Post by symbol on Apr 19, 2019 0:31:48 GMT
Not sure how much of which details people are interested in, so I'm just going to put everything in here and you can feel free to read whichever bits pique your interest.
The Experience:
I was pretty nervous going into this. I still only really have a handful of piercings and only one tattoo of any appreciable size so I really wasn't sure how I'd sit for the cutting. In the end it wasn't bad at all. Definitely way easier than my last tattoo sitting!
After he did the first cut, he actually stopped for a moment to check in with me and see how everything felt and if I thought I'd be okay. I could definitely feel when he was doing the outlining, but it barely hurt at all. There was the odd line that would have a bit of a zing for a moment, but no lasting pain. I actually really enjoyed being able to feel each line as it was put down. I found I could feel location of the blade much more precisely than outlining with a tattoo machine. I couldn't help but smile every time I felt the blade swoop around one of those beautiful curves. I've been waiting for this piece for quite a while now.
The outlining was fairly slow going as I was bleeding quite a bit. The numbing gel he uses apparently contains a combination of lidocaine and epinephrine though. The lidocaine is what does the numbing. The epinephrine is there as a vasoconstrictor to help stop -- or at least slow -- any bleeding. Once the outline was done, he was able to put the gel on and that did definitely seem to help with the bleeding. I was actually slightly sad at not being able to feel the cuts anymore though. I liked being able to tell exactly where the lines were going and feel what was happening. Especially since I couldn't see it.
The removal ended up being pretty tricky. It seemed like it was difficult to get a good grip on the tiny strips that needed to be removed and then, when he did, they kept tearing. So everything ended up coming off in minuscule little chunks rather than longer lines. He asked Evan to come in and assist at one point to see if having him pull the surrounding skin taut would help. Unfortunately it didn't seem to make much difference.
All-in-all it was ~4.5 hours of actual cutting. And Ryan made it extremely easy to sit for. Once the lidocaine went on the biggest challenge was honestly not falling asleep while he was working. (It was a long drive and not a terribly good night's sleep the day before, okay.)
Afterward he snapped a couple photos, bandaged me up, and went over aftercare with me. By 8pm I was on my way back to my hotel with this beauty carved into my chest:
And I am so in love with it already!
The lidocaine had worn off and it had started stinging a bit by the time I got back to my room, but it honestly wasn't too bad. I was able to sleep just fine and only really noticed the discomfort when I changed positions.
Day 1:
The tape didn't hold up terribly well overnight and by the time I woke up the next morning the dressing had slid down to expose the entire top half of the cutting. This was slightly alarming, but it didn't look like it'd dried out at all, so I did my best to gently shift the dressing back up and applied a bit of fresh tape along the top to help hold it in place. Luckily I was going to be heading back in to see Ryan again in a few hours anyway, so I was able to get him to take a look at it and make sure everything looked okay. Ryan checked the dressing, confirmed it seemed fine, did my piercing, and sent me on my way.
Not too much to note. The first day was mostly spent in the car being anxious to get home. The first shower stung a little bit, but I think it was more surprising than actually painful. It had been so unobtrusive all day that the sudden twinge when the water hit it caught me a bit off-guard. I was worried that the PurSan (soap) he gave me would sting or burn going on, but it seems incredibly gentle and didn't hurt at all.
No pictures today, sorry. I was too damn tired after 10 hours on the road.
Day 2:
I'll be glad when I don't have to worry about the occlusive dressings anymore or fuss with it quite so much. In the meantime, I've already gotten much better at taping everything down neatly and making sure the dressing stays in place properly.
Here's what it looked like after a wash this morning:
More updates to follow...
The Experience:
I was pretty nervous going into this. I still only really have a handful of piercings and only one tattoo of any appreciable size so I really wasn't sure how I'd sit for the cutting. In the end it wasn't bad at all. Definitely way easier than my last tattoo sitting!
After he did the first cut, he actually stopped for a moment to check in with me and see how everything felt and if I thought I'd be okay. I could definitely feel when he was doing the outlining, but it barely hurt at all. There was the odd line that would have a bit of a zing for a moment, but no lasting pain. I actually really enjoyed being able to feel each line as it was put down. I found I could feel location of the blade much more precisely than outlining with a tattoo machine. I couldn't help but smile every time I felt the blade swoop around one of those beautiful curves. I've been waiting for this piece for quite a while now.
The outlining was fairly slow going as I was bleeding quite a bit. The numbing gel he uses apparently contains a combination of lidocaine and epinephrine though. The lidocaine is what does the numbing. The epinephrine is there as a vasoconstrictor to help stop -- or at least slow -- any bleeding. Once the outline was done, he was able to put the gel on and that did definitely seem to help with the bleeding. I was actually slightly sad at not being able to feel the cuts anymore though. I liked being able to tell exactly where the lines were going and feel what was happening. Especially since I couldn't see it.
The removal ended up being pretty tricky. It seemed like it was difficult to get a good grip on the tiny strips that needed to be removed and then, when he did, they kept tearing. So everything ended up coming off in minuscule little chunks rather than longer lines. He asked Evan to come in and assist at one point to see if having him pull the surrounding skin taut would help. Unfortunately it didn't seem to make much difference.
All-in-all it was ~4.5 hours of actual cutting. And Ryan made it extremely easy to sit for. Once the lidocaine went on the biggest challenge was honestly not falling asleep while he was working. (It was a long drive and not a terribly good night's sleep the day before, okay.)
Afterward he snapped a couple photos, bandaged me up, and went over aftercare with me. By 8pm I was on my way back to my hotel with this beauty carved into my chest:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BwXyX58nlYM
And I am so in love with it already!
The lidocaine had worn off and it had started stinging a bit by the time I got back to my room, but it honestly wasn't too bad. I was able to sleep just fine and only really noticed the discomfort when I changed positions.
Day 1:
The tape didn't hold up terribly well overnight and by the time I woke up the next morning the dressing had slid down to expose the entire top half of the cutting. This was slightly alarming, but it didn't look like it'd dried out at all, so I did my best to gently shift the dressing back up and applied a bit of fresh tape along the top to help hold it in place. Luckily I was going to be heading back in to see Ryan again in a few hours anyway, so I was able to get him to take a look at it and make sure everything looked okay. Ryan checked the dressing, confirmed it seemed fine, did my piercing, and sent me on my way.
Not too much to note. The first day was mostly spent in the car being anxious to get home. The first shower stung a little bit, but I think it was more surprising than actually painful. It had been so unobtrusive all day that the sudden twinge when the water hit it caught me a bit off-guard. I was worried that the PurSan (soap) he gave me would sting or burn going on, but it seems incredibly gentle and didn't hurt at all.
No pictures today, sorry. I was too damn tired after 10 hours on the road.
Day 2:
I'll be glad when I don't have to worry about the occlusive dressings anymore or fuss with it quite so much. In the meantime, I've already gotten much better at taping everything down neatly and making sure the dressing stays in place properly.
Here's what it looked like after a wash this morning:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BwauRfanb--
More updates to follow...