I just got back from having my lip pierced (Labret), and I love it!!!!!!! It's been about an hour since it was done and it's just now starting to swell. Hell what hurts worse is where I bit the inside of my cheek when I was sleeping. Gotta love bruxism... NOT!!!!!!!
At A Glance Author Ravenz Whisper Contact Ravenz Whisper@bme.anon When N/A Artist Jason Studio Body Piercing Unlimited Location Anchorage, Alaska So the piercing went like this....
I got there at 5 after noon, they are suppose to open at noon. 3 of us, 1 guy ahead of me wanting his tongue pierced, me, then a lady that wanted something but said she would come back later. Jason, the piercer, got there at 15 after (I think) and let us all in. While the guy ahead of me filled out paper work, Jason listened to the voice messages and found out the one of the other piercers was at the emergency room. There was suppose to be 3 piercers there, I checked yesterday when I stopped by there after work. The guy I wanted to pierce it wasn't working until 4:30 and I wanted to get it done on my lunch hour. I was told Jason does good work so I figured I would let him do it.
The guy ahead of me went and sat down in the waiting area as I filled out my paper work. Just the typical: name, address, phone number, copying of driver's license and disclaimer stuff then went and sat down. By then two more people had came in. Jason helped one of them that had to have his labret ring changed due to it wearing on his lip wrong. About 5 minutes, maybe more, went by as Jason got the room ready for the tongue piercing. The guy went in and it took roughly 10 minutes for it to get done. The guy left and I waited another 10 minutes for Jason to prep the room again. Then he called me in, yeah I was nervous when I first got there and a little before I got there, but once I walked into the room I was totally calm. He had everything ready and told me not to touch anything on the opposite side of the room that I was on, for sterile reasons. The table that was in the room was a cushioned full length exam table. He handed me a paper cup with mouthwash and had me swish i t in my mouth until it burned then spit back in the cup. He left while I did this and came back in and told me to sit up straight while he marked where he was going to put the hole. He put it higher than I thought it should be and I asked him if it could be lower, so he looked in my lip and said that if he went lower it would interfere with my lip webbing. So I went with where he had marked it, which was right at the edge of my scar that I had.
He then told me to lie down and put my hands at my side. I lay down and he told me to relax my lip while he put the clamp on, which has a triangle end with a hole in the center. The clamp itself was a little uncomfortable but nothing to really complain about. He put the piercing needle through the inside of my lip first until it hit the tissue that's in the lip and told me to take a deep breath and on the exhale he would pierce it. So I did and I exhaled, I felt him go through the tissue and it felt close to what a needle stick would but less than a paper cut. When he hit the scar tissue it was a little more painful, he had to push harder to get through it, he told me to breathe and exhale again, and I did. Once he had the needle through he grabbed the flat back post and stuck that through the hole, I'm not sure if he put it in with the needle still in the hole or if he pushed the needle out with the post. He then put the ball on the front and took the clamp off. He wiped aw ay a very small amount of blood from the front of my lip; it was about as much as a normal paper cut would put out (when not squeezed to bleed...ahem). It never bled on the inside of my lip. Then I left...
That's all for the piercing part... As far as soreness goes...I'm not really sore, I'm number than anything. It brings back memories of when I bit through my lip when I was a kid but since that was 25 years ago its hard to recall 'exactly'. I am more swollen now since I started writing this but it's because my mom called and since you have to move your lip to talk.... well you get the picture. I feel like I have a plug of chew tucked in my lip, a small plug. Otherwise it's not really bothering me. The tightness in my lip from the swelling feels like slight sunburn would. If you can remember the slight tightness that your skin gets when sun burnt.
I love it though!!! I have to wait for a couple of months before I can change the jewelry and Jason suggested waiting 3 months before I start wearing acrylic. I will wear an acrylic retainer when I'm at work, as soon as I can, due to work just putting in a dress code, and piercings are part of the no no section.
Two weeks have gone by and my lip is past the swollen stage. The swelling still comes and goes from time to time but that is to be expected. I still have crusty's that form but I've noticed that they are more prominent with more movement or action. I still clean it three times a day and use Sea Salt soaks and Dial soap, but I only use the Dial twice a day, morning and evening. I was using a coffee mug for the Sea Salt soaks and soaking my whole chin but I notice that it was causing my chin to break out so I changed to using a paper towel saturated instead.
I have also adjusted to eating finally. Strong warning: Eat slowly until you get use to your lip piercing. The first few times of catching the flat back over your teeth and you will understand the warning.
I do love my piercing and would do it all over again and probably will in the future on another area.
Happy Body Mod'ing!!!!