One of my chip readily slides back and forth in its pocket under my skin. Out of curiosity, is it possible (or advisable) to punch a hole at the end of the pocket in front of the chip, slide it out and immediately replace it with another chip?
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If a professional does it, then sure… but there are potential gotchas here so work with a pro.
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I certainly would seek the help of a professional if I decide to do it - although now that my EM4200 is in there, it’ll always end up being useful some day, so I’ll probably leave it. It’s just that I was wondering if the skin around the pocket could end up being “tired” of the abuse and fail to heal, sag, refuse to encase the new chip in keloid, or otherwise become inadequate for the purpose of housing a chip that doesn’t move around too much.
I assume the main gotcha is bacterial contamination?
Amal has described before that the trauma of getting the needle in there sends signals to your body that it should encapsulate the foreign body. If you take the new implant out of the needle, remove the old implant with a scalpel incision, and pop the new one in, you don’t get that same trauma, so the encapsulation pocket doesn’t “heal” back up around the implant. If you remove the old implant, then jab the new implant back in with the injector, you’re almost certainly not going to get it in the pocket, so you’re creating a new encapsulation.
True… but it seems like his body is already not encapsulating his implants… but yeah… would be best to use a fresh installation location (2mm offset from current implant location is fine) and take prenatals for 5 weeks… one week before the installation and up to 4 weeks after… if your new implant doesn’t lock down, your body just doesn’t care enough I guess 
All this swapping is also risky from a contamination standpoint… if at all possible try to leave the new chip in the needle and either slide the needle into the old pocket and eject, or make a new location.
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I’ve asked my installer the same question but regarding big flex implants (scalpel).
He said he’d remove the implant, close the wound, wait 18 months and then do a usual installation again.
Sound reply to get repeat business
Interesting, I was hoping to reuse the same incision as I had for my Flex One Beta for the Flex Apex. Do you think that even if it’s the exact same dimensions that It would require a new incision?
Okay, you all know these horn implants?
I just learned they are done in stanges, small horn, slightly bigger horn, etc.
I think reusing large skin pockets is fine when a professional does this.
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Such a great artist! Made some pretty groundbreaking stuff…
And I guess the pocket should be healed completely before reusing it - otherwise the risk of infection might be higher
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This makes me curious what the approach for removal would be for the new flex style with the hole through the middle.
You could cut a slit in the skin above the implant, then cut through the implant and pull it out by turning it around. Kind of like taking a key off of a keyring. But that’s gonna destroy the implant.
Or, you can make a large side incision and then go through that to try and separate the tissues that have regrown together in the center. Not much room to work, might be hard to see if bleeding hard.
Third option, cut a complete circle matching the O.D. of the implant and lift it straight up. The skin above the implant would all have to get stuffed through the hole.
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most likely this. take it out the same way it went in, just slice the tissue from the center hole and pull it out