Documentation on Alternate Chip Locations

I’m planning on going to a local piercer in the near future, in hopes of getting them to inject a few chips.
I’ve printed the documentation as suggested by DT for discussing with a local shop, however it only covers the standard location. I’m trying to get one of these on the outside of my hand (The bit that would rest on a table if you were holding a can or something) and though I know it’s a common location, all I’ve found documenting it so far is a few second long clip of someone getting injected.

Is there anywhere I can find directions for that location specifically, or should I just bring what I have, and see if they’d be willing to implant the chip there without explicit directions on how?

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On here, we generally refer to that as the blade edge edit or knife edge.
You are correct, there is not a lot of information, video or guides on how to install there.
One of the community members @Zktat2s recently had a blade installed and has recorded it.

With close access to his piercer and the fact that he already has a video of the procedure, it would be great if @Zktat2s could put together a guide for the community :wink: Hint hint. :wink:
I haven’t had mine done, as I am saving the blade for the Vivokey Flex One, If there is nothing available by then, I will do my best to put something together.
If only I had the experience or some video, or some photos or knew a piercer :wink:

I’ve heard it called the knife edge a few times over on Biohack.me, but wasn’t sure. Thank you for the clarification.

I’d be interested in documentation even for just personal reading. I’m a wee on the skinny side, and I’m not sure if I’ve got enough extra flesh to put my NeXT there. Not to hijack my own thread for a tangential topic, but do you intend to cut a pocket for your flex, or are you looking at the 4g needle?

Ahh yes also knife edge. :+1:
Yeah I’ll definitely be looking at the 4g needle pocket.

Have you read the info on the DT site around both options

#Needle Procedure

  • Incise skin using a 4g (5mm diameter) piercing needle, bevel side down
  • Carefully insert the needle to a depth of at least 35mm
  • Be sure to lift the skin ahead of the needle’s point as you insert it
  • Slide flex device under skin with sterile gloves – no forceps or tools
  • Achieve complete hemostasis before applying bandaging
  • Use re-enforced butterfly bandage or dermal strips to pull wound closed
  • Apply transparent film (tegaderm) dressing overtop the dermal strips
  • While hemostasis is maintained, do not remove bandaging for 7-10 days

#Scalpel Procedure

  • Make a 8mm wide incision in skin
  • Lift & separate dermal layer using elevator tool
  • The subdermal “pocket” should be at least 35mm deep
  • Remove all tools from installation site
  • Slide flex device under skin with sterile gloves – no forceps or tools
  • Suture to close wound – do not pierce flex device while suturing

All the information is there, but I personally like pictures to get my information

I have read over that a few times, I appreciate having the information provided though, thank you.

My interest between the two methods is more on the removal side. Like from the research I’ve done on magnets, you don’t get too many shots at it, because the tissue creates a pocket that doesn’t always heal up properly after removal. As opposed to what I’ve seen with the needles, the removal and healing seems less involved. (It’s also been years since I’ve looked into magnets, so there may be better options available these days.)

They’re obviously completely different procedures, and the way the body takes the glass vs a TiN/silicone coated magnet are going to be drastically different. I’ve just only read about people removing the glass implants, like the Firefly V2. was curious to see if anyone’s removed a flex implant, and if it leaves the fascia intact enough to implant something else there later.

Here’s a thread on this forum from a gentleman who had a flex implant removed. He commented that it healed well and nicely, but it wasn’t clear if he attempted to reuse that location for a subsequent implant or not.

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I’ve implanted in the webbing between the thumb and the index finger metacarpal like everyone else, because I understand the argument that the more soft meat around the implant to shield it from a bone and let it shift out of the way in case of a shock, the better.

But there’s one site that’s deemed dangerous, and I just don’t understand why: the space between two of the non-thumb finger metacarpals at the back of the hand, where the metacarpals’ bone section is thinnest. My thinking is this:

  • The implant sits protected between the two metacarpals, because the bulby ends of the metacarpals physically prevent the thin middle sections from coming too close and crushing it
  • Any blow across the top of the hand will be stopped by the bones before coming close to the implant
  • Any blow along and in-between the metacarpals (unlikely methink) would push the implant deeper into the hand between the guaranteed free space between the metacarpals.

The only case where I can see that implant site being dangerous is in case of a glancing blow across the top of the hand that would somehow push the skin and the implant underneath atop a metacarpal and squeeze it hard enough against the bone to crush the glass. But I would think that kind of blow would be just as dangerous in the usual thumb/index webbing.

Am I thinking wrong? Why is it considered ill-advised to use the space between the metacarpals on top of the hand?

Ultimately it’s up to you where and what you stab into your body, but fair warning there’s a bunch of delicate tendons and blood vessels up there.

Hmm yes, I guess you’re right. Didn’t think about those. Although the webbing between the thumb and the index isn’t devoid of delicate bits either. I know because my piercer went through a vein when she injected my first implant, and I got the mother of all haemorrhages for several days as a result - complete with intermittent loss of feeling in both my thumb and index finger. It scared me enough that I felt the need to go to the ER to have my hand checked out at one point.

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Sorry for the late reply! I think we implanted my knife edge LED a bit too deep, I haven’t gotten a read off of it yet. Admittedly I haven’t tried that hard lol. Having said that, the NExT in my webbing works like gangbusters

Do you mean you’ve not seen it light up yet? Because the xLED doesn’t have a chip to read so you won’t see anything happen with a reader, it only lights up based on the field output of the reader… so with phones it will simply blink as the phone periodically searches for chips to read.

I’ve got mine installed the other way around (xLED on webbing, NeXT on the blade) about two weeks ago. The NeXT read NFC immediately, but took roughly a week before I could get the RFID to read at work. My piercer took some photos and videos of the install, but it’ll probably be a while before he can get them to me to write up documentation.

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