Only after about 30 seconds or more of massaging it. And then it’s maybe a 1/10 on the pain scale.
It’s a lot more sore if I do something like knocking it on a door frame accidentally.
I’m wondering if it just isn’t having the opportunity to settle because it keeps getting nudged. Would it be worth padding it with a dressing or something for a couple of days to see how it looks?
Did you watch the installation, or do you have any pictures or video of it? Do you know how deep the needle was inserted, or the angle of the needle (parallel to the skin vs slightly angled inward)? Is there a chance the magnet has started working its way back out? Sorry for so many questions, but more information on the install may be helpful.
This is just speculation on my end FWIW, but as you can see pictured below, the end of the magnets are definitely dark to black colored. I don’t want to alarm you or anything, but I’m unaware of anything else that would cause the black spot.
I also have a knife edge xG3. It’s slightly difficult to tell, but i believe mine is closer to the bone going to my pinky. Yours appears to be more to the outside edge of the hand.
Thanks for coming back with such a comprehensive response. I’ll try and give you all I know.
Anecdotally, it doesn’t feel ‘wrong’, which, has been the giveaway in the past that infection etc. has been incoming.
The install was done in the second week of August by a professional installer who has done my xSIID and Apex before. They have done plenty of installs and have been recommended on here too.
I only have a picture of the wound a few days post-install, where it looked fairly well concealed by the swelling. It was 4 days after install in the attached picture.
Generally, post install, there was minimal pain and discomfort. Riding a motorbike about 2 weeks post-install was the first thing I can think of that really irritated it.
The redness, and visibility of the xG3 itself seems to vary day by day, and even hour by hour. It’s understandably worse if it has been knocked or banged. My proprioception is awful, so that happens reasonably often.
Healing, broadly speaking, has been really quite painless and easy, the wound sealed up very quickly, and I avoided using the magnet for the first couple of weeks, bar a brief paperclip test here and there.
The white spot/with the darker centre seems to have formed a slight mass that feels like it has surrounded the implant. It feels similar to my well encapsulated xSIID. It doesn’t feel small enough to just be the end of the bioglass, if that makes any sense.
I didn’t mean for what I said to sound accusatory toward the install or installer. With a troubleshooting / problem solving mindset, I would think there are 2 main events the install and the healing process. If you feel the install was good, and the xG3 isn’t working its way out. Then you can rule out the install as the issue.
That would leave the healing process or complications during it as the cause. I’m not a medical professional, and I’d be interested to know what others here think.
I may be completely on the wrong train of thought, but are you able to see or feel the orientation of the xG3 under the skin? And how close the end is to that mass?
I have a similar but smaller grey spot on my xG3. It’s most likely a little bit of skin stuck in there due to the needle orientation. Mine has been there a few months but supposedly it should go away eventually.
No, not at all, I just wanted to reassure that I went to someone reputable and experienced. I appreciate why it’s a good question to ask.
I think the end of the mass is surrounding the end of the xG3. I’ve managed to get a better image showing how the xG3 is sitting. I think one end is sitting slightly higher, which is where the insertion site and the dark spot is.
I will say… the knife edge is quite the challenging spot to put anything into. The installation is difficult because almost no part of the knife edge is actually flat… it’s all curves in every direction. The other aspect is the location itself - prone to a lot of hitting and slamming on things.
It looks to me like what might have happened is the xG3 “zippered” back toward the incision while it healed. This is common as the body tries to close up damage at an equal rate, but the damage at the end of the needle depth is less than the damage at the incision, so the opposite end tends to bind up with proteins and collagen first and start to close. This tends to create a pushing motion on the xG3 since the tissue at the far end is trying to come together and the tissue at the incision end is nowhere near as strong or ready to close yet… so the xG3 nudges closer to the incision.
The fact that it’s white sort of indicates to me there is a lot of pressure there under the skin, which is not allowing proper blood flow to that one small area of skin. This may result in necrosis and a wound opening up. In this case you would have to have it removed. You might try simply pressing in on the magnet with some force and try to nudge it back away from the skin, down the pocket… if it’s not to late to influence healing, it may work. You may try putting a small wad of cotton overtop of it, and then a rigid thing like a popsicle stick, and taping that down so the stick is pressing on the cotton and the cotton is pressing down on the skin… do that for 30 minute intervals if you can… 30 on… 30 off… 30 on… 30 off… don’t leave it on all day as the same necrosis problem will be an issue.
Many thanks Amal, I thought I’d post an update based on your suggestions.
I got a medically trained friend who isn’t squeamish to take a look, and push it further down into the pocket.
I did not enjoy it (painful), but he felt a good pop as it moved further in.
I then took the popsicle stick advice, which seems to have really helped too.
I’ve got photos here for comparison, and to me, it looks like the magnet is sitting much flatter and the discolouration has dropped notably, even just overnight.
It’s likely the fluid surrounding it during encapsulation is pushing it outwards. Prenatals to assist in healing and maybe ibuprofen would help reduce the fluid. But you’ll be absolutely fine just being gentle on it.
There’s no pain or discomfort it’s giving me either, so maybe I am just being overly concerned.
Annoyingly, typing seems to aggravate it, which, working in IT, isn’t super helpful.
The three photos are taken within a couple of minutes of eachother, to show how quickly it goes from looking quite sad and poking out, to retreating again.
That’s the most important. If that’s the case I would personally just let it be. It has to settle down at some point
2 months is not a huge amount of time when it comes to healing. Especially with an awkward position like that encapsulation is going to be slow. If I were you I would just try and be gentle, maybe avoid intentionally moving it.