Several years ago, I had been giving some serious consideration to getting a piercing but I wasn't real sure what I wanted. I already had my navel, my nipples, an industrial, and my ears several times, but I wanted something I'd enjoy when I looked in the mirror. My job didn't allow any "major modifications," so I finally decided on a, "monroe." (It may be called other names, but the piercer who did mine, introduced it as such.) My husband knew the fella, Chris, pretty well and obviously came strongly recommended. He had pierced my husbands tongue for him and worked in the same shop where we both would get our tattoos from. We also checked with him to see if he was CPR trained and had experience handling blood and any blood borne pathogens.
At A Glance Author M.DiCarlo Contact M.DiCarlo@bme.anon When Five years ago Artist Chris Hammonds Studio Sins of the Flesh Location Whittier, Ca Mother's Day was just a few days away and my usual present is a new tattoo, but since I had just given birth and was attempting to nurse, a tattoo was out of the question.(I didn't want to take any risks with contaminating my body or my sons milk.) I checked with my doctor and he told me I had the green light to get pierced as long as it was done in a safe and sterile environment and wasn't anywhere I was healing. With that in mind, I decided it was a great time to go get pierced. My husband took me in that Sunday to Sins of the Flesh, in Whittier, where Chris was already getting prepared for me. He had sterilized the room where I would be pierced, sanitized his equipment using an autoclave, and had me select jewelry and placement on my face. He also checked with me to see if I was under the influence of any drugs, alcohol, or medication, had any blood diseases, or any allergies to latex, so I signed my forms and we proceeded.
Next, I laid down and he advised me he would be inserting a needle, following through with jewelry, and I may experience a pain. I didn't answer since I was afraid to talk when he just told me he was putting a needle through my flesh. Suprisingly enough, it didn't hurt. I felt a slight pinch and a little pop as the needle exited. In a matter of seconds, the jewelry was in and Chris was sitting me back up. It was like second nature to him how quickly and accurately he did it.
I checked it out in the mirror, and I loved it. He showed me how to clean it using seasalts if needed. He told me for this piercing the best method is hands off! "Leave it alone and let it do its thing." He also told me if it got red, crusty, bloody, infected looking, or was hurting me, come back in so we could check it out. Later that day, my face was a little swollen and I looked kind of deformed. It took a few weeks to heal and I had a problem when I would talk, the jewelry would slide downwards, causing my teeth to catch on it and pull. This wasn't a continual problem though. It lasted about a week and a half, usually only when I was eating or talking for a period of time. I suspected this was happening since the piece was longer to allow for swelling and my swelling had gone down the first few days.
A few weeks later, I went in to see Chris. We checked it our and he told me I healed up good so we switched the stud out to one with a shorter length. The one I have in now is the same one I've had all these years. He showed me how to re-insert the jewelry and told me a bit about if I decided to take it out, how to heal the hole with minimal scarring.
It's been about 5 years since I had the piercing done. It has been incredibly low maintenance, contrary to what I had been anticipating. I occassionally will get a bit of dried skin around it, but very rarely. When it happens, I take it out and put some lotion on my skin and clean the jewelry. It is a real fun piercing compared to my others since its one of the first things you see when you look at me. I get lots of compliments which suprises me since I sometimes forget I have it. I will occassionally need to tighten up the piece but it had lasted a long time and I don't plan on taking it out. I feel like this is a permanent piercing for me. The majority of my piercings are short lived due to the way I heal. This has been such an easy one though. In my opinion, its a real feminine and girly piercing and I love seeing other women with them. However, I have seen a few guys with them and they're pretty hot on guys too...