Rejection?
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Thursday November 1st, 2007 @ 7:01 PM
Filed under: Surface/Unusual
Hey! I got a cleavage piercing about 3 weeks ago, and I’m not sure if it’s rejecting or migrating, or just healing. I’ve looked at tons of images, and I do have the scar tissue, but I don’t know if its just because it’s new, or what… It doesn’t seem like the bar is coming through my skin, and its not sore. The redness scared me though…
Any help would be great. I will give virtual cookies and stuff!
That does look mighty cranky, but I have to say, I’m generally hesitant to give specific advice about a piercing I haven’t seen in person. A certain amount of redness can be reasonably expected in a fresh piercing, but yours is much worse than that. Sternum/cleavage placements are pretty notoriously hard to heal, bear in mind, and if you have a lot of flesh there moving around it’s pretty much a given that you have really low odds of healing this piercing. That jewellery does NOT look like a surface bar, there’s just so much upward pressure going on with it - was it done with appropriate jewellery or PTFE? It really looks like PTFE to me, and if it is, I can almost guarantee that this piercing is doomed. (Oh, look, I know some people heal weird placements with bad jewellery choices, but bear with me, your odds are better with better jewellery that sits nicely under the skin!)
You can try things like chamomile compresses to soothe the redness, and I’m a big fan of using neem oil twice a day to settle down irritated tissue, but if you try these things for a week or so with no signs of improvement, it’s time to go back to your piercer and see what they have to say on the subject.
And I know I’m dooming myself to all sorts of contrary comments when I say this next bit, but it’s my opinion and I don’t care - if your piercer’s answer is that they use PTFE all the time and they just don’t get why your piercing isn’t healing, or better yet, say that it’s your fault in any way (e.g. your skin doesn’t like surface piercings or you’re not looking after it or something), it’s probably time to find a new piercer with more a clue about surface work. The only real reason I can imagine some piercers prefer PTFE is that it’s about $1 a metre and self-threading and therefore a heck of a lot cheaper than, say, beautifully made titanium internally threaded surface bars from quality jewellery companies (I personally swear by the Anatometal surface bars), adding greatly to a shop’s profit margin. It’s commonly accepted wisdom in the industry that surface bars are the way to go. 
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5 Responses to “Rejection?”
Im the asker of the question…
The bar is a noibium surface bar with 90degree turns. I will admit, from the pictures it is hard to tell. Hopefully these clear that up a bit:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v332/rain3ow3rite/IMGP0776.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v332/rain3ow3rite/IMGP0781.jpg
I knew going in that surface is hard to heal, and I’m willing to take it out and get it redone later, if thats what needs to be done. Thanks for your help! I think that the bar is just a bit too big for me and so theres quite a bit of movement going on IN the piercing itself. I’ll try some Neem oil (if I can find it…) and if it doesnt help, I’ll definately be back.
Ohhh… and I got it done by Keith at Tribal Expression (tribalexpression.com) in Calgary Alberta. Not sure if you’ve heard of him, but he was at Scarwars this year. Anyway, in his shop they make all of their own jewelry (if you go to the site theres a section in the gallery). I know quality jewelry is important and they were very big on the fact that every thing is noibium and that they use surface bars.
Thanks for your help Lori! I hope I didn’t sound like a snotty brat! Here are your virtual cookies
*gives cookies*
Could it be a problem that he didn’t do punch and taper? He was going to, but there really wasn’t much room…
Kim on November 1st, 2007 at 11:14 pmOh well then, so much for me and my rant about PTFE, ha ha! I couldn’t see any legs at all in this first pictures, and it’s quite evident in the second lot of pictures, so thank you!
It shouldn’t really be an issue about the whole punch and taper thing, honestly, plenty of piercers did a lot of good surface work for years before the punch and taper technique got fashionable, and sometimes it’s easier to do a good job with a needle over a dermal punch, for sure. You definitely don’t need to take it out yet, geez, it’s only been a few weeks, bear with it awhile and try to heal it!
If it is getting a lot of movement (and sometimes the boobage factor can’t really be helped), that’s going to be an obvious cause of irritation. Above and beyond that, it could be any number of things irritating your piercing, really - environmental causes like detergents or fabric softeners in your clothes, accidentally rubbing or knocking it, reactions from shampoos/conditioners/body washes - it’s a real guessing game at this point. I’d try to really pay attention to what goes on with the piercing day to day and suss out any obvious causes. And I have to ask, have you spoken with your piercer about it yet? I’d strongly advise you to go show Keith what’s going on and see what he says!
Lori St.Leone on November 2nd, 2007 at 1:05 amThanks lady! E-brownies for all! Boobs are definately factoring haha
Kim on November 2nd, 2007 at 10:55 amHi there
Jessica on November 5th, 2007 at 5:39 amJust a quick opinion of mine, i chose to have a PTFE surface piercing in because given i needed/wanted to remove it i could with no difficulty, and given the high rejection rate of surface piercings, i felt it would be better to get a bar i could take out before a big dirty scar developed.
Jess
As compared to a metal surface bar i mean
Jessica on November 5th, 2007 at 5:40 amLeave a Comment