For about 5 months now I have been considering getting my upper nostril pierced, and I nipped into metalurgy in Dundee to talk to Phil (the piercer) about it. He advised me that it was a slightly tricky piercing so if I did want to get it done I would have to make an appointment to come in early in the morning as it would take a while to set up etc!
At A Glance Author asparagus Contact asparagus@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Phil Studio Metalurgy Location Dundee Whilst I was in there we got to talking about an idea I have had for a while, I had always wanted a lip piercing, but I did not want to have the bar going into my mouth, as I knew I would not like the feeling of it rubbing against my gums, so I enquired about a vertical lip bar!
Phil went and did a few measurements of my lip and he decided it would be a really good lip piercing for me to have, as I have a naturally pouting bottom lip (makes me look rather petulant actually!) after he had made all the measurements he went away to sterilize and prepare, so I chatted away to the tattoo artist, who was busy inking a Rangers flag onto someone arm.....hmm
I waited for about ten minutes while he got everything ready for me - I have been pierced by Phil upwards of ten times, but he has recently moved his studio just along the street, so it was quite a new experience. He handed me some interesting smelling mouthwash and asked me to thoroughly rinse my mouth. Then we were ready, he marked where the bar was to go on my lip, and handed me a mirror so I could check I was happy with the positioning! He then froze my lip, both the top and the bottom and warned me it was going to nip!
I always go back to Phil for my piercings as he is always steady handed and exact, so true to form he clamped my lip (I really hated that part as I have to admit that it hurt rather a lot) and pushed the needle through, I thought that he would pierce down through my lip, but instead the needle was pushed up vertically from the bottom of the lower lip, right through in one swift motion. It was not exactly painful, would more describe it as uncomfortable - and the tattooist laughed as I let out a strange, strangled yelp!
Phil then quickly threaded the jewellery through and tightened it all up - I had a look in the mirror beside me and was really pleased with what I saw, it looked perfect. I thanked Phil and made an appointment to get my nostril piercing the next week, - as I walked out of the room someone instantly commented that my piecing looked amazing and they had never seen anyone with that done before - so I was rather pleased!
That night I headed to work and I kept catching sight of my piercing in mirrors and windows, my lip was rather swollen but I could eat and talk perfectly normally - but I was beginning to notice that the piercing looked a little squint. I asked a few of my friends if they though this as well and the all assured me that it was perfectly straight! About a week passed and the piercing was healing well, but as the swelling on my lip had gone down - the bar was quite clearly squint, the bottom ball was further to the right than the top... so it gave my mouth a lop-sided look!
So I headed back to see Phil and ask what he thought, he had a look at it and looked rather dismayed! We were not entirely sure why the bar was squint as it was definitely straight when I got it done! He instantly offered to re-pierce it for me with no charge, if that is what I wanted. I agreed that this was the best plan and he took the bar out on the spot and cleaned the piercing up for me, we decided I was to come back in a week to get it redone. Having had the bar in my lip for a week at that point, I had realised that having it vertical did not really feel comfortable to me, so I discussed with Phil the idea of me having a curved bar so the ball that sat on top of my lip sat slightly further forward so it was still visible when I closed my mouth!
He measured my lip again, and this time he added a curve to the bar so my piercing would not be vertical, but would enter at the bottom of my lower lip and come out about three quarters of the way up! I was amazingly happy with this idea and eagerly anticipated getting my piercing redone.
Today I went back to get repierced and I was warmly greeted when I wandered in, Phil quickly recapped what it was I wanted done, and again I was asked to rinse my mouth! He put iodine marks onto my lip again so that I could check they were in the correct place, and once I had agreed that they were perfect he numbed and repierced my lip - and this time it hurt.. I assume this is because it was a going in more curved than the previous time, the pain was very brief though and it faded very quickly. I thanked him and headed home to check out my piercing... and I have to admit it is perfect, it sits really nicely! Only downside to my curved bar is that this time my lip has bruised and swollen rather badly, so I appear to have an odd purple dot in-between the balls, but I have been assured that this will fade in a few days.
This is a piercing I would recommend to anyone, as it looks great and it heals really well. I would also recommend Metalurgy in Dundee as Phil is great during the piercing, and his aftercare is fantastic!!!