A Visit with Dr. Needles

Recently, I finally had the chance to sit down with one of the most talented body piercing artists around, Christina Barker, a.k.a. Dr. Needles, of Bootlegger Tattoo & Body Piercing in Odessa, MO. My visit with Dr. Needles would round out the staff of the shop and I was excited to learn more about her and body piercing in general.

Me: Thank you for visiting with me, I've been looking forward to this for awhile.

Dr. Needles: No problem! It's a pleasure to visit with you too.

Me: So tell me a little about how you became interested in body piercing as a profession?

Dr. Needles: Well my daddy in Bootlegger so I started helping around the tattoo shop when I was younger. When I was twelve, I helped Dad by answering the phone, making appointments with people. While there, I was able to watch the body piercer work and it simply amazed me. I started being pierced at age thirteen and was amazed at how being pierced made me feel. I found a wonderful way to express myself and it brought a large measure of confidence along with it. It didn't take long for me to realize I wanted to be a professional piercer.

Me: So once you realized that, how did your journey begin?

Dr. Needles: Well I had been watching our body piercer for some time when my dad asked Ray Rodgers if he would apprentice me as a body piercer. Dad made an arrangement with Ray to exchange tattoo work for my apprenticeship and off I went!

Me: So what training is involved with body piercing other than that? Is it just a watch and learn process?

Dr. Needles: Oh no, there is much more to learn than that. That is one of the reasons I get frustrated when I hear people talk about how their friend pierced their nose, or their friend's mother pierced their tongue. I've seen some people with really bad infections and scarring from having their "friend" do it. It's also very likely that someone can suffer sever nerve damage from being pierced by someone with no training. There is much more to the science and art of piercing than being able to stick something sharp through someone's skin. I've had many hours of training in both piercing and infectious disease control from the great Rev. Mad Jack as well as several hours of training with Beth Lovold.

Me: Is it really that common for people to not know how to pierce?

Dr. Needles: It's not only common for the layman to not know what to do, it's even possible for some experienced in the medical field to not understand the full spectrum of piercing.

Me: What do you mean by that?

Dr. Needles: Well as an example, I was in a class once who had a nurse in attendance. As the instructor asked questions regarding cleaning, sterilization the nurse thought she knew the correct answers, but her answers were consistently incorrect. That's how I got my nickname "Dr. Needles". I corrected the nurse's wrong answers and the instructor actually asked me if I was a doctor. My dad got wind of that and started calling me Dr. Needles.

Me: That's a little startling to here that medical professionals aren't even sure? I suppose that really shoves the friends and acquaintances out the door?

Dr. Needles: You're exactly right. Body piercing and modification has come a long way since 1992 and it is continuing to get better, but the issue of respect for body piercing has plenty of room to grow.

Me: What do you mean by respect for piercing?

Dr. Needles: Well, body piercing tends to go hand in glove with tattooing and many tattoo shops have someone doing the piercing simply because they think they have to. The person doing the piercing isn't necessarily experienced of trained, they're just the one willing to do it. The general public tends to focus on price rather than quality and experience and the shops that don't take piercing seriously will offer piercing at little lower price. What I've seen at Bootlegger is person after person who decided to save ten or twenty dollars only to have their piercing done crookedly or battle raging infections. They come to me to fix it and their attempt to save twenty actually costs them twenty or thirty dollars more than if they'd come to the right place the first time.

Me: So where do you see the industry going?

Dr. Needles: I see it improving and I see part of my responsibility in that being an educator as well as a piercer. There are always new, exciting things developing in the industry as well. microdermals are one of the newest additions to body piercing and we are the second tattoo shop in the Kansas City area to offer them.

Me: What's a microdermal?

Dr. Needles: A microdermal is an actual surgical implant that has a threaded stud on it. It is inserted under the skin and after the piercing heals the jewelry can be changed simply by unscrewing it and screwing a new one in.

Me: That sounds very interesting!

Dr. Needles: It really is a cool procedure and a way of displaying gemstones ANYWHERE on your body.

Me: So where do you see yourself in the future?

Dr. Needles: I can't see myself ever not being a body piercer. It's one of the two most important things in my life. The most important is my daughter, Abrianna and second is piercing. I will continue to improve my skills, my knowledge and hopefully educate those around me.

I thanked Dr. Needles for her time and she hurried off to take a phone call. I didn't know if that person was calling to schedule a tattoo or a piercing, but I knew whichever it was they would be in good hands at Bootlegger Tattoo & Body Piercing.