutes or less. Of course the anaesthetic helped or I would be screaming in pain (I really can't imagine not having anaesthetic at those crucial moments).
After admiring the perfect placement in a mirror I sat up and didn't feel faint or dizzy at all, which was great, and went back home in the car. The piercer told me I would probably wake up with a black eye the next morning, and that I shouldn't use saline sprays or harsh face washes, only a gentle cleanser like QV or Cetaphil.
For the rest of that day I had a bit of dried blood around the jewellery but it wasn't swollen or in pain at all. The only time it hurt was when I was brushing my hair the next day and it accidentally caught on the piercing. I have very long hair so I have to be careful washing my hair too. I'm also careful not to sleep on them although I did accidentally do that once and it didn't hurt that much, it was like pressing on a bruise.
And the best thing is, it hasn't bruised at all! I've been waiting for my black eye and it hasn't appeared, I'm perfectly normal with NO swelling, NO bruising - pretty much nothing whatsoever. I might sound crazy to say that it's slightly disappointing not to have those typical after-piercing symptoms of pain and swelling and whatnot, but I can safely say that this piercing - the entire process, the aftercare and everything - has been 100% painless. Which is a good thing I suppose, and it's a hot and unique piercing too :)
One more thing with aftercare, I've found that it's kind of hard to clean them with a normal cleanser because you tend to need to rub at the spot to wash it off and it kind of hurts to rub at your fresh dermals. So instead, every morning I fill a shot glass with saline water and cup it around the piercing, soaking it, then I use the corner of a wet tissue to dab around the jewellery and remove any pus/blood etc. (there isn't much though, trust me). Then at night I can wash it properly in the shower by basically sticking my head under the tap (but be careful to keep the water strength low because I blasted water at my face on the first day and it hurt like hell). Water doesn't make it sting or anything, it just hurts if you're stupid like me and blast really strong water at it haha.
Good luck with your piercing, microdermals are so pretty and easy to manage, painless (for me anyway) and unlike other surface piercings they won't randomly pop out!