Wednesday July 23rd, 2008 @ 9:20 PM
Filed under: Ear
I’ve been seeing more and more teardrop shaped plugs around, and I was wondering why one might choose the teardrop shape over the typical plugs I see more commonly. Are there any advantages or is it just a matter of taste? Also, since i typically wear regular plugs, could I switch back and forth between my usual jewelry and the teardrop shape? Thanks!
There are really no advantages to teardrop plugs, other than offering a slightly different appearance than standard circular plugs. At present, they do some to be becoming more popular. Assuming your ears are in good shape, you shouldn’t have any problems switching between teardrop and regular plugs.
+2 / 4 votes 
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | Comments
Wednesday July 23rd, 2008 @ 9:16 PM
I got my first tattoo on my shoulder/clavicle area four days ago, today I noticed around the tattoo small red bumps have formed all around the tattoo (I haven’t noticed any on the tattoo itself), are these from my aftercare (tattoo goo & tattoo goo lotion) or could they just be a heat rash as the tattoo was very red and hot for a few days and last night I did get very hot.
thanks!
The bumps could be a number of things:
If the area was shaved, they could be razor burn/irritation. They could ingrown hairs. They could be a reaction to your aftercare products. They could be a reaction to the adhesive of any tape that was used to keep your bandage on. While not likely, they could be the beginning stages of a staph infection. Unfortunately, without being able to see the tattoo in person, it’s hard to really tell you what is going on.
My suggestion would be to return to your tattoo artist and ask them about it. They should be able to help you pretty easily.
+5 / 5 votes 
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 3 Comments
Wednesday July 23rd, 2008 @ 9:07 PM
Filed under: Ear
Last week i got an industrial ear piercing. Today i noticed that down the outerside of my ear my skin has become very rough and almost scaley. The worst part is down my lower lobe which i thought was a bit strange. My ear has also been getting extremely hot and painful. I know that with a new piercing there is pain too be expected but is this thing caused by my industrial piercing or a different matter? Also i have been spraying my ear with a spray given to me by the piercer.
Thankyou.
I would suggest you go see your/a piercer as soon as you can.
My guess (and that’s all it is, since I can’t actually see your ear) is that you either have the beginning stages of an infection or there is something going on related to the size of the jewelry and/or the angles of the piercing.
While a true infection isn’t the most common thing with a piercing, the fact that you said the piercing is rough and scaley as well as being hot and painful, leads me to think an infection is a definite possibility in your case. An infection in a cartilage piercing is not something you want to let get out-of-hand. The nature of cartilage tissue allows infections to spread rapidly and also can make them difficult to deal with. Your piercer may not be able to tell you if you have an infection per se, but s/he should be able to rule out the other likely culprit…jewelry size/piercing angles.
If the barbell in your ear isn’t long enough to accommodate swelling which can occur and/or the angles of the piercing are off, causing the jewelry to put excess pressure on the piercings…you may get reactions like you are describing. In some cases, if the pressure is too much, it can trap lymph and other things your body tries to push out of the piercing, actually resulting in an infection.
If your piercer determines that all appears to be fine with the jewelry and placement, I would suggest you go see your doctor right away. If your piercer tries to tell you that what is happening is normal for an industrial piercing…they are full of crap…go to the doctor. Some soreness, a slight bit of swelling and a bit of redness are perfectly normal for an industrial. Scaley, roughness and throbbing hot pain are not normal.
I can’t comment on what your piercer told you to spray on your piercing without knowing what it is.
Best of luck.
+5 / 7 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 1 Comment
Wednesday July 23rd, 2008 @ 12:09 PM
Hi, I know that this is probably the wrong section but I can’t find any relevant email or whatsoever on modblog. I do like the new change now, its much more organised. What I would like to ask is that what happened to the banner that linked to modblog? Is there a new one? Cause it seems like the current one got deleted. The only banners that I can find now are those of askbme.com
You can find the banners here. We are in the process of creating some new (much cooler) banners, for both ModBlog and the new BMEnews, when those are complete you can expect a public post or something to notify everyone.
Thanks for linking to BME!
0 / 0 votes 
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Posted by AskBME | Permalink | Comments
Wednesday July 23rd, 2008 @ 11:45 AM
Hey everybody!
I’m just wondering if anyone has heard any news on the return of BMEshop… I’m dying to order some more stuff and I’d really love any information on when it’s going to be back!
I’m not complaining, nor do I mean to ask a question that’s more than likely been asked a million times before - but I couldn’t find anything about it.
Thanks so much whoever answers this!
