A lot of people have been asking about these scars on my belly. So let me give you a story time about how I had to get my hip dermals removed when I found out I was pregnant. And why it was genuinely one of the most painful things I have ever experienced. So I got my hip dermals when I was 16 and obviously at 16, you're just thinking about how cute they look, not how they would eventually have to come out. And while we're trying to get pregnant, like it was always in the back of my mind to get them removed. But I kept putting it off because I was like, okay, this can't wait any more. Like I needed them out immediately. And I know some women don't bother, but I personally didn't want to risk them being irritated and then like eventually rejecting later in the pregnancy. So I had two options. Go to a doctor where they could potentially numb and then surgically remove them or go to an experienced piercer that specializes in like dermal removal and does it all the time. I called some piercers and took them out, almost all of them refused. But I was like, I'm not loving the doctor option. I'm not, you know, finding a solution with piercers, but then finally I found a piercer that did it all the time. She even removed her own. So I was like, okay, go time. The first thing she warned me was it's going to hurt. And let me tell you, she was not exaggerating. Because mine were so old, the anchors were much thinner than what they commonly use for jewelry now. So my tissue had basically grown in and around the jewelry. And I knew it was about to go down when she literally was like stuffing tissue paper all over so my clothes wouldn't get bloody. She literally had to slice me open with a scalpel, no numbing by the way, I'm feeling this knife slice through my skin. And then she has to wiggle and twist and pull out the anchor. And then slice around some more so she could separate the jewelry from my literal tissue. And pull it out at the exact right angle for the anchor to slip out. Seeing that made me almost pass out. I had to lay there for 30 minutes. I was so distraught from the whole ordeal. But now I'm using scar gel every day. The left side is healing pretty nicely, but the right scar is still dark and purple. I'm hoping it fades, but I'm kind of annoyed that I did not get them removed before pregnancy because I think with my stomach like getting bigger and stretching out, the scars are just gonna get bigger too. So even though I love those piercings, the removal alone, honestly, if I had known, I wouldn't have gotten them. So please, if you're thinking about getting dermals, think about how they eventually have to come out. Because teenage me definitely did not. And I was already there. It would have meant that I have to start the healing process on one side and then restart it with the other. It was just like, okay, let's just get this over and done with. I went in Zen mode. I'm like if I have to go through labor, like I'm getting this done right now. So I sucked it up and let her do the other one. That one was worse. It was even more deeply stuck into my tissue. So she had to do a lot more cutting around the jewelry. And when she did that one final yank, I look at the jewelry and there's literally pink bloody tissue hanging off of it. Seeing that made me almost pass out. I had to lay there for 30 minutes. I was so distraught from the whole ordeal. But now I'm using scar gel every day. The left side is healing pretty nicely, but the right scar is still dark and purple. I'm hoping it fades, but I'm kind of annoyed that I did not get them removed before pregnancy because I think with my stomach like getting bigger and stretching out, the scars are just gonna get bigger too. So even though I love those piercings, the removal alone, honestly, if I had known, I wouldn't have gotten them. So please, if you're thinking about getting dermals, think about how they eventually have to come out.
