Firefly V2 Implant - A summary!

edited December 2017 in Procedures

Hello everyone! :D

I think it's time i sat down and gave a little writeup for the knowledge and questions. >3<

NOTE! Yours truly is very shy. Sorry, there are many pictures, but too shy to post most of them. >3<

So, yours truly acquitted a V2 firefly, and it's been successfully implanted into my face, below my right eye outside of the socket. ^^


The procedure was a bit intimidating, I have never done an implant on myself, this is my first one. :3

So, I began by acquiring tools! :D

Ended up acquiring a set of X-acto blades (in lieu of a proper scalpel) and found that the curved blade in this specific hobby pack resembled a #10 scalpel blade, and used it in tandem with the #2 blade. The rest weren't used and ended up being discarded, though having them handy was more tools in the box. ^^

A pair of small hemostats, a pair of small stainless steel sewing scissors, and a common generic steel pick were also used. All were kept in said glass tray filled with 92% Isopropyl alcohol, following @aviin's example in his video. Full credit, liked the idea. :o

Also used Chlorhexidine and topical lidocaine, along with Loctite ULTRA superglue.

Many many gauze on hand.

PROCEDURE:

Began by preparing the area and cleaning up, getting a nice little spot to work in my little bathroom. Not ideal, but the best I had. Ended up scrubbing hands and face with Chlorhexidine, then doing a lot of drawing on my face with a pen, sketching around and finding my angles, Where I wanted it.

Applied a liberal layer of topical lidocaine, followed by an occlusion (clingwrap) for about 15 minutes. I am not sure if it had much effect or use, but It helped me move on more comfortably, if nothing else, under placebo. I have a very skewed perception of pain regardless, because of a certain chronic disease. x3x

After enough hesitation, ended up making a vertical incision on the outside of my face, approximately 1.5cm long, using the #10 scalpel blade, and used the point of the #2 blade to finish piercing the skin through the dermis.

Used the incision to help get the needle started, again, I am not sure how much/little it helped, but honestly it seems to have been beneficial for myself. The needle was quite large, going in from the outside of my face diagonally down to the inside. It took a long time to get the needle the amount it went, A lubricant would have potentially been very useful. I was EXTREMELY wary of accidentally pulling an Aviin and making a tunnel... Also, there was a mild amount of unease sticking this giant injector into my face. It took a little bit of will to keep going.

it took about 30 minutes of slow pushing to get the needle in as much as I thought was enough... More on this later. very carefully began depressing the plunger while withdrawing the needle... and found the plungers rod had slipped past the implant and not actually completely ejected the firefly from the needle.

Withdrawing the needle took the half-ejected firefly with it. It was a little bit of a panic to get the Firefly back into the injector (hands were slightly shaky from simply stress and nervousness, pain was negligible), and the injector was both covered and slightly full of blood. there was also a decent amount of blood going down my face at this point.

Reinserted the injector's needle, took a little more care with depressing the injector this time, while also trying to hold the firefly inside a little while pulling the injector free. Success this time! :D

Now, after pulling the injector free and dedicating attention to face, found that I had not gone quite deep enough for comfort... The edge of the firefly was approximately 1-2mm away from the edge of the incision site! D:>

Ended up cleaning up the site, five or six times, with gauze and iso to observe the situation between blood flows, and decided it would be best to try to get it built up as much as possible. Ended up using hemostats to hold both sides of the incision together, quickly wiped it clean, and ended up drizzling a line of Loctite down the incision. It beautifully sealed the site! :D it also almost glued the Hemostats to my face, I almost didn't get them off in time before it started adhering.

So, the hard part was all done, and I was a little burned out from stress and nervousness. Total time elapsed was approximately 90 minutes. ;^;

Cleanup was easy.

POST SURGERY:

This is where things get a little more complex. Aftercare did not go as planned at all.

So, after about 6 hours, ended up going back to clean up and examine the results thus far, in regards to the incision. peeling the Loctite off was a little difficult, and underneath was the cutest little clean healing cut ever. I was absolutely thrilled, it was nothing.

Then I made a bad mistake. I reapplied another layer to replace the layer I had just taken off. And I used a tiny few spots on a small gause to adhere it over the site to keep it clean and stuff...

This left four burn marks on my face from the adhering sites, and the second later of glue ripped of a layer or two of skin and burned the skin around the incision. I had a dark bruise under my eye for about a week, resembling a black eye, as well as 3 other distinct burn marks, and the actual incision was... The skin was all kinds of irritated, burned, trying to seep little bits of clear fluid from the incision.

This was a very annoying fight for the next week, though bandages and triple antibiotic ointment saw me through quite well. ^^

The implant never tried to reject or get pushed out of it's pocket. Thank you for the prediction, @Cassox. having reassurance is always nice.

I've also had a VERY bad habit of playing with it. :c

Comments

  • RESULTS:

    • It has Glowed! :D
    • It does rattle. It does not typically move except for sharp movements (Full run, sharp turns or shaking of head, Sneezes), or unless tapped with a finger. It is not annoying or bothersome to myself.
    • It is flippable. Easily, with one hand within a second, and emits no light through the skin as result of the lead plate. It can be "turned off" quite easily. I have only ever had it flip once when I didn't want it to, and I think it was an isolated incident. It's not something I am concerned with, after having it in for this long.
    • It has never been so bright as to be discomforting at night. I do not think it will ever be, with it's placement. I have been able to, at its absolute most intense brightness, been able to see it out of the corner of my eye barely with no material to reflect from, but it was not irksome or bothersome.

    Now, this exact second, it is not. at all. its completely dark. I have a theory, but that's for a little lower.

    So far, its performance has been lackluster compared to my imagination, as well as even what i think is reasonably expectable. It has never glowed bright enough to be picked up by cell phone camera, even with the lens flush against my skin in pitch black darkness.