We are working very hard behind the scenes to make this happen soon. Now I can’t divulge any information about it right now, but I can say that you will be very happy and excited when it returns, and we will definitely make a very loud announcement when it happens.
If you’re on IAM you can check out this post on Rachel’s page and give us your feedback on your favorite products that you’d like to make sure we keep and even new products you’d love to see us carry.
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by AskBME | Permalink | 4 Comments
Wednesday July 23rd, 2008 @ 11:41 AM
Sorry if I missed this but what happened to BMEink.com? I loved being able to view all the images on there and made sure I made use of the advertisments where possible too. I think it was a great idea and would love to see it brought back.
BMEink.com has been reintegrated in to BMEzine.com, all of the photos and content is still there and you can always submit your photos and stories to BME for a free membership to view the entire galleries (piercing and tattooing). Also if you were to go to BMEink.com in your browser, or any BMEink.com URL, you will be forwarded to the corresponding content on BMEzine.com automatically.
-3 / 3 votes
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Posted by AskBME | Permalink | Comments
Tuesday July 22nd, 2008 @ 8:08 PM
Filed under: Navel
I had surgery April 11th of this year. I have always wanted my navel pierced, but never got it done. Now I have had surgery and am dealing with this scar that is on top of my navel going down to below my navel.
Are my dreams of having my navel pierced gone for good or can I still pierce it?
What are the risks, issues with doing so and how long should I wait to do it? It’s been 3 months so far
Thanks so much
I always hate to have to say this when answering a question…but your best bet is to visit a local piercer who you trust/hear good things about and have them look at the scarring. They will (should) be able to give you much more precise information about what is and isn’t possible if they can see/feel the scarring.
In general, I would say that your hopes of having a navel piercings don’t need to be abandoned. Piercings can very often be done through scar tissue. In some cases, a slight adjustment of the placement might be necessary to avoid large sections of scarring. Piercing through scarring can sometimes increase the likelihood of migration or rejection. If you were my client, I would likely suggest starting off with 12ga curved barbell. The slightly thicker jewelry should put less pressure on the tissue, reducing the likelihood of rejection. While scar tissue is harder than normal tissue, it is also more “brittle”, so the less pressure/irritation on it, the better.
A piercer who can see the scarring in person will be better able to advise you in terms of how long to wait. Based upon what I can see (size and color of the scar), I would probably suggest waiting about a year. It might not be easy to wait that long, but you obviously want to give yourself the best chance of success when you finally decide to do it.
Best of luck!
+7 / 11 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 3 Comments
Tuesday July 22nd, 2008 @ 7:49 PM
Filed under: Ear
So I recently discovered the wonderfullness that is silicone jewlery(kaos ear skins) and they’ve made my ears super happy and I swear some scar tissue even subsided.
So yay me for that.
But my question(s) is/are:
Are there any negative effects to long term wearing of silicone?
Does parybln(sp) coating matter?
And why exactly is silicone bad for stretching when its generally a body friendly material?
Because silicone is a very biocompatible material, there shouldn’t be any long-term effects of wearing silicone. However, keep in mind that silicone has caused some people problems even when worn in healed piercings. My personal theory is that it has little/nothing to do with a reaction to the material and is mostly a result of a physical problem…the “tackiness” of the material. (see below).
The parylene coating on the silicone can make a difference. I don’t know much about it from a biocompatibility point of view, but as I understand it, it reduces the “tackiness” of the material. From what I have seen, problems with silicone seem to occur where the skin sticks to the material, resulting in tears and/or ulcers of the tissue. So, if the parylene coating reduces the chance of the skin sticking to the jewelry, it could make a very important difference. Having said that, I’ve never had a problem with the non-parylene eyelets myself.
The problem with silicone and stretching really doesn’t have anything to do with the biocompatibility of the material. It has to do with, as I said, the potential for sticking. When stretching, the silicone is forced against the skin even more than when not used for stretching, increasing the likelihood of tearing or ulceration of the tissue. Add to this the fact that the material is soft, and can therefore “seal off” those tears or ulcers, and you have a recipe for very unhappy earlobes. Once sealed off, the lymph and blood that want to come out of the tears/ulcers can’t, making a bad situation even worse. If the length of the eyelet is very close to the width of the lobe, the eyelet doesn’t move side-to-side either, adding another complicating factor.
I personally really like the silicone eyelets. However, I think using them for stretching is asking for a world of trouble. Also, even when not stretching, you have to pay attention to what your body is telling you. If wearing them starts to make your ears sore, remove the jewelry. While silicone should work great for just about everyone, not everyone can where everything…it’s no different than other materials body jewelry is made from in that regard.
