Performed on April 1, 2010, my microdermals are slowly (and inevitably) turning 3 months old very soon. By now they seem healed and I’m happy to say that there were no complications during the healing process at all.

Like I stated in the first post on the subject, the procedure itself wasn’t particularly painful and it never hindered my range of motion (which I put to the test on the day of the procedure by means of my usual workout routine involving some stretching and weight training). They never bled although during the first few days they were weeping some lymph.

Right from the beginning I stuck to my usual healing regime consisting of SSS (sea salt soaks, warm, twice a day) and LITHA (leave it the hell alone) although usually I’m not a person who willingly leaves anything alone, especially if it’s a new toy of mine. This time, however, I was too busy with work to find time for playing with it.

Since a few people I asked about their microdermal experiences mentioned that they tend to get hit or pulled during various everyday activities, I decided to play it safe and most of the time I covered my own anchors with small pieces of band aid and wore a loose band wrist made from a piece of bandage. I also wanted, however, to let them breathe as much as possible, so I kept them covered only at night and during the day, while I was away from home.

On day 5 a small accident happened and one of the tops got unscrewed (it happened soon after I lost one of my favorite Kaos tunnels for my lobes, so it was even more traumatic!). Since then I became slightly paranoid about losing the tops and kept tightening them up at least twice a day (as a result, my piercer had a hard time to change the tops when we met last weekend). It seemed to help because none top got loose again so far. This accident, though, made me rethink my stand about star-shaped tops which I discarded initially but then started to look at the option more favorably.

I don’t use a pre-made sea salt solution but rather prepare it myself, so sometimes proportions are a little off which results in a temporary skin dryness. During the healing process of my wrist it also happened a few times but never got serious. I didn’t dare to unscrew the tops myself, so I wasn’t sure how everything looked under the tops and was afraid that there might be there some dead skin cells, dust particles, some body lotion etc. Fortunately it turned out that sea salt soaks do their job and they clean the whole piercing pretty well – during the top exchange I could see that the anchor legs healed well and the skin under the tops looks healthy and clean.

I got to see my piercer last week when we went for a tattoo convention together and since he had his booth at the event, I decided to use the opportunity and get my tops exchanged. Jacek brought me titanium star-shaped tops and did the deed on the floor of the event, at his booth. I’m not a big fan of getting anything done at a tattoo convention (conditions far from sterile not matter how hard you try!) but since the whole top-switching procedure wasn’t overly invasive, I was all up for it.

 Due to my top-tightening paranoia Jacek had some problems with loosing the flat tops and unscrewing them but finally managed to do it and exchanged them one by one. Both of us had a close look at each microdermal leg separately and Jacek assured me that everything looks good and my anchors are pretty much healed now. All of them looked healthy and good under the tops. There were tiny spots of livid-colored tissue next to all of them but this could be caused by the unscrewing process. There was no redness, no pain, no any sort of excretion from the piercings.

 The star-shaped tops both look cool and are easier to grab and tighten, so I’m really satisfied with them. It’s a week of me having them today and during the first few days I could see some yellow crusties around the stars. I think it’s caused by the trauma of the exchange but since there are less and less of them now, I think they’ll soon disappear altogether. One of the dermals is slightly sore but, again, I think it’s temporary only.

So far I’m very satisfied with these ‘piercings’ and I’m quite surprised by how fast and problem-free they healed. I don’t know yet if I’ll get any more of them (since I think that ‘less is more’ most of the time) but I’d definitely recommend them to anyone looking for something less traditional and easy to heal and deal with.