MagicFlex Install and Notes

Projects
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Today was the big day, I had my Flex MT** for about 3 months now, sitting in its box on my desk. But today I went in and got it installed!

Fluff

I’m pretty nervous, as I have never gone under the knife nor gotten stitches but I am going with a local anesthetic as a lot of people recommend it, so I am not freaking out too much.

Background And Info

In the recent month or so, FlexNExT Implants are failing and/or becoming inflamed and I know the MT has not had the same issues but I just wanted to put here, all variables beforehand to keep people in the loop:

  • This is the FlexMT custom without the T5577 and an extra LED blinkie (Light Blue) I call is “Magic Flex” as a FlexM1 already exists and this is just what I have decided to call it

-It was one that had the adhesive strip removed before sealing (thank god as I’m allergic to adhesives XD)

-all the liquid has evaporated from the bag

-Location will be on the hand not the wrist

I am getting this done at Piercing HQ in Melbourne as a lot of people ask me. I sadly won’t be able to record as it is the policy at the mod shop I am going to, but I will do healing photos and updates.

Install

I was in and out within an hour, that includes paperwork and recovery time, Starting off my installer marked out where the pocket would go, also finding a vein right on my knife-edge, so incision was done parallel with the outer side of my pinky (see Photos)

I didn’t feel anything with the incision and mostly pressure while he made the pocket (except some of the outer sides where lido must not have effected enough, but my body felt it as heat even though my nerves were telling me it was pain… if that makes sense). He started with a small flat rounded tool and pretty much kept putting bigger ones in till the pocket was the right size.

Now here was the only issue of the day, the slit was about a mm too small so he made it slightly bigger… this section of the skin seemed to have no lido at all (not the fault of anyone) and the pain and suddenness made me almost faint, now I have done units upon units on fainting when I was at school for pathology collection so I worked on my breathing and staying present but was going to need a bit more help, by the time the flex was in I let my installer know about the predicament I was in and he got a coworker to get me some water and a lolly. And by stitch 5 I was back to feeling good and chatting with my installer.

Implant Photos

The first photo here is just after install, second and third are about an hour later when I took off the gauze.

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IMG_20201209_1708124608×3456 2.43 MB

The implant is pretty unnoticeable besides the bruising (something my installer said would happen) and it works on my ACR122 (although only palm up at the moment)

All 3 blinkies are happy and working, all being red at the moment (to be expected) and if I press the reader quite hard into the palm of my hand, the blinkies faintly light up (imma need a stronger reader to show it off I think)

All in all, I love working with Piercing HQ and will always sing their praise, I have 7 stitches now and will either take them out myself or go back to them in just over a week.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll keep you up to date in the comments!!

12 Likes
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That is a shame; have you asked if they can record it and share some of it with you?
This would give them control over the footage, some reference for their own training and records, a visual memoir for you, information for this community and publicity for their “studio”

Anyway, good luck with the install, I’m looking forward to the updates

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Hope your install went well!

I’m very much looking forward to seeing how it heals / what the range with 3 blinkies is since this is looking more and more like what I’d want in the future.

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Congrats! Seems like everything went smoothly.

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Looking good, it’s smaller than I thought! Maybe I could get one in my hand… I’ll wait and see how the outline of yours is after healing :slight_smile:

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Do you have a picture of your MagicFlex for others to see?

I grabbed a still from your video for reference

image

7

thankyou didn’t think of that!

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Day 2 Update!

It has been less than 24 hours and the bruising has gone down and now is mostly local to where the implant actually is (yesterday the entire big pocket was pretty bruised)

I can now feel my hand again and the pain is really minimal, just on the incision site

The lighting makes it look more red than it actually is.

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3 Likes
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This looks nice and clean. The red Gorbatchev-like thing looks unusual though. I’ve never seen that on any other post-install photos.

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Ah, I had that, too! A little spot, somewhere between suture and implant. Might have something to do with lifting skin “around the corner”, maybe, for suture and implant have pretty much the same placement my flexy had :woman_shrugging:

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I’m not sure but I think it has more to do with the effects of epinephrine on vasculature in the work area then anything.

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At least for me, I can rule that out - my artist doesn’t use epi :wink:

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Surprised… most that use lido have epi in it. Easier to get and also helps stop bleeding during work.

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That’s the reason why my artist doesn’t use it - he prefers the wound to bleed during installation, so he can push the blood out before suturing. If epi is used, the wound tends to bleed a bit after the suture is in, and this might lead to a bigger buildup. Different artists, different procedures, but this worked fine for me :wink:

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And also, he’s a vampire.

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I got Epi cream on mine, still bled like a MF.

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Nah, already met him on a freakin’ hot summer day, outside of his studio, and he didn’t turn to ashes :stuck_out_tongue:

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Well, he could be a daywalker
4954951e90eb6b7d054cb50de3766ffd27055bbaa41f6f509a53b39d6763da9d_1
tenor (65)

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yeah typically the topical version of anything really sucks compared to the injectable :slight_smile:

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Congrats!! :partying_face:

Well done @vampire_blue!
Nicelly written and chockfull of info! :grin:
And neat formatting too!! :wink:

And poorly done, @forum! this post only showed up to me today!

Well said!! and neat little name! :smiley:

Interesting here that my flex install had a slit 6mm smaller than the implant and I could still just stretch it enough without needing to increase it. (Although I actually thought of increasing it!)

I wonder if it had something to do with the specific dermal elevator tools your piercer used…? (hence the need might’ve been for the tool, not the chip…?) :thinking:

Regarding the Gorbachev-y feature, I’ve seen it enough for many reasons. Probably nothing to worry. :relieved:
My bet is on @amal’s guess… Effect of the products over the vascular system.

Does he use Petroleum Jelly lube (or similar)? These have similar vaso-constrictive effects to Epi.

1 Like