I already have a few piercings. It's become an addiction, like everyone else claims.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When A year ago Artist grizzly Location arizona A year ago I planned on getting my next piercing, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to go ahead and get my center tongue pierced or a regular labret. I decided on getting the tongue because I didn't believe that my boss would appreciate the labret stud sticking out of my mouth while helping customers.
Of course I start researching online, mainly at the BME site so I can figure out at what gauge I should start my piercing, the proper care, if I was absolutely positive that I wanted this tongue piercing.
A couple weeks later my friend visits from Phoenix and we're discussing body modification, and she says that we should go to the piercing shop because she spontaneously wanted to get her lip pierced. We go and there's this guy getting some new ink on his arm. He was grimacing in pain the whole time. Eek.
The piercer guy is eating and tells us he'll be with us in a few minutes. My friend and I look around the shop at other jewelry for my eyebrow and ears. Few minutes pass, and he asks if he can help us. I am way nervous and let him know that we're just looking around. I couldn't believe I was about to back out of a piercing, I had been wanting one for weeks. My friend ended up just blurting out to the guy that I wanted my tongue pierced. He of course said "no problem."
He asked me for some sort of form of identification. That was fine. He got out a sheet of paper and let me read it. I signed.
He started to get out the clamp, needle, gloves, etc. By this time, I had butterflies. Should I go through with it? Yes, stupid, do it. You want this. You're just a chicken about these things.
He gives me a small dixie cup of Scope mouthwash and tells me to use half now and half after the piercing, and directed me to the bathroom. I walked in the back room and was pretty disgusted. The actual shop was pretty clean and seemed safe. It was all white, seemed fairly new. Then you have this old disgusting bathroom that looks like it hasn't been cleaned in years. What the heck? I couldn't believe it was the same place. I sort of got over it pretty quick, though.
I rinse my mouth out and come back to sit in THE chair. He asks me if I am ready and I just nod. He tells me to open my mouth so he can look inside and make sure I have the right anatomy for the piercing. After he's done, he tells me that my tongue is a little shorter than normal, but that he could PROBABLY pull the piercing off. Who the hell...? My friend obviously hears this, and starts cracking jokes. We all have a good laugh about it. After putting the clamp on, he becomes worried and let's me know that he's really not comfortable with performing this piercing, and I really shouldn't go through with it because it may create some problems. To risk it..well..I just wouldn't want to do that.
I was pretty disappointed by this time because it took a while to work up the nerve to get to this point. My friend from behind the counter just blurts out "just do your labret!"
I think about it for a second. Two. Not a bad idea. I hadn't done as much research for the labret piercing, but it seemed like a good idea. I know my work might not approve of the piercing, but it won't be TOO noticable. I could just get a retainer for it after a couple of days, right?
I tell him that I would like to go through with the labret piercing, "no problem" he says.
He has to go back and get different jewelry. The butterflies come back with a vengence. Ugh.
A couple of minutes later, he's back. Marks me with the purple marker. I look in the mirror..and the placement seems a little off. He wipes me with alcohol and marks me again. Ah, much better. Seems centered.
He puts the clamp on me. Ahhh, very tight. Uncomfortable. They always are.
He asks me if I'm ready, and tells me to take a deep breath, and pushes the needle through. Ahh. I squinted a bit. To me, the pain was more than both of my eyebrow and ear piercings. Only 5 seconds or less of pain. I just thought to myself, there are things far more painful than a little 14 gauge needle going through my mouth area.
He quickly put the stud through, which made me not realize that I had the smallest drip of blood in that area, but it's to be expected. No biggie. Piercings are always done more quickly then I expect, this was no exception.
I went into the dirty bathroom to rinse my mouth out again. He then explained to me the proper after care for the piercing. Said to buy a bottle of Biotene that you can find at Wal-Mart/K-mart.
I thanked him, payed him, gave him a 10 dollar tip. Then it was my friends turn for her piercing.
2 days later I had to face work and see what my boss would say. The problem was I was actually too afraid to face her. So, I was an idiot and bought a retainer and put it in. Biggest mistake ever. The whole time I wore that piece of plastic, it stung. Never irritate a fresh piercing. I knew that. I was just stupid. Thankfully, everything turned out fine once I put the stud back in.
Two weeks later I woke up to see that my stud disc, inside the mouth was starting to sink into my lip. I had heard that this is very common in labret piercings, but wasn't aware of what to do about it. I went out to buy a ring and changed jewelry. After the change, it was fine.
Now, a year later, I have no problems with the labret. I love it. I can take it out for 3 days and not have a problem. That wasn't the case with my eyebrow piercing, it would close up after leaving out the jewelry for an hour.
For now, I think I'm more focused on getting my first set of ink..but we'll see..