First Attempt at Magnetic Implant Failed. Looking for Advice.
Hey everyone! Three weeks ago I implanted my
first magnet. It was an m31 that I put in the middle finger side of
my ring finger using the scalpel method. 8 days after being implanted, the
edge of the magnet was suddenly peeking out of the scab with the magnet sitting at an angle, and I had to dig it out. This rejection was unexpected
because, until that day, it hadn't looked unusual based on other peoples
descriptions, besides for healing kind of slow and minor bruising for one
day a few days after the procedure. It tingled frequently, but didn't
hurt so I assumed it wasn't rejected because of infection. I have a few questions before I attempt to implant the magnet again.
1) Is it a bad idea to implant the magnet into the same finger,
but on the pinky side? This finger is by far my least used finger besides my
pinkie. My "surgeon" is nervous about implanting in my pinkies
because of their small size. All of the damage from the first attempt takes up about half a centimeter of width, and is located on the left third of my finger pad so there is just over a centimeter worth of undamaged finger width that I
would use. Also, I won't be implanting it until at least 4 weeks after
removing the first attempt.
2) What would have caused the first rejection if it wasn't
infection, and how can I prevent it on my next attempt? I am using
sutures instead of butterfly bandages this time, and I am going to try and
place the magnet farther from the incision site. Last time the envelope made
was just big enough to get the magnet to lay flat and have the incision close
over it. This was because, being the first attempt, we were learning on
the fly and the procedure was taking longer than I would have liked to have the tourniquet on my finger (plus the numbness from icing wasn’t preventing much of
the pain anymore). Also, how far laterally from the incision should the incision side edge of the magnet be when
implanting?
Any advice is greatly appreciated. Also, I have pictures of
my finger as it tried to heal/was rejected that I can upload if it helps
anyone. Thanks!
Comments
Not using a stitch might be the cause here.
Hypodermic needles are gauged according to their inner diameter while piercing needles are gauged according to their outer diameter. So the two sizing conventions don't match up exactly. Here are two very useful links for understanding sizings: Hypodermic Needles and Piercing Needles. Comparing the two, you'll see that a 12G hypodermic is about the size of a 9G piercing needle. I spent a good number of hours researching needles for my upcoming m36 implantations before I stumbled upon the fact that these two different conventions exist. Hard-earned information I'm happy to share here. I should get this info into the wiki, come to think of it... But I digress... Anyway, the 12G hypodermic is definitely a little smaller than the magnet, which adds a bit of difficulty. I went with 8G piercing needles for the m36s. I'm hopeful that they'll do the trick nicely once the m36s ship.
Do carefully consider the perhaps greater risks of needle implantation before you proceed. They've been done far less often (so far) than scalpel implantations and the technique is not nearly so refined. I know of a certainty that I was into tissue that @Cassox, at least, highly recommends one not damage. I'm of the opinion that @Cassox is the fucking man when it comes to implanting magnets, so take what he's said as the gold standard. I had huge successes with all of my needle implantations, and there are certainly some advantages to this method (a smaller break in the skin which means faster healing, which reduces the chances for infection, being the primary one), but you do take on a larger degree of risk in going this route.
*EDIT* - I now think my understanding of needle gauge sizing was incomplete when I wrote this post an hour or so ago. To make it all very simple, hypodermic needles have outer diameters equal to their gauge on the Birmingham Wire Gauge (BWG) standard and piercing needles have an outer diameter equal to their gauge on the American Wire Gauge (AWG) standard. This table will show you the outer diameter of essentially ALL hypodermic and piecing needles.