Industrial bar cutting tool

Hey guys. I'm here to tell you the sad tale of my industrial.

I fell in love with the industrial after my first non-lobe piercing at around July 2004. But because of school and such, I really wasn't in the position to get one. So I just admired, looking at pictures and reading recounts on BME. I had also told my mother that I was going to get it at some point. She thought I was joking.

Anyway, the opportunity came when I moved out of home to attend university in another part of the state. I also needed a passport cause of my last minute decision to become a secondary school teacher. So, I had everything I needed – no parents, documentation, I just needed to wait the couple of weeks for when I actually turned 18.

During that time, I went around to look for where I could get it done. Dollar hair [which sounds a bit shady to me anyways], was one of the first places since I knew where it was in this new place. I checked it out. And yes, it was clean and obviously very well maintained and yes, I did speak to the piercer with such questions as, how long have you been piercing, how long as this place been licensed, etc. It was okay, not as good as my usual piercer, but it didn't really matter after all because they didn't do 'that type of piercing' there anyway and recommended a place called Roxy's elsewhere.

So, next couple of days, I head down to Roxy's. It was much like my usual piercer [Deborah's] back where I came from [ie. body piercing and nails], so I felt more comfortable there. I talked to..not the actual piercer herself, but an assistant, and even though, I found the place a little more cluttered with books and such in the piercing room [it was more like a family doctors office than hygienically clean studio], I still felt okay to get it done and made a booking for the next day.

March 5th, my birthday. I got a ride and went down to Willows a couple of hours early to eat and generally wait in giddiness until it was time [my helix was playing up badly that day, too. I just looked at it as a balance to the pain to be in my other ear XD]. 2.45pm came around and I headed over [I came a little early to talk with the actual person who was going to pierce me, if she wasn't any good – I'd've most likely cancelled and left.] After the usual questions about her experiences and form filling, I found myself sitting on the doctors' bed having my ear measured up. I had told her I was completely paranoid about the piercing not being aligned because of all that I had read and such. But she assured me that she was experienced with this type of piercing and her understanding of my concerns made me feel pretty much okay. She marked where the holes would be, making sure that they weren't in a position to cause trouble later on and at my 'okay' set out her tray with the usual equipment.

I can't say I felt nervous or anything, because I've had a lot of piercings done and have a pretty high pain tolerance anyway. So, after setting up, my piercer got me to lie on my side while she did her work. 'Are you ready?' was all I got before the first needle was in. All I can describe of it was heat. It wasn't painful, just hot. A little pause after that to make sure I was okay and she did the second hole, which admittedly, was more uncomfortable than the first. She then screwed the barbell in place, made sure I was okay before running down the aftercare with an accompanying sheet to help. Then I thanked her, paided, tipped and left satisfied.

I didn't do much with my new industrial that night, figuring that my ear had enough abuse done for one day and started up with the meticulous aftercare procedure the next day.

I thought it was healing pretty well during the two weeks that followed, but, I soon noticed that the bottom hole was starting to play up, swelling and a little red though not hot or anything. I kept up with the salt baths and such and hoped for the best.

The hoping was pretty pointless because I noticed that the bar against the lower part of my ear was kind of sinking in, so to speak, and it was then that I decided to take it out. I took a shower beforehand to loosen the bar a bit and then proceeded to take the screw off and slide the barbell out of my ear.

It was probably a good thing I did that actually, cause I saw after the barbell was removed that it was, in fact, 'sinking in', definitely leaving a grove. There is a cut, a little deep, where the barbell had rested against the lower part of my ear and I'm hoping that it heals okay. I took it out just today and plan to keep up with the salt baths just a little longer to help with the healing of this wound.

I admit that I'm disappointed with the loss of what is my favorite piercing. But at least I had it, if only for a little while. I can't really say what also caused this either. It could have been the piercers placement, or just the fact that the swelling caused the bar to be pushed in, or just maybe bad luck, either way.

Anyway, I hope if you ever get this piercing, that it's as successful as it can get n_n. It's a truly awesome mod with not as much pain as one would think. Good luck and take care.