So here's my story on an inverse vertical labret piercing. My friend was showing me around the bme site and we came across this piercing. Immediately I fell in love with it. I tried to talk my at-the-time piercer into doing it for me but she refused because she'd never done it before and was afraid of ruining my face. That was understandable. Disappointed, I asked my friend Myka, also an employed piercer, if he would attempt it. He'd not done it either and was also a little leery. After some convincing that I wouldn't hate his guts if it didn't work out he accepted the task. I've gotten piercings before, and have sat at length for tattoo work. But let me tell you, I've never had such a problem with a body mod before. Never cried out in pain over one before either. So here's how it went.....
At A Glance Author December Rivers Contact December Rivers@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist myka Studio xhibit Location nanaimo We talked over our deal of not hating his guts while I filled out all the necessary legality forms. After sterilizing all the surfaces in his room in front of me he then showed me that he, of course, only uses one-use needles that had not been opened from their transparent packaging, as well as all the jewelry still in their little blue bags. He laid everything out on one of those little drool catchers that dentists use on a silver tray next to the bed he told me to lie on. He started adding items such as pens, q-tips, ink, toothpicks and alcohol to the tray, as well as a dollop of lube to help the needle and jewelry slip through my face.
He told me that he was ready to begin. I was a little nervous at this time, because I knew he couldn't use clamps for this procedure and already being informed that it would probably hurt more than my other piercings have. I took off my glasses, closed my eyes and started my meditative breathing to calm myself. He marked my face, and inside of my lip. I looked in a mirror and everything seems to line up properly with my nose, teeth and current horizontal labret piercing. We were ready to begin.
I lied back down on the table and took some time to concentrate on my breathing. It's really important to NOT hyperventilate during a piercing, passing out is NOT good. Also, any good piercer will not pierce you if they see that you aren't ready for it.
I told him when I was ready, thankfully he is quite patient as I get a little nervous around needles. Myka is an amazing piercer. I've known him for many years and when he's working, it's like he's a completely different person entirely. His voice is calm and soothing, and he's very, VERY gentle. Always asking if I'm doing all right, and making sure my breathing is steady and calm. He started with the right side of my lip. going slowly and carefully he pushed it through the top of my lip, and diagonally down and out the inside just below my gum line. It really didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. The left side hurt a bit more as my mouth was getting a little sensitive. I looked in the mirror when we were done, and.............they were crooked. We took the left one out and re-did it right then. Yes, it hurt even more than before but when we were done, everything looked great! I thought I was finished.
I followed his specific care instructions and everything seemed to be healing great until the next night in the early hours. The right side, I found out, was pierced a little bit lower than the left. The swelling was holding onto the balls just tight enough that when I was clearing out the gunk with a q-tip it unscrewed a ball and the barbell slipped right out. I started balling my eyes out because I wanted these piercings SO bad. Two days later I went back to see Myka and we repierced the right side again. It hurt. A lot. My lip was so extremely sensitive but I wanted these piercings that bad. I would have withstood any pain for them. They were gorgeous.
Myka, very distressed about the whole ordeal and very sorry it didn't work did his best to not make it hurt so much, but of course it did, I even cried out in pain. I looked into the mirror after we had it done again, and sadly it's crooked once again. I tried to convince Myka and myself that it was just the swelling making it look like that. But about two weeks later, when I was absolutely SURE the swelling was gone I sadly came to my senses that no, it was crooked and I got it removed. So here I am, left with one vertical inverse labret and a ton of experience, as well as for Myka. I decided that I am going to put double rings on the right side on my lip to even out the symmetry on my face, and to make it look a little interesting, and I quite like this idea more.
Lesson learned? Yes, make sure you go to a piercer who's done this before and had a success. Myka will not do a double inverse labret again, he's promised that he will only do single. So if you're looking for just one, Myka is your guy. He's done this piercing at least four times.