+7 / 9 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 4 Comments
Monday July 21st, 2008 @ 5:15 PM
i was wondering how important it is to have a black outline on your tattoo? If there is a black outline will it age better then one without a black outline? im getting a tattoo soon of a flower and i wasnt sure if it was important to get an outline in black. thanks so much!
This will depend upon the artist who does your tattoo.
There are artists who absolutely insist on a black outline for every tattoo. There are artists who will happily do tattoos without black outlines. There are also artists who prefer to put black outlines on tattoos, but if you don’t want one, they won’t make you get one.
I’ve worked in a few shops over the years, and most of the artists I’ve worked with have been of the “a black outline is a must” philosophy. The theory/belief is that black will tend to soften/blur less than man other colors. As a result, your tattoo will look “crisper” for longer with a black outline.
In my experience, most of the tattoos I’ve seen without black outlines do tend to look a little “fuzzy” at the edges if they don’t have a black outline. I’m talking about tattoos done by experienced, talented artists…not some hack. At the same time, if you’re aware of that ahead of time, and it’s a “risk” you’re willing to take, not having a black outline certainly isn’t the end of the world.
If you feel that a black outline is going to really not jive with the aesthetic of your design, you definitely need to fine an artists who isn’t insistent upon putting a black outline on it. Those artists are out there..they may just be a little harder to find.
+15 / 15 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 2 Comments
Monday July 21st, 2008 @ 4:58 PM
I have been gauging my ears for about 4 years now. I recently reached the size 7/8. I have always taken very good care of my years and try to take my time gauging so that I do not mess up my ears or get any blow outs. When I was at size 8 in my right year I got hit at work and became infected. I immediately removed it, cleaned it, kept any jewelry out of it and let it heal completely. I had to re-pierce it and re-gauge it. Knowing that my ear now had scar-tissue I was very careful when gauging that ear. Instead of tapering them I would get gauges that were double flared and simply wrap a layer of tape around them every so often allowing me to stretch it slowly and without much pain.
When I reached 3/4 I did the same thing. I rapped tape around them until they were about the size of 7/8. Here was my first mistake. The 7/8 I put in was silicon. The measurements of the taped gauge to 7/8 was larger then I had expected. After putting in the 7/8 my ear got very swollen and red. After a little less than a week the swelling went down so I decided to keep them in. My ear then started getting very dry and flaky and started to puss. The back of my ear was also so swollen that it was going over the back lip of the gauge. My ear constantly was pussing and had a very small amount of blood coming out whenever I touched the back. I had to actually cut the gauge out of my ear because it was so tight. Once I got the gauge out I discovered I had a pretty bad rip and my ear was a little blown out. I took out my jewelry, washed all the shit out, washed it with saline solution and put some neuo-sporn on it. I’m not sure what I should do next. I definitely want to re-gauge them when I am able to, but until I would like to know the best way to take care of them and get them back into a better condition.
I realize this is a “losing battle”, and most of the time I just let it go…just can’t do it this time. And please…don’t take it personally…because you’re far from the only person doing this.
1) It isn’t called gauging. It is called stretching. You stretch your piercings, you don’t gauge them. While “gauging” can be a verb, there is no definition that refers to making something bigger by “gauging it”. Much to my dismay, there probably will be one day because the word is mis-used with such regularity now.
2) They aren’t called gauges. They are called plugs or eyelets or hell…even spacers if you must. But not “gauges”. Gauges, in this context, refer to a unit of measurement. 8 gauge. 6 gauge. 00 gauge. Not, “Hey, I really dig your gauges.”
Now…on to the question at hand. First of all, I’m sorry you are having trouble with your ears, especially if you’ve taken so much care with them over the years. Unfortunately, this stuff happens from time-to-time.
The best thing you can do for your lobes right now is to leave them be. Don’t wear any jewelry in them…even if it’s significantly smaller than what you were wearing. Your ears need absolutely no trauma right now. They need to be treated with care and gentleness. You shouldn’t try to do a bunch of stuff to them or put a bunch of stuff on them. Your body knows exactly what it needs to do to heal them…so let it do its thing.
You should be able to re-gauge re-stretch them at a later time. However, you need to give them lots of time before you start this process again. Without seeing exactly what is going on with your ears, I can’t say for sure…but I would imagine you need at least a month before you put something back in. From there, you will need to take the process VERY slowly.
Silicone can be a wonderful material for many people. I personally wear it without any problems. However, it also has the potential to do some serious damage when used for stretching.
Best of luck.
+29 / 33 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 11 Comments
