Step-by step video of magnet install

edited May 2011 in Procedures
I performed the procedure on May 15, 2011. I asked two friends of mine to film; a third friend with experience in the medical field provided supervision. 

If this looks easy, it's not. The magnets slipped out of the incisions many times before I was able to hold them in place and suturing was extremely difficult one-handed. It's painful, it's stressful, it's dangerous. 

I receive physical aid twice: to apply pressure on the magnet during insertion and to help tie a knot in the sutures. All tools have been sterilized prior.



installing magnets from Sovereign Bleak on Vimeo.

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Comments

  • My goodness, that took some large gonads.  Congrats on the magnets.  Have you gotten any sensation yet in the fingers, or is it all still pain? 
  • I guess this is day 4  after my procedure and the tenderness is mostly gone. wound is about half way healed, starting to get more sensations, still pretty numb in the "pocketed" area. How are you SB?
  • Surprisingly very little pain. 

    If I bring my fingers close to a field, I perceive so very minor sensation that it's impossible to tell if it's just hopeful thinking or real effect. This is day two.

  • Nice video. It took me nearly 2 weeks to heal. I started to feel the sensation around day 10 if I remember right. I kind of felt ripped off until day 30 or so when it began to get stronger.
  • I concur with @DirectorX: I had a deep feeling of "well, this is a let down" for up to 6 weeks after the procedure.
    Once I started being able to feel my laptop's hard drive spinning up it went away quite quickly. ",)
  • @DirectorX and @Unqualified hit it on the head. My first sensation was four days after implantation - a very strong EM field from an electric ice cream maker's motor. I'm just now entering week six after the implantation, and for the first three I was pretty meh about the whole thing. Laptop hard drive was definitely one of the "whoa, awesome!" moments for me. I think the other was feeling the current in a cable.

    And congratulations! Your procedure looked brilliant, and I can't help but be excited when people complete their implantations. Very exciting.
  • Hey I have a question for you people who have had this done and healed fully...is it suitable for someone who does high contact sports and other heavy physical activities?

    I do judo and lift weights, and putting 75kg+ of pressure on an implant doesn't seem a good idea...
  • I've yet to get back on a wall properly, but I've bouldered a little bit, mainly to make sure it's ok. I'm slightly impaired - putting a serious amount of weight on a fingertip hold is not comfortable - but rock climbing is seriously hard on the fingers.
    I'd say anything with impact rather than loading would be worse.
  • As someone that does parkour I have not been able to do my magnet install yet, as the high impact on my hands would probably shatter the magnet.  Thus I am looking for alternate ways to do it ... 

  • IanIan
    edited November 2011
    Hey, look, Wikipedia mentions the neodymium implants while talking about electroreception.

    Admittedly, I don't do parkour, but I do other forms of martial arts.  I still plan to implant one; if for no other reason, to test whether they can take a high load.

    As for other ways of getting electroreception, one way would be the active sensor that's been discussed a couple of times.  Wikipedia also provides an important clue:
    Active electroreception relies upon tuberous electroreceptors which are
    sensitive to high frequency (20-20,000 Hz) stimuli. These receptors have
    a loose plug of epithelial cells which capacitively couples the sensory receptor cells to the external environment. Passive electroreception however, relies upon ampullary receptors which are sensitive to low frequency stimuli (below 50 Hz).
    These receptors have a jelly-filled canal leading from the sensory
    receptors to the skin surface
    [Emphasis mine]. Mormyrid electric fish from Africa use tuberous receptors known as Knollenorgans to sense electric communication signals.
    I don't know if trying to mimic the design of those already existing in nature is practical, but I say that if natural selection has already solved the problem for us, we can use that as at least a start.

    ~Ian
  • That design is probably to remove skin resistivity as a problem, while protecting the sensor. When you're immersed in a conductive fluid, skin resistivity is the problem. When you're immersed in air, skin resistivity is rarely your biggest problem.
  • SovereignBleak : Great vid, good info on the procedure. What I´m wondering about is, what is it you used as a numbing agent??? 
  • IanIan
    edited May 2012
    @Ghost02236:  If I remember correctly, he injected some kind of numbing agent containing lidocaine into his fingers.
  • Injecting lidocaine? Not dangerous? What I use for painful procedures sometimes, is an oily substance called SuperJuice3--contains Lidocaine Hypochoride 2%-Mezocaine Hypochloride 4%-Benzocaine 12%...

    Witch brings me to a question, whats the diference between Lidocaine and Lidocaine Hypochloride? 

