I wonder if anyone knows if it is a good idea to relocate Titan in this way? Cut on red, grab and move to black circle. Would it stay there? If not on its own then how could I make it stay there? If it’s safe and possible then how hard would it be? I suppose that you have to cut open the pocket around it???
It would probably be I’ll advised to give that level of advice for body mod procedure… especially without being able to really get a good look at it in person… I would imagine though that cutting and grabbing won’t result in anything new that you haven’t already tried using external forces. I think your magnet is just stuck that way.
The reasons why Titanium is such a great material for medical implants is exactly the same reason why that would probably not work:
Just moving the Titan around would make no impact on the pocket which is already created and stretched. Which means no matter where you move the Titan, the space for it to fall back into the current position will still be there.
Also, the approach from the red line will pass dangerously close to 2 nerves you have on your finger.
If you want to change it, I would reccomend trying again in another finger. Because even by removing and re-installing, you would still need to wait for that pocket to heal back.
And most wounds like that on the fingers tend to never heal 100%, or heal with a lot of “internal scar tissue”, which makes it a bad place for implanting stuff.
Yet, as @amal mentioned, maybe another bodymod artist looking and feeling the region in person might have another opinion.
So it’s not possible to cut into the pocket to essentially “open” it and move the Titan? I am sorry, but I don’t have much knowledge about body handling implants.
Imagine a baseball sewed inside of a baseball glove. You might be able to open the glove up a little bit and twist the baseball around but you’re not really going to change much about how it sits. If that makes sense.
So how does the removal procedure looks? Because I was sure that if you cut the pocket open, you can just take it out? I am not talking about the skin, but the pocket itself, under the skin.
Edit: to better explain what I had in mind:
I am not an artist, but:
The outer circle is the skin, inner is “deep stuff”, between there’s pocket and the Titan inside. Red lines are cuts and the arrow is the direction I want it moved in the procedure I’ve imagined. So essentially I hoped that this way it would go out of the pocket, so it hopefully can’t fall back in there again and then it would probably make a new one?
Because it’s not stuck to the pocket, it can even flip with some help of a strong magnet, although it’s not the most pleasant feeling.
What I would get done in a similar situation:
Obviously, don’t take it as advice, just typing my thoughts.
the only issue here is that the “make larger pocket” would need to involve cutting away all the existing scar tissue. A “pocket” is a hole in bod mod terms… a separation of tissue where something can be placed, but healing creates scar tissue that sort of molds around the thing to create an “encapsulation”. All that scar tissue is, well, pretty rigid to begin with, and also does not reform very well. The whole purpose of scar tissue is to act like a shotgun blast of cement to try to secure and hold a wound as best as possible… trying to work with it is like working with clumps of cured rubber cement glue… it might stretch around a little but it’s basically set.
A more likely scenario for success would be to remove and install in another fresh location. That, or remove, wait for full healing from removal process, incise and remove scar tissue to make a literal hole in the scar tissue for the titan, and stitch closed to heal… but it’s a lot more cutting, a lot more skill required, and far less likely to succeed.
What I (Atilla) would opt for, is to use a dermal punch to remove some part of the scar tissue and pick it out with a scalpel. Unlike vanilla tissue would be pocketed with just stretching.
I would get it done for sure, instead of hoping for good result.
But I totally get your thoughts!
Edit: get it done for sure… in scar tissue… is borderline miracle.
Ok… As my beloved Jack would say…
Let’s do this by parts, shall we?
First…
Perfect explanation, @amal !
Especially this bit:
Yep!
To make things double clear:
If you open the pocket up, you can just take the implant out.
But the pocket it basically a hole. You don’t take a hole out.
There are techniques to remove scar tissue and let it heal back, such as:
The tricky bit here is…
this often leaves a massive scar, and is commonly used together with a skin graft.
Without a skin graft, it’s often done in areas such as the Lobe, where you can actually discard a chunk of yourself… (and the lobe will become smaller than it was. it does not “regrow” if you do that). and here I doubt you want to have a thinner finger.
This kind of procedure works best when you have a thick layer of skin and or flesh/muscle, since both of these tissues regrow pretty well. In the finger, most of what you would remove in this process is adipose tissue (fat), and this tissue does no regrow that well. It often regrows around a hole, making larger clumps around it, while keeping a visible hole on the removed area… google why people should never regain weight after doing Liposuction and you’ll get it.
The problem with this approach here is that even if @Midoriya enlarges the pocket, then the Titan would end up with too much space, then fall back to the “comfortable” position, which will be the path of least resistance: i.e. exactly where it is now.
Also this:
One of the studios I used to work at would charge an extra fee to get piercings done on top of scar tissue, exactly because of all the complications it brings.
The closest thing you could do… and even then, I’m talking on hypotethicals here (and I would not try to do that in anyone), would be to cut it open on the lump. remove a slight fillet on each side of the cut, re-position the titan and then stitch it back. using the exact same sewing technique that is performed when a tailor tries to tighten a suit by the centre back seam.
That would effectively make your finger thinner, leave a visible scar, would have a bitching healing period with a lot of things to take care of… and could still end up stretching it back into current position.
In other words… I would not recommend.
Yeah that doesn’t sound very good… ffs
You can change the finger it’s placed upon.
Or remove and wait a couple of months. Being Titanium, if it has been there for only a short period, there is a chance the body might reabsorb it within around 3 months after removal.
Depends on your diet and metabolism as well.
ehh
The thing is I really really prefer this location, or I should say, almost this location…
And I hoped that it would be possible to do in just one additional incision, with one healing period. I guess you can’t have everything xd
What if the body doesn’t reabsord it? I can’t have it there at all?
with a good enough artist, you can. it would just make the new install more complicated.
A great artist might even be able to use scar tissue to “pin” the implant exactly in the position you want.
Or it might just end up with a small bump, very similar to how it is at the moment.
Almost 2 weeks ago I got my titan installed by nakedsteel.
I believe it’s still not perfectly healed, so I’m not getting the full sense but it’s pretty decent already.
Now I know what people mean by “crisp”, it’s really a good way to describe the feeling when I hover over my cooktop.
There’s a small bump in my finger, but the titan doesn’t get in the way yet. I gripped something really strong, and while it was a weird sensation on the titan, it didn’t really hurt.
I expect that to get less and the sensing to get a bit better in the next few weeks.
It’s a bit hard to tell by the pictures, but if I see it right - incision on the side, placement on the pad?
Yes, a very typical installation. It’s not really on the pad, more like 45° between pad and side. It has migrated a bit along the finger, but height wise stayed the same.
Hope you see it better here… ignore the scar, I’ve been told it’ll look better soon (removing the stitch was kinda bloody, I was dumb).
Looks like a really good placement - hope it will work out well during daily life 
And believe me, I’ve seen worse scars from annoying sutures. On my own hands… 
People who got it installed, how long did different parts of healing take? I am not sure how long I should wait until doing different things like, showering, swimming, working out, lifting esc?
For me it was ~14 days until you can wash hands, ~30 until “fully” healed.
I’m at around 3 weeks and I do most just as before, just a little more careful still.