    It took approximately a week to even become visible at all by any methods in the mirror. At it's current best, within the last few weeks, it has been able to be spotted by a friend from approximately 8 feet away later at night when leaving their house late at night. But most of the time, it's barely visible at 4-6 feet away.

    After implanting, it feels to me like there is a slight 'tunnel' of tissue where in the middle of the implant, the area is a tad thicker than around the 3-4mm on either side of the end of the implant.. I may have made a slight tunnel through facial tissue. However, rattling the inner capsules around have yielded no proof that this is obstructing any light, it seems uniformly bright throughout its entire movement range, and the visible glow has the ability to move about 3-5mm along its long axis.

    Now, just today, I've figured out how to make it 'pulse', and I think it has to do with why its not functioning as predicted.

    FOLLOWUP:

    Right now, It's dark, and it has had a very reoccurring issue of going darker/dimmer and brighter. I am certain it's because of playing with it.

    I believe the exact cause of this is blood pooling under the skin from capillaries that are not healing, or being damaged before they can heal, and in regards to such... A question: Who is more familiar with facial anatomy and can help explain the theory and solution to such problem? :o

    I can "wipe" blood off for a second to reveal a glow, which immediately is blotted out again, and make it slightly pulse it's glow in the dark. While this is a cool trick, I would MUCH prefer the passive constant glow.

    Afternotes

    • @AlexSmith, If I may make a suggestion, I would definitely suggest trying to get stronger injector rods into the plungers, if this is a possibility.
    • PLEASE Be careful with superglues that are not medical-grade. I just learned the nature of why it's not medically suggested. DO NOT use it to adhere anything to your skin, or apply more than a single layer, or apply it multiple times in the same location. All of these have resulted in pain and damage to the area that only complicated the process.
    • Make sure you have AMPLE clearance for the implant to hear from its entrance site. It added a lot of stress and uncertainty in my head, and was too close for comfort. ><
    • Don't play with it. ;^;

    Social Reactions:

    I have yet to have any person presented not ask "Why?", and have gotten quite good at reciting the philosophy of Biohacking, which I have humbly fell in love with! >3< It does align quite well my personal philosophies of life. The other question people have asked is "What if someone punches you in the face?" To which... This has not exactly been a problem, nor is expected to become one.

    Many people seem quite interested after a demonstration and explanation of what it is and how it functions, as well as just in general explaining exactly what it does and how it works.

    Conclusion:

    Approximately 3 and a half weeks later. >3<

    Very happy though. Thank you, @AlexSmith for allowing me to have audience with it's development. ^^

  • That sounds like a harrowing experience, and you're hella badass. Thanks for sharing!
  • edited November 2017
    I don't know about hella badass! >#<

    I just wanted a glowing line under my eye. And maybe to share this with someone close some day. >3<.
  • Great read !

  • Does anybody have enough skin anatomy knowledge to say what's going on with capillaries to keep obscuring the light from this?. I'll still definitely say it's not nearly as bright as it should be, interpreting.pictures of V1s.

    If it's just time that I'm messing up on, completely satisfactory. But does anyone know if it's typical to still make it go dim/gone with blood pooling even a month after implanting? Is there scar tissue or something I'm overlooking?

    Do I just need to stop playing with it, or is it always going to do this, even in a year? ;^;
  • edited November 2017

    @Zerbula said:
    I don't know about hella badass! >#<

    I just wanted a glowing line under my eye. And maybe to share this with someone close some day. >3

    TBH that is actually one of my favorite things about my V1. My fiance loves to play with the implant and looking at it when we lay in bed at night. It really is something nice to share with someone.

    I'm looking at upgrading mine to a V2 in the near future and placing a second underneath my right forearm to mirror the original implant.

  • edited November 2017

    Also, props to you on your self-implant. Mad respect.

  • Thanks @trybalwolf, it mean a lot coming from someone who has done a lot of them, themselves. >3< I'm still but a newbie though.

    I love playing with this little thing. but I should really stop. ;_;

  • Hi @Zerbula I just got my V2! My doctor friend will be hopefully implanting for me in a few weeks. I just want to know:
    1. Would you say that you placed your implant in or beneath the dermis? The instructions for Cyberise.me RFID implants are a little vague on this.
    2. Do you think getting if 'Higher' (between the epidermis and dermis) might improve brightness? Or would that be too shallow?

  • @thetarn I'm 99% sure I have maybe, at most, an extra... I'd guess an extra 1mm of tissue at the absolute most above the deepest part of my firefly, but I don't think it's even that deep... x3x maybe even as little as a .3mm, it's very hard to gauge this second, I'll try to get back to you with a better answer. X3X


    Comparing brightness of the most "shallow" to the "deepest" spot is slightly notable, very slightly. But honestly, I don't really mind. I would have rather it been level, because of potential healing complications I was worried about. ^^'

    You will need to get under the dermis. If you don't, it will be pushed out of the skin by new layers growing. This is an issue with magnet implants that shares the same requirement. C_c please don't try to do a epidermal implant, it will fall in this application.
  • Had a dental appointment today, got them to take an X-ray and totally tripped out my dentist. Haha ~3~
  • @Zerbula said:
    Had a dental appointment today, got them to take an X-ray and totally tripped out my dentist. Haha ~3~

    I love it!

  • @Zerbula said:
    Had a dental appointment today, got them to take an X-ray and totally tripped out my dentist. Haha ~3~

    COOL!

  • UPDATE -

    It's getting slightly brighter every time people regularly check it, even still. >3<

    Has healed very nicely. No regrets with placement in regards to being a distraction that's actually distracting - I can see it illuminate my skin out of the corner of my eye. ^^

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