I got my 1st microdermal piercing in Autumn, 2011. The healing process was a bit scary for me because I had never had this type of piercing before and didn't know what to expect. Anytime there was a slight change in my piercing I'd tend to panic a little, not knowing what was happening. I scoured the internet for answers and/or people who might have had a similar experience. Sometimes I'd find what I was looking for, but mostly not.

I've decided to blog about my experience with my microdermal piercing so far, in hopes that I can offer some guidance and advice to those who also are having problems/concerns with this intriguing and finicky little piercing.


October, 2011: After months of tossing around the idea, I finally decided to go to a local piercer to have a microdermal installed under my collar bone. He showed me different sizes, shapes and colors that were available- all of which, I felt were too big. I wanted it to be modest, since I work in a professional environment. He pulled out an anchor with a teeny little rhinestone on it that was about 2mm in diameter (not much wider than the stem itself). I thought it was the perfect size to start with. He explained the piercing procedure to me and what to expect. (I had watched a few youtube videos of people getting them done. Some people made a big fuss while others didn't even flinch.) So I laid down, took a deep breath and said, "Let's do this."

I have to admit... the pain was far worse than I expected. It started out with an extremely sharp, pronounced pain (when he was twisting the dermal punch into my flesh) followed by and excruciating pressure that took my breath away (when he was pushing the anchor under my skin). The whole process took about 90 seconds. As soon as it was over, there was no pain at all. The area was a bit red and felt hot, but otherwise looked pretty good. I sat up, looked in the mirror, and it was love at first sight.

The next morning it was a bit swollen, but not red. The redness didn't kick in until about day 3. I kept it clean with my daily morning shower (no soap- just warm water) and by spraying it with H2Ocean 3-4 times a day (which is a WONDERFUL product!). The swelling stuck around until about the 10th day, then it seemed to finally go down. It wasn't until then that the rhinestone was actually sitting on top of my skin, verses sinking down flush with my skin.

At the 2 week mark, something when horribly wrong. I woke up one morning to a very red, angry and swollen dermal. Maybe it got rubbed too much in my sleep and got irritated? I guess I'll never know. It got progressively worse throughout the day. When I got home from work that night, I did a sea salt soak using warm water and a shot glass by sealing the liquid over the area. It didn't help. Within 3 hours, my skin had completely swallowed the piercing whole. It was gone under my skin. I didn't sleep all night.

As soon as the piercing shop opened up the next day, I was the first one in the door. He tried to save it by making a small incision to reach the top, but with no luck. It had sunken down too deep and he had to cut it out with a scalpel. It took about 45 minutes. The pain was so bad that I kind of "blanked out" and went to another place in my mind. I was extremely sad about losing my little sparkly friend. So sad in fact, that I didn't want to leave the shop without one. The piercer felt bad that it didn't work out for me, so he pierced me under my other collarbone with a larger rhinestone top so that it wouldn't get sucked into my skin again. So after an hour of agonizing pain, I left the shop... happy.

The crater left behind by the first dermal was pretty gnarly. I treated it with the H2Ocean spray until the wound closed, then began treating the scar with Vitamin E oil. It doesn't look too bad. The skin is a bit pink and raised, but it will improve over time.

My new sparkly friend began it's healing process much better than the first one. No swelling, no redness, it laid flush to my skin and didn't give me any problems. After about a month of healing I got a little cocky one night when I was showing it off to friends. While demonstrating how well it was attached, I poked at it a little too much. That was a bad idea. My little buddy got angry... VERY angry. It became red, tender, swollen and lymphed some fluid for a few days. After the swelling subsided about a week later, I noticed that the skin around the opening of the hole was red, raised up and was causing the top to not sit flush anymore. Once again, I found myself searching the internet for answers- with not much luck. I didn't want to bother my piercer, because I was feeling like a failure.

At the 2 month healing mark, the skin around the hole opening hadn't changed. It was still red and raised. When I looked at it from a side angle, I could see a little bit of the stem. Otherwise, it was fairly stable. I found a blog about piercings and had read several posts. I asked some advice of my own. I got a really helpful answer from a professional body piercer in Colorado. I sent her a picture and she said it appeared to be "migrating". From what I understand, it's fairly common for dermals under the collarbones because the skin is thinner and it's a high-motion area. The anchor can tend to migrate around under the skin (ever so slightly) until it finds it's final resting place. Many people mistake this as rejection, which is when your body pushes the piercing out completely.

At the 5 month healing mark, the red bump around the hole had finally seemed to go away and the tissues around it stabilized. Although I'm disappointed that my microdermal doesn't lay flat against the skin anymore, it believe it has reached a solid healing point now. I'm still very much in love with it. It looks good from head-on, and that's good enough for me. I will continue to baby it and make sure I don't catch it or injure it on anything. It's better than the alternative, which is not having it at all.

I've learned that microdermal piercings can have a mind of their own, so don't expect perfection. Feel free to leave your comments and/or experiences with your microdermal piercing(s).

Cheers!