Just showing off some custom work someone ordered before I ship it out… a flexDF2 + blinky and some NFC nail implants. The flexDF2 required expanding the wedge shape at the top to 10.2mm which I’m pretty sure will kill any idea of it being installed with one of our custom needles… but we shall see.
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I’m curious: why a needle?
I mean I get the idea of using a needle when it’s an injector - because it needs to be round and hollow to push a round chip through it. But if you’re just using it to create a flat pocket, why not use a flat blade with a sharp bevelled cutting edge at the front? Sort of like a chisel. Possibly with a slanted edge so there’s a point for the initial punch through the skin.
Surely that would be easier / cheaper to source than a giant needle.
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Ooo, pretty!
When I order my white-LED FlexNExT, would it fall under a custom order like these?
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It is illegal for most all body piercers in most every country to use a scalpel, dermal elevators, or sutures… however, using a piercing needle to incise and make a pocket suitable to slide a flex into and close with a bandage instead of sutures… totally legal.
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Dunno… might make a listed option for applicable flex… gonna see how this goes.
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Oh right, yes. Clean forgot about that. So, more about legality than logic then.
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Logic could also be argued in that it is my belief that the needle is just plain easier. It’s definitely faster, especially considering the closing doesn’t require anything more complex than a butterfly bandage. Furthermore, it could also be argued that it’s less painful overall… something also important it pain management isn’t an option.
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You’re probably right, in the hands of an “ordinary” piercer (or self-installer) I can totally see the needle being easier. A professional with another tool and a healthy dose of lidocaine does better work however, I can vouch for that. Problem is, you need a professional and lidocaine 
So yeah, the needles are most definitely useful. Although in the case of your latest creation, by my calculation, you’d need a 2 gauge needle (6.5 mm in diameter). That’s… big.
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Yeah my calculations as well, however… skin is elastic… some people’s more than others… so some might be able to accommodate it, some not.
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Since the implant is “bulbous” at the end, perhaps you can run the smaller needle back and forth sideways a bit, in a V pattern, to core out a larger pocket at the end. Or mount it on a dremel and spin it to carve out the larger bit
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Haha well, using the cutting edge to incise a slightly wider incision has precedent. That’s all you’d really need… the fascia under is much more elastic.
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This was what I was missing in the needle discussion, make more sense from that perspective
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If you often have enough white LEDs, I’d say just add it as an option to the FlexNExT purchase page 
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I’ll get you guys a proper thread about it. 
Quite excited to get those babies home.
And happy to try the needle approach.
There are actually two main technique’s for doing a Haworth’s implant…
If they are small enough, even if you can’t slide them through a needle, you can still use the needle to create a pocket. This has one mechanical advantage:
- The shape and sharpness of the needle combined acts as both the scalpel and the dermal separator, making the pocket creation quicker, thus less painful and less prone to swelling during the proccess.
(It’s the same reason why we use Needles to do Dermal Hook implants.)
and one two-fold legal advantage, as @amal mentioned:
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Being quicker and with a well known instrument, people are less prone to need pain management. And in most countries piercers cannot apply any form of pain management. (you gotta love a government that forbids you from mitigating pain, right?)
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In some other countries the issue is not about the pain management, but about the instrument: Piercers can use needles but cannot use scalpels.
The second method for Haworth’s, which is necessary on larger implants, is to utilise a scalpel to make the initial incision and then you take a dermal separator (think of a small spatula-like object, similar to the “knife” that comes with Nutela packs), and utilising the entrance created by the incision, you slide it in between the dermis (skin) and the muscle layers, thus separating them.
Then you just got to be fast and slide your implant in that pocket.
There is a bit more to that, but no point in getting too technical.
Then, regardless of the method, you will need to stitch it closed to reduce the risk of scarring. And this again could raise legal issues in some countries, since Piercers are usually not allowed to apply sutures. (and/or people would hardly accept to get sutures without any pain management. been there, done that: you won’t enjoy it)
If the incision is small enough you could try your luck utilising only butterfly stitches, but 1cm would be around the widest I would accept going butterfly-only for a client.
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I think it’s actually very stupid that there are so many legal issues around implants - and again, I’m sooooo happy to live in Germany… * pokes on her Haworth silicone implant * - but it’s good to see that there are some “workarounds” to that for others who are less happy. Didn’t know that sutures were also a legal problem im some countries - I’d think this is a procedure pretty much everyone was allowed to do if necessary (not that it would be funny to get that done by a non-pro…^^).
And a needle install might be easier for pro’s who aren’t used to dermal elevators and such, but I would still take care that someone who approaches me with a needle of that size has some decent amount of practice with stuff a bit more advanced than the usual bellybutton piercing…
With my last implant, I bled a bit more than expected, and so the numbing went off faster as well - I actually felt the last two or three stitches of the suture. Wasn’t that bad (since there still was some amount of numbness^^), but I wouldn’t really like to get that done without pain management…
And @amal - those blinky fingernails look fun, but what is their use case? They light up when close to any NFC-reader?
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Yep that’s correct. Customer gets what customer wants.
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Might be a very interesting thing if there ever is some kind of NFC-bracelet or -necklace or such, so they can easily be lit up… I might install a bunch of them, too
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Sheesh I’ve been stitched up without anesthetics more times that I can count… it isn’t a fun time but also it’s manageable.
@Coma my goal is to have a bra/corset type of coil thing so I can implant a fuck ton of lights into my sternum tattoo… just waiting on @NiamhAstra and @Devilclarke to get on board with more brainstorming on that one.
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I think you have a much higher pain tolerance than anyone else here - and I’m saying that while my scarification is healing Anyway, respect for that!
This sound soooooo great! Please, if this comes to life, share some pics - might look fuckin awesome! 
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Ahh, you also know the Great scale of measurement; and for those who aren’t aware, a fuck ton is more than a shit load but less than a cunt load. All of which being a “substantial amount”
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