New magnet implant [with pics] & Qs about healing process
I've been really interested in biohacking for the past few months. I'm not sure how deep into it I want to get, personally, but it seems like a really great subculture, in my opinion, and I wanted to test the waters by getting a magnet implant because I read that they were a good first hack, and also because people's descriptions of picking up an additional sense were intriguing to me.
I went out and got one over my birthday weekend (I had a body mod artist at a reputable tattoo shop in my area put it in, and aside from him taking a call from his boss while he was stitching me up, everything went fine), and I'm already excited for it to heal, so I can start playing with it (I want to test out all sorts of magnet toys to see what it can do), but I do have one concern. Is swelling and itching around the implant site normal? I read somewhere to ice any swelling and the swelling did go down after being iced. But the skin is still really itchy, and I'm not sure if that's a normal part of the healing process, or if maybe I'm having some sort of allergic reaction?
Pictures of my finger throughout the healing process are below, though there's an obvious trigger warning for stitches and blood, as everything is still healing.

My finger looked like this, the day after it was done. (I'm aware the day after implantation is too soon to play with the magnet, but I wanted to snap a quick pic, so I could brag to my friends. I promise I haven't been overdoing it!)

When swelling started, it looked like this.
I went out and got one over my birthday weekend (I had a body mod artist at a reputable tattoo shop in my area put it in, and aside from him taking a call from his boss while he was stitching me up, everything went fine), and I'm already excited for it to heal, so I can start playing with it (I want to test out all sorts of magnet toys to see what it can do), but I do have one concern. Is swelling and itching around the implant site normal? I read somewhere to ice any swelling and the swelling did go down after being iced. But the skin is still really itchy, and I'm not sure if that's a normal part of the healing process, or if maybe I'm having some sort of allergic reaction?
Pictures of my finger throughout the healing process are below, though there's an obvious trigger warning for stitches and blood, as everything is still healing.

My finger looked like this, the day after it was done. (I'm aware the day after implantation is too soon to play with the magnet, but I wanted to snap a quick pic, so I could brag to my friends. I promise I haven't been overdoing it!)

When swelling started, it looked like this.

Post swelling, it now looks like this. I think the ice dried out my skin, which is why it looks weird.
Thoughts? Does everything seem to be doing okay?
Thoughts? Does everything seem to be doing okay?
Comments
TL;DR: Your artist is trained in this and I am not, do what he says.
Otherwise, looking good as far as I can tell!
Annnnd the artist didn't tell me by name the specifics of the magnet and I didn't think to ask, either... (I suppose I could always call and inquire, but I'm cursing myself for it now) but it's one of the small cylinder ones? And he said it's coated in the same stuff they use for pacemakers.
Leaving then in too long is going to cause more problems than help, it can give infection a way to get in.
Goodbye stitches, lol!
Also, the skin is a discolored red at the implant site and the people I've met with magnet implants said that theirs faded to a barely visible scar, once they had healed up... so I'm wondering, how long should it take for any discoloration to go away? I was drawn to the subtly of this implant, and so I'm really not a fan of the discoloration. I want people to be like "Woah, why is your finger magnetic?" instead of "Umm, what's wrong with your finger?"
I ask because one thing I've been trying to figure out with our goal of website renovations is what to do to keep all the pictures from disappearing.
Did you remove them? Were they hosted on a separate site and the link is now broken? Were they embedded in the post in some way that has now ceased functioning?
If you'd like to see magnet tricks/post healing pics, please refer to this topic: http://forum.biohack.me/discussion/1838/my-magnet-implant-in-action-cool-magnet-tricks-with-pics-and-vids
Thanks!