I guess it all started when I was about 13. I don't remember any specific instance when I saw someone with their Labret pierced, but I knew that one day, it would be the piecing I would HAVE to get. I was in love with it. I asked my mom if maybe I could get it done, and of course, like any other mother she said no. It wasn't just any no, it was a shocked and disturbed no. Oh dear...how could I? Well time went on and I asked her again, again she said no. I'm 15 now and she'd been saying no with all of the same emphasis until last week.
At A Glance Author Neoka Contact bloodystarz92@yahoo.com When It just happened Artist Chris Studio Mom's Tattoo studio Location Amhest, MA I'm in a wheelchair because of a car accident I was in when I was 4, so my mom's first concern wasn't cleanliness; it was weather or not the piercing place would have stairs. The place that I had in mind, had a ton of stairs, but I convinced her that it was the best place to have it done. Mom's tattoo was on the second floor in the middle of town and a bunch of my friends had gotten their noses pieced there and said that the piercer was a really nice guy, and everything was very clean. My mom called our friend Maria, and we left in the rain yesterday to get it done.
After maybe 20 minutes of fighting with the stairs, I found myself in a fairly small, but spotless piercing and tattoo studio. We were greeted by my to-be piercer, Chris. He's super sociable and he made me feel quite at ease. We paid, picked out a labret stud with a white diamond-like thing because there were no plain silver ones, and waited about 10 minutes while he finished doing some girl's navel. He washed his hands, changed his gloves and called us into the back room.
After going over the after care instructions (Listerine, Dial liquid soap, no oral contact with people for 6 weeks, try to avoid smoking, etc) he popped open all containers and got everything ready. He changed his gloves again and cleaned the outside area of my lip with the orangey brown stuff and made me rinse with Listerine for a minute (-probably the most painful part!). Then Chris positioned the clamp on my lip after marking (and re-marking three or four times) a dot about a centimeter below the center of my lip. He then put the clamp on and told me to hold it there for a sec with my pinky. The clamp didn't hurt at all, it felt like someone holding my lip out with just a bit of pressure. Then, since he knew that I'm a bit squeamish of needles, he told me not to look. He took back the clamp and told me to take a deep breath, and he'd pierce on the exhale. Well that was fun... I could feel the needle go through the inside of my lip and through the inner flesh... and then I thi nk he paused, and then I felt it go through the outer skin. It really didn't hurt as badly as I anticipated. If you've had you're ears pierced, it even hurts less than that. Just like prolonged lip-biteage. He slid the jewelry on (which didn't hurt at ALL –it just felt like he had barely touched the needle), screwed the ball on, and handed me a mirror and another cup of Listerine. I rinsed again, thanked him extensively, and left with my mom who seemed a little saddened that i had actually gone through with it.
I was very happy with it, although now that I look at it, I think it may be slightly to the right, but not something that would be noticeable to anyone but me. The crookedness is my fault anyways, I had him move the dot before the piercing. But oh well.
To anyone considering this piercing, I'd say to go for it. Mine hasn't swelled or bled, or turned red...or anything, in the three days that I've had it. It hasn't even gotten very "crusty" at all. Getting used to it was a little painful for the first two hours, but in retrospect it was nothing at all. Today and last night I noticed a little bit of muscle-type pain in my lower lip, but I think that's from playing with the back of the stud so much, which I should probably stop. Cleaning it is pretty easy. I use antibacterial soap and a q-tip to clean the outside, and then I just swish with Listerine for a minute after I brush my teeth in the morning when I wake up, and at night before I go to sleep. I try to rinse with mouthwash after I eat, but I haven't really had it handy. -So I've just been rinsing my mouth with water. Not the best method, but probably better than nothing at all. It's very well behaved and I love how it looks. I can't wait to change the stud because the jewe lry is too long... The piercing place will fit you with jewelry too big for you, to accommodate for swelling. Since mine didn't swell, I'm stuck with about half a centimeter of post sticking out of my lip for the next month or two.
BME is a great place to do your research on what you'd like to have done. Chris was impressed with my knowledge of labret piercings, and I owe that to this site. =)
If anyone has any questions, feel free to e-mail me.