  • rdbrdb
    edited May 2012
    Lidocaine isn't dangerous in itself as long as you administer it correctly and in the right dosages.

    You mean lidocaine hydrochloride?  It is a salt form of lidocaine, which has a significantly higher solubility in water and is therefore possible to inject.  (It is produced by mixing lidocaine, a weak base, with hydrochloric acid.)

    Lidocaine usually comes in the hydrochloride form, I'd be surprised if you'd get access to the freebase form as easily as the hydrochloride salt.
  • @rdb: good to know, how about injecting clear lidocaine into the tip? Couse geting it is no problem for me, but then, I might just get some high grade local anesthetic
  • Lidocaine is a local anaesthetic, and it's probably the commonly used one out there.  I bet your local dentist uses it.

    I can't give any specific advice on how to use lidocaine, sorry.  I have no experience with it.  Just be careful not to inject it into a blood vessel.

    Just to be clear; when people talk about "lidocaine", they often are referring to an injectable form of it like lidocaine HCl.  You shouldn't attempt to inject lidocaine freebase.
  • edited May 2012
    The procedure demonstrated in the video is outmoded. Because of the volume of blood exiting the wound and the difficulty of making a deep incision, two of the magnets exited the wounds during the procedure and the third was pushed out over a month.
     
    I've used Xylocaine, a sterile, nonpyrogenic, aqueous solution of lidocaine in no less than four procedures and found it very effective. The injection site and surrounding tissue was completely numbed.
  • Where do you source your Xylocaine? I saw some lidocaine aqueous solutions for sale on eBay, but they look dodgy as hell.
  • @Rasputin I have a friend in medicine. Have you checked The Silk Road?

    We'll soon have our own darknet site for just such discussions.
  • Cocaine could be a suitable local anaesthetic too, and it may be easier to get access to depending on where you are.
  • my question is out of topic, but what is the name of the track?
  • I will use Cocaine a a local anesthetic tonight and report back when I can with results, any questions before I do it?

    Also I've had the thought of using a drug like Adderall or some other Amphetamine drug to cause vasoconstriction to slow down the bleeding. 
  • Epinephrine (adrenaline) is also often added to local anaesthetics as a vasoconstrictor.
  • So I visited my local pharmacist and acquired a small amount of cocaine. I spoke to the pharmacist, I've known him for a while although a first time customer, and told him what I wanted to use it for. He gave me pretty fair pricing for it and a much smaller amount than he would normally sell. Being an honest guy he told me the people he bought it from probably cut it with Similac Baby Formula. 

    Risking infection I decided to go ahead with a sharpened knife and begin a cut. I cut some surface skin on my calf with hopes of containing the infected area to the surface. After the cut was made I rubbed a little on the cut, and sure enough after a bit of a sting the pain melted away. I could continue cutting while the area was numb without problem. I would have to rub in a little more once in a while but I'd consider this a successful local anesthetic. If you can get pure enough product I'd use this over lidocaine for sure.   
  • That's cool.  Can I assume you used a cocaine salt like cocaine hydrochloride, and not freebase/crack?
  • @oblique Xihilisk - Chrysalis March.
  • Just completed my implant, thanks to Mr Wizard for supplying the magnets and this forum for the info.

    I have to say to anyone who has no experience with this sort of thing (like me) it is going to hurt a lot if you do it your self. I collapsed into a mess half way through, light headed and nearly passing out. Haha. I composed myself to finish the implant off and sealed with super glue. Don't think I could have managed the stitch my self. The magnet is the 3.2 mm x 0.7 mm parylene coated one.

    I have no intention of putting anybody off of doing this I just think its good to know what to expect so no surprises overcome you, I nearly gave up when I went light headed but my wife did a quick google and suggested I tense mayor muscle groups to combat low blood pressure which seemed to bring me round.

    I used a size 15 scalpel and Placed the magnet in by hand then checked the position of the magnet with another magnet (dead centre). It doesn't realy hurt and hasn't gone numb etc. I did take two paracetamol 20 mins before starting. Fingers crossed for later.

    Thanks for everything, everyone.
    Cheew.
  • Congrats dude. I'm 100% jelly right now.
  • It may be possible that your light headedness wasn't from blood loss. I wouldn't think too much blood would e lost to reall cause this. It may have been panic/anxiety of cutting yourself and bleeding, not to mention the pain.

    I work in surgery and am very used to these things, yet when I give blood for labs I nearly faint. It will be interesting to see how I mentally react to doing this myself.
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