bad strips :/

Sad had problems with the strips which were used to held his ears in shape. He got a big scratch behind his right ear, one day later he had one behind his left ear too. So we decided to remove the strips (4 days before the stitches should be taken out). Also the skin under the strips was swollen and hat little scratches in i. Fortunately we had strips from our last ear pointing at home, so we were able to put some new strips on Sad's ear.

4 days left till the stitches are taken out :)

not that bad

we had a closer look at Sad's ear. It seems that everything is fine. Nevertheless we contacted Steve, he advised us to let the stitches in for a few more days, just to go for sure that everything is healed and will hold its shape. So on Sunday (what means in 4 days from now on) we will take out the other stitches. We hope that it wont hurt as bad as the last time ;)

current pics

as you can see the implanted cartilage starts to create a recognizable point :3

it's hard to judge about Sad's ears at the moment. The tape hides a lot from the ear. So we are really looking forward next Sunday :D

the ear that was hit by the door. It doesn't seem to be swollen, so we hope that everything will be fine

Ouch!

Today Sad hit his left ear.... with the door of his car... poor boy :(

His ear started bleeding but stopped after a short time. We contacted the Stigmata Inc. because we don't know if we should take his stitches out in seven days like it was planned or if they should stay longer in his left ear because we can't be sure if everything will hold its shape because of this accident.

Keep you fingers crossed that everything is fine!!!

We will take and upload pictures this evening :)

6 days after the second ear pointing

We are back again :)

We still feel fine. The "u"-shaped pillows help us to sleep very well without any pain or fear of destroying our ears. Sometimes our ears hurt a little bit (like you are outside without a hat in the winter) but it isn't so bad that we need any pain killers. Sometimes they also feel a bit itchy so it's hard to don't touch them ^^°

Here you can see our ears how they look like today:

new day one

The first night was o.k. We used our head rests again. If you put your ear into the hole you can still lay down like an embryo without damaging your ear :)

Sad 's ear bleeded a bit during the night. After we woke up there was no pain at all (just if you touch the ear).

So we are feeling fin and try to clean our ears.

so much dried blood... we better put the photo online without colors ;)

The second ear pointing

We were sooooooo excited again.

This time we should meet Steve in the Stigmata Inc. shop in Cologne. So this meant a lot of driving for us. We had to drive at least 4 - 5 hours, but Cologne wasn't as far away from our hometown as Wesel, were we had our first ear pointing.

Unfortunately we had been a bit late. Our appointment was planned for 2 pm but it was nearly impossible to find a parking space.So there wasn't any time left for eating. So we weren't prepared very well for the ear pointing. Fortunately Steve hadn't have any other appointments for this Sunday, so we could order some burger and drinks to the Stigmata store.

After this Steve checked our ears again and talked with us about what he can and will do in detail. During our first ear pointing we both got the same treatment but this time the things that had to be done differed from person to person and ear to ear because every ear healed a bit different the first time. After the short talk it was time to start. Niha wanted to be the first so the courage hadn't any chance to be lost.

Here you can see her ears before the second ear pointing:

this one didn 't held it ' s shape after the first ear pointing :/

this one healed really pretty at the first time but it was planned to remove the round skin at the inner edge

So as already was mentioned, Steve had to work in two different ways this time. He wanted to start with the left ear. He opened the ear at the backsite and removed a small part of the cartilage. From this removed piece he cut a little triangle which he put back at the top of the ear. This cartilage will be accepted by your body, because it is already your own "material" and will form a sharper edge. But after the cartilage was removed everything has to be done quickly. The cartilage can 't survive a long time outside your body and the faster you are the better is the chance that your ear will accept the added piece.
That is why Steve had to stop working on the left ear after the cartilage was placed into the tip. He wanted to add also a triangle piece of the cartilage in the pretty healed right ear, so both ears will look more similar. Furthermore he removed the round edge of skin at the inner ear point. While he was working on the right ear the left one started to hurt really bad (like everything hurts after a surgery) and yes, it was really a torture when Steve had to finish his work at the left ear when everything was done on the right one. The left ear was already so "bitchy", swollen and pulsing that Niha was glad when Steve' s work was done.

being covered like this felt really strange because you could feel but couldn't see what is happening 

already posing like a rockstar ;) ... before it was time to work on the bitchy left ear again

All in all the procedure felt similar to the first one: a lot of blood (really a lot), Steve learned more German ("wenig Schmerz" means less pain and "viel Schmerz" means a lot of pain) and after the procedure it hurts behind you ears like you are wearing really tight sunglasses, the points burn.... so it is bearable but really annoying. Fortunately most of the pain is gone after one hour and you feel "drunken" and dizzy because your circulation is weak after all the excitement and pain.

Steve needed approximately 90 minutes to work on Niha 's ears. The worst and hardest part were the ears of Sad. Before Steve started with this hard piece of work we all had a short break and something to eat again.



Sad 's ears are very special. Steve told everybody about his incredible thick cartilage but nobody believes him. ^^° Sad 's cartilage is about 4mm thick, so it 's more like a thin bone than a thin cartilage. That ' s what makes it so difficult to give a good shape to Sad ' s ears.

Sad 's ear had a recognizable point but he wanted it even more pointy 

this is the ear with the really thick cartilage

So Sad wanted his ears to look more pointy than they looked after the first procedure. Steve started with the right ear, the one with the thick cartilage, so the worst part would be over soon. They had to cut out so much cartilage... it was really incredible. You can't imagine how it looked when Steve tried to cut the cartilage. He had to put in so much force into his moves. All in all Sad ' s ears had the whole ear pointing procedure from the last year again (so his ears are fixed with tape again) and they put in some additional ear point made of cartilage like in Niha ' s ears. For Sad the final stitching part was the worst.

Sad during the ear pointing

so much blood that we had to remove the colors from this photo ;)

the cartilage from Sad 's ear... now  lying in our freezer ;)

Sad had to be patient for more than two ours but he also "survived" the torture.


Immediatley after the ear pointing our ears looked like this:

the ear is swollen and will change its look during the next days

Sad 's "bad" ear before it was wrapped in tape 

Steve, his cute assistant Mandy and Arnulf from Stigmata Inc. were really caring and always asked if we are feeling fine. With a bottle of H2Ocean we left the store. The stitches will be taken out in two weeks. We really hope this won't feel as bad as the last time.

Fortunately we had a friend with us in Cologne who drove the car back home after we had a dinner in town. It was really funny to walk into a fast food store with all the blood on our ears. Hahahahaha.
This time we felt more of the pain during our way home, maybe because we didn't felt asleep this time. Sad 's ear also bled during our way home but this is normal and nothing to worry about.

It was great to be home again after this long tour and we fell asleep really quick.

Day 356 - new appointment

Tadaaaaaaa, we're still alive! ;)

We had a really busy time with our band and our club but we're proud to announce that we will met Steve again in three days! We're really looking forward to this.

Unfortunately one of Niha's ears has to be redone because it didn't hold it's shape. But her right one already looks perfect, so Steve can remove the round "edge" at the inner part of the ear point. So at least one ear will be finished as we want it to be. Awesome :D

Sad will also point his ears again, but not because they didn't hold it's shape. He wants them to be more pointy at all. Maybe because you get used to the subtle look and want some more "extreme" point when you ear them for a longer time.

We can upload close up pics of our ears in the next days, at the moment the usb cable is missing :/

BUT we can share a picture from this years Wave-Gotik-Treffen festival were you can see Sads ears really good: