I'd never been a fan of piercings since my mother encouraged me to get my ears pierced at the age of six and with a piercing gun at a cheap chemists- not a good idea, especially as one got infected and had to be removed and the other got the stud stuck in, leaving me with just one ear pierced up until this day...
At A Glance Author Louisa Contact Louisa@bme.anon When A year ago Artist Can't remember the name, but he was v. polite and nice! Studio The Studio Location Afflecks (sp?) Palace, Manchester, UK But anyway, I had been wanting to get the side of my lip pierced for ages, originally with a stud. I was 15 when I first had it done, so I was still at high school, but I was sure I wanted it done and I felt that even though I didn't want a tattoo,the worst that could happen would be that it'd get infected or I'd change my mind eventually and I'd have to take it out and be left with a really small scar- not entirely true, but still less permanent than a tattoo.
I was a nervous as hell when I was about to get it done, but we went through the usual ritual that should happen on any piercing- check the premises are "nice" and "clean" etc, talk the procedure through, numb the area to be pierced and pierce it! I was pierced by a very strange looking but very nice man with a lot of piercings himself, so that reassured me he knew what he was doing.
I would recommend this studio (called interestingly enough "The Studio"...) to anyone as they where all really nice and patient and understood what a wuss I can be... Except the old fat man behind the till who kept encouraging me to get it done... Grrr! It cost me £25 plus £2.50 for aftercare solution, which stupidly wasn't included in the price. The only other fault as far as I can see with them was that they pierced me when I was 15- I was asked to sign a form stating I was over 16 and knew the ins and outs of what was happening and was asked to provide a name and address which I faked... I've been there since and have used a different name and address every time too. I don't look that old so I don't think they believed me anyway. I knew what I wanted though so there wasn't a problem as far as I was concerned, but overall it's a really nice place!
It was completely painless to begin with, but the pain set in after, as I have a tendency to tamper and poke about with things, so this involved taking it out almost within 3 hours of having it done, putting it in back-to-front, putting paperclips/safety pins through, etc...:S Not a good idea, but still... Seeing as I kinda forgot to rinse it with the cleaning solution too, I was really extremely lucky to not get an infection (well I did, but just a v. slight one, which apparently, as long as its not serious, is a good sign and that its healing. I also got a slight swelling for about 3 to 4 days, which wouldn't have been that noticeable had it not been for the fact that I got the piercing to the side of my lip, so it looked as if I'd been punched in the mouth for a while...)
For school I wore a normal stud with the ball off the end. Just imagine a press pin through your lip if you will, keeping the hole open but not that visible- and it worked! No one really noticed! Not even my mother, who I hadn't told... When I did decide to tell her she was with her friends, so any repercussions wouldn't be that serious (for then at least) but she was generally OK with my decision even though she didn't like it at all, but at the end of the day it was my choice.
It was a different matter when it came to my part time job- my boss had eagle sharp eyes, so I was told to remove it. Reluctantly I agreed, not thinking that such a relatively fresh hole (it was about 8 weeks old at this point) would stay open for 8 hour long shifts... Luckily, half way through on my lunch break I could "re-open" and it kinda hurt like hell to do... but it worked!
Now it's just over a year old and I tend to wear rings in it and I can leave it out for days at a time.
All in all its a truly great piercing thats withstood quite a lot of abuse. My only regret is that now virtually EVERYONE has it, either because they're blink-182 fans or because they're fashion victims...
If you want feel free to ask me any questions about the lip, an industrial/scaffold (also have this done) or anything else!
Louisa xxx