I had planned to get my vertical lowbrets pierced for a few months prior to actually getting them done. I had talked to Josh(one of the piercers at Planet Ink Extreme) about getting them done a few times.
At A Glance Author Jon Contact midian_16@hotmail.com When A month ago Artist Matt Cottrell Studio Planet Ink Location Ottawa, Ontario, Canada The way it came about that I actually got them done was rather odd. I had planned to get my shoulders stapled and pocketed; each side, one staple, one pocket. I went in to get them done and Josh greeted me with a strange look on his face. "Dude, I got bad news.". Of course, I knew something had happened and that I couldn't get them done. "Johnny won't let us do it. He said no surface on people under 18." Johnny's the owner, and by 'us' Josh was referring to Matt and himself. Matt was going to be stapling, Josh was going to be pocketing. So, I talked to them for a while and threw out a suggestion.
"What about vertical lowbrets? Could you do those?"
Josh looked like he was thinking for a second, then nodded. "Yeah, sure!"
Since they were both going to pocket and staple me, I decided to let them both do a set on me, 4 vertical lowbrets in one session. I arranged to come back the next week to get them done.
To skip a bunch of details that aren't necessary, I didn't get them done that week following, nor a few weeks after that. I had talked to Matt a bunch about doing it and had a date set to get them done, finally. The date rolls around and we all had planned to go to the big shop(Planet Ink itself, not Planet Ink Extreme) and do them there. I decided to go downtown early and grab Josh on my way over. I walk by and Josh is standing outside, as he usually is when not piercing. He wasn't feeling 100% that day and didn't feel capable of performing 100% in piercing them. I thanked him for being honest and told him we'd do them another day. He thanked me for being understanding, as well. I talked to him for another few minutes, then had to leave to go to the big shop.
So, I walk in and Matt was behind the counter. He had to pierce someone's labret after Johnny was done with (if i remember correctly) 3 navels. I had to wait a short while until he was ready. He said he wanted the room(a fairly large room that they pierce in) for at least 30 minutes so as to make sure that we're not interrupted.
I had a friend with me that day as well to take pictures. As we walked in, Matt began setting up his video camera, then setting up the tools, jewelery, showed my friend which button to push to start recording, etc. He had me lay down for both of them.
Matt felt around my jaw to see where they would best be placed. He then marked them and played around with the markings for about thirty seconds to a minute to make sure they were even, then was ready. He motioned my friend to start recording.
Matt grabbed a pair of clamps and lined up the clamp on the inside where he thought would be best, then the outside. He then grabbed the first needle and tells me to concentrate on my breathing. He was using introcan needles for the procedure: piercing outside in. Much the same as I had thought with my cheeks, I imagined i would be in agony. An inch of flesh, roughly, surely I'd be in agony...
In goes the needle. Out comes the needle without the tubing. In goes the jewelery from the inside pushing out the tubing. On goes the bead. Clamps removed slowly. I laughed as much as a could, which wasn't a whole lot because they felt strange, for having anticipating a lot of pain. It had hurt very little, surprisingly.
On to the second. He clamped it the same way and then was ready to go. In goes the needle. Out comes the needle without the tubing, in goes the jewelery pushing out the tubing. On goes the bead and done.
And I had thought my cheeks felt weird? The slightest movement of my jaw and I felt a pull on on barbells. One of the strangest sensations I had ever felt.
Matt had forgotten to tell my friend to turn on the camera again for the second or my friend zoned out or something, but the second one wasn't recorded on video.
I thanked Matt, grabbed my coat, told him I'd go down to the smaller shop and show them to everyone there, and told him I'd be in to let him see them sometime, just to make sure they were healing properly.
Since then, I've changed the barbells to PTFE(teflon). Matt had put in 3/4" barbells, which were snug, but had little to no room to accommodate swelling. I had them changed to 1" teflon bars about a week after they had been pierced. I had this done so early because one side was swelled to the point where I would wake up in the morning and it would have swelled over the bead overnight.
So far, I've thoughts and plans are to get two more sets done. These plans aren't engraved in stone as of yet, more or less something for the future, perhaps. Matt will surely do one more set, and I'm considering letting Josh do the other set, however both may be done by Matt.
For those wanting vertical lowbrets, I'd suggest something at least 1" long. I'm not quite sure how teflon would do as the initial jewelery put in, but I would imagine there would be little to no complications in doing so. If there isn't, I highly suggest it. The maneuverability of teflon is amazing for the positioning of vertical lowbrets. It accommodates the movements of your jaw and causes less discomfort.