The biohack.me forums were originally run on Vanilla and ran from January 2011 to July 2024. They are preserved here as a read-only archive. If you had an account on the forums and are in the archive and wish to have either your posts anonymized or removed entirely, email us and let us know.

While we are no longer running Vanilla, Patreon badges are still being awarded, and shoutout forum posts are being created, because this is done directly in the database via an automated task.

Improving magnet movement

Hey guys,

I wanted to run a problem by some of the people with magnet experience. I've had a couple large cylinders in my ring fingers for a while, (a few years,) and the one in my dominant hand has seen a lot of use while the other one not so much. Now I'm trying to do a little more with them both and was wondering why the left seems so much weaker than the right (they are identical magnets done at the same time.) Upon some inspection, it appears my left magnet is "stuck." That is, there's tissue built up around it that prevents it from rotating in any direction, so it's tricky for me to pick things up or do much with that finger.

On my right hand the implanted magnet will rotate freely- if I move a large magnet around my finger the implanted one will rotate to face it, flipping this large magnet over next to my finger will cause my finger magnet to flip over, etc. When I attempt this on my left hand the implanted magnet will move a little but not complete a full rotation, and it's uncomfortable when the magnet is trying to rotate too much.

My question is is there any way to improve the movement of the magnet in my left ring finger? I'm tempted to use the large magnet to pull the implanted magnet around and break things up, but I'm not sure if that will cause any scarring or other issues.

Comments

Displaying all 11 comments
  1. I have no real experience with magnets. Can you give information on them like coating or if it was autoclaved. If it's tissue growing around try massaging it a little but don't do it to the point where it hurts.
  2. I wonder if using an electromagnet ring (like the Bottlenose) could loosen it up over time without causing damage or pain?  Set it up to pulse and adjust the power to something less than painful.

    Instead of ripping it free, it might let it slowly wiggle its way loose.

    All pure guessing though, I have no experience with implanted magnets.
  3. @Meanderpaul They're parylene coated and were not autoclaved. The procedure was done by a professional. Both magnets are identical, implanted the same way in the same sitting. The only difference is that now one rotates to stick to the spoon I'm picking up, the other does not rotate and will not get a good enough hold on the spoon to even move it easily.

    @Birdhandz good idea, but I'm not sure that will work. It still vibrates just fine and has a little movement, such as back and forth, but I can't completely rotate it 180 degrees to reverse the placement of the poles. I'm thinking a magnetic ring like that would only move it back and forth without getting the movement I need.
  4. >~< Parylene plastic tries to bind with tissue, if I understand it correctly. The left magnet might have kinds bonded with the tissue in your finger, whereas the right may not have made that solid bond. This would be my first guess. :o
  5. That's what it sounds like, Zerbula. I don't think using something like the bottlenose would work here... you'd need a really strong ER field to break down that connected tissue. Though, massaging at scar tissue can help break that down over time I hear, so maybe it would be like a similar slow-and-steady massage from inside instead of out? I don't see it being a short process though, if it's even enough of a 'massage'.
  6. I was thinking the same thing @zerbula and @birdmachine. I've had many surgeries and plenty of scars from it and scar tissue was an issue with all of them (knees with the petella). The massages broke most of the tissue and you could even feel it break free from the knee cap. Another thing was using electricity but I feel like that might be a bad option for this one.
  7. Hmm, the parylene binding to tissue thing sounds familiar, although I hadn't thought of that since the other is fine. Massaging sounds like a better idea than messing with a really big magnet.

    @Meanderpaul @BirdMachine do you know if I can just massage the fingertip with my thumb throughout the day, or does the massaging need to push the magnet in the direction I want it to go?
  8. any direction should work your just trying to break up the tissue not move it. I would suggest circles personally so you hit all directions.

  9. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll be trying to massage it frequently over the next few weeks and see how it goes.
  10. @rpyka did you get any improvement from the massaging?
  11. @sparrow I actually keep forgetting to massage it, so I can't really say whether it worked or not
Displaying all 11 comments