I’ve been very interested in getting some implants for a few years and I finally ordered the xSIID bundle and an xG3 v2. I have a job that requires a lot of fast typing all day and I was wondering if I should be concerned with implants moving or effecting my hand mobility at all? I see people say that it’s not a problem long term, but I can’t really seem to find anyone talking about the more immediate short term. I was planning on the webbing of each of my hands for the xSIID and xEM and either between knuckles or the blade of my hand for the xG3.
Additionally, I hadn’t really thought about it too much before, but after watching a video on implants where they went out of their way to inject lidocaine, I am wondering if pain management should be a legitimate concern? As mentioned, I was planning on just the webbing of my hand for the xSIID and xEM and either the back or blade of my hand for the xG3, and it seems like those positions are a lot less painful than others. I have tattoos and I’m not too bad with pain, but the video of a biohacker using so much lidocaine kind of made me rethink that.
I have a xMagic at P0 on my right hand (the webbing) and a flex secure on my left forearm. The xMagic, I believe, is slightly larger than the xSIID. I didn’t use lidocaine for that install (I did for the flex since it’s much larger but I’m not sure how much it really helped).
Basically the install is ~30 seconds of a fairly bad burning sensation. Not unbarable or enough to need pain managment but you know, I won’t have liked it to last much longer. For the next 4-6 hours after the install it will be kinda sore, but not terrible. After that I didn’t really find it to be painful or inhibit my ability to use my hand. That said you’ll want to keep the area clean and let the site heal, so don’t do anything crazy.
It will take around a week for the scab to start looking good, and ~2 weeks for the swelling to go down, and you’ll probably find a bad bruise around the area.
The glass injectables are definitely known to migrate a little ways from the install area, so the less you move your hand, probably the better. Some people try to minimize their movement until it heals, others try to use external bracing to keep the implant from moving while it heals, while others are of the opinion that some movement is fine and the implant will naturally settle to a location that doesnt experience too much movement.
I guess my two cents would be if you’re concerned about it, aim for a Friday install after work, take it easy the next two days, and you’ll be typing fine come monday.
Hopefully I answered your question
Tldr. Pain isn’t really bad enough during the install to be a concern. Little to no pain pretty much immediately after. Overall not too bad and worth it!
so… TL;DR; answer:
“As long as it’s not an experimental/controversial placement (such as finger tip), Should not be an issue”
Detailed answer:
When it comes to implant healing, there are two main approaches:
A) “the less movement you can do for about 2 weeks, the better”: This ensures the encapsulation process goes as smooth as possible and the implant stays exactly where you put it, together with minimal swelling and faster healing overall.
or…
B) “you should keep doing everything you normally do”: This is meant so that the implant will be pushed into the closest naturally “ergonomic” resting point before being encapsulated. Such approach might give you a bit of a longer healing period with more swelling and the implant might end up slightly off from where it was originally placed. perhaps with a thicker encapsulation as well.
Personally, I recommend approach A for experimental placements or people with loose skin, cicatrization issues or history of “migrating implants” (when the implant can be manually pushed around under the skin a few mm, for example).
Otherwise, approach B will ensure you don’t end up with a perfectly healed implant that starts “getting in the way of your daily motions” after healed.
It does require a bit more care for the wound and good sanitary conditions.
Now, to your case in hand…
If by webbing you mean the meaty portion between thumb and index finger, then you should be good to go. The motion that you get there from typing is minimal and usually absorbed well by all the juicy meat you got there. It’s one of the most recommended implant locations for a (many) good reason!
but if you meant the actual webbing, then there is a recommendation against it for was so many reasons.
This image shows a Webbing piercing.
Basically, the red circle is a risky area for an implant and it would possibly get rejected if you keep typing with it recently installed there.
The green area (roughly drawn) is a good placement option.
Blade of the hand, if you follow traditional ergonomics advice for typing, should not have any issues re: healing.
Now, between the knuckles…
If you mean along the back of the hand, in between the metacarpal bones, should be an easy heal. With a bit of a prolonged healing time and swelling because of the constant tendon motion, but that’ll only be “gently nudging” the xG3 into a good resting place.
But if you meant exactly between knuckles, as in “I can attach a knife’s blade on the magnet and cosplay as wolverine”… then it might be tricky to heal while typing a lot.
That portion of skin is in constant motion while we type, especially professionally, which puts a lot of stress into the fragile bonds between the internal layers of fascia and the first threads of the encapsulation tissue. Making it so…
might take longer to heal
probably ends up with a thicker than necessary encapsulation (scar tissue. which leads to reduced feeling from the magnet)
might end up with a “floating encapsulation”, which might cause the magnet to be naturally pushed towards the back of the hand
All that said, This is just a generic observation. For proper placement details, we got a couple of good posts on the topic on the forum.
Thank you for the clarification, I suppose I should use the normal hand placement numbers to be clear. Yes, I meant p0 and p2. Good to know that it might even be better to move around, but should ultimately be fine if I install at the beginning of my weekend for a couple days of healing.
I can chuck my 2 cents of opinion here as well (basically just agreement):
My NExT install in L0 was a long while ago and my memory aint too good but I remember it being pretty dang easy healing. I think i was easy on the hand for several days just as overkill caution but thinking about where I was at that point I’m almost certain i was still using my keyboard plenty with no issues.
As for my more recent install of an apex flex between my last 2 metacarpels, I avoided use of the hand or at least the relevant 2 or 3 fingers for a handfull of days but pretty quickly I was typing (or more accurately playing games that involved a keyboard). Honestly more of the tension i was feeling when moving those fingers was the bandaid and adhesive and not actually anything from the wound itself. If you give it a weekend or so to get some of the initial chunks of healing out of the way it will probably be fine for basic usage like that.
All the detailed advice above is accurate and I can only add an opinion: I have two glassies, one implanted with anaesthetic (hospital-supplied local), and one without. The anaesthetic needle inserted a few times was as uncomfortable as the un-anaesthetised implant needle and the puffiness caused made the install trickier. I would not have anaesthetic for an xSeries again. If I ever do fingertip or flex series installs I would.
Oh yea. My titan was done with no numbing and it kinda sucked. I tried the numbing gel but for me it had no effect as far as I could tell. It was bearable tho… Its kinda surprising how much pain you can tolerate quite well if you are expecting it and willing. Certainly didn’t feel good at all tho. Placement turned out perfect tho so no regrets.
Oddly enough, flex series are much closer to x series and I don’t think I would use any anesthetic if i did another after my apex was done with no numbing.
After trying to find someone near me, being denied, and finding the closest willing professional being hours away and charging what seemed like too much to me (thought was probably a fairly normal price) I decided to start with just trying to do the xSIID in P0 on my own after spending all day watching install videos and reading through this forum and guides.
It worked! Bit of a rough install compared to the professional videos of course, but once I got the needle to pop through it was more or less smooth. Minimal pain with piercing the skin, and I don’t think I made the pocket quite deep enough because there was another small pinch when fully inserted to the click.
After two days of letting it heal, it already seems to be doing great. As the many posts said, I don’t seem to be having any significant mobility issues outside of area tenderness.
It works great and the inflammation has already gone significantly down. The white xSIID is very bright just from my Galaxy S20 and currently loads a YouTube video until I finish my website that I will be using as a sort of business card/linktree.
Now I gotta do the other two soon…
Thanks for all the guidance!
