My experience with dermal anchors was not as I had originally intended it to be. I had always been interested in getting clavicle surface piercings directly underneath each of my collarbones, though when searching through various piercing photos on the internet I discovered dermals. At first my decision to abandon surface bars was only for aesthetic reasons, however after finding out that dermal anchors are quicker to have put in, heal significantly faster and have one of the lowest rejection rates, my mind was made up. So I phoned one of the tattoo/piercing parlors in downtown Toronto that I had received amazing service at previously and inquired as to if their piercer was capable of inserting dermal anchors. They told me that he was, and that he was in the shop that day, but only for a few hours. Being the impulsive person that I am, I told them I would be in the shop in half an hour. On my way there I began to wonder if there were another area of my body that I would pref er dermals in opposed to my chest. I settled on getting the inside of each of my hips done.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When Three months ago Studio Black Line Studio Location Toronto When I arrived at the shop the piercer (whose name is escaping me) started by drawing dots on either side of my hips. He used a ruler to make sure that the marker points were level and suggested I look in a mirror to verify that he had pinpointed the location I wanted. He had, and the anchors would be a safe distance higher than my pant line to reduce irritation and catching on clothing whenever I dressed. He then did the whole sterile thing (you get what I'm saying, I'll pass on explaining in detail) and explained to me the process of getting the anchor under my skin.
As he started to puncture the skin on my left side I was pleasantly surprised to realize that dermals were also significantly less painful than most surface piercings I'd ever received. The left hip took him two minutes max. to anchor. The right hip was a little trickier for whatever reason and he had some trouble creating the pocket under the skin where the anchor would sit. This hip took maybe 5 minutes and was considerably more painful. He put bandages over either piercing and advised me to keep the piercings covered for the first few days to allow the anchors to set flush to the skin and for them to heal.
They healed fully in about a week and I removed the band-aids though continued using sterile sea salt spray to clean them a few times each day. About two months later the anchor on the right (the one the piercer had difficulty with) began to lift up so that it was no longer flush to the skin and was more sensitive to touch and irritation. Although I cleaned the piercing religiously and started covering it again it was showing little sign of improvement. I went back to the shop I had them done at and found out that the guy who pierced me no longer worked there and instead there was a female piercer. I explained to her my problem and mentioned that I had never hit the piercing off of anything or significantly bothered it. I also mentioned that it was this anchor with which the previous piercer had trouble inserting. I expressed my disappointment in that dermal anchors have extremely low rejection rates (in and around 2%, I believe) and it was absurd that one of mine would reje ct in less than 3 months.
She recommended that I push the piercing down until it was flush with the skin and putting surgical tape over it. Essentially what I would be doing is tearing the tissue already through the anchor, re-setting it underneath my skin, and holding it in place. It would hurt, the piercing would become irritated and likely puss or bleed but that it would effectively re-set the piercing. She had two dermal anchors in her cleavage and said that whenever either of them started to lift that is what she would do. She told me to keep the tape on for about a week and if after about two weeks the anchor was still causing trouble that it was possible I would need to return and have it removed.
So although the prospect of ripping and re-setting my anchor was not the most pleasant, I did what she advised me to do and left the surgical tape on the piercing, changing it once a day and cleaning it in the shower and then with sea salt. I took the surgical tape off approximately a week ago and my anchor is as good as new; it's set perfectly and the sensitivity has decreased. Except for a tiny area of skin directly around the opening which is slightly darker than my natural skin tone (likely from scar tissue from the trauma of shoving it back into my body) my dermal anchors are absolutely flawless!