I've been interested in body modification for many years, pretty much since I was a young teenager. However I went to a fairly strict school which only allowed normal ear piercing. Once I went of to university I started looking for a good piercing studio and trying to decide what I wanted done. I eventually decided on Primal Piercing on Glossop Road in Sheffield after going in and talking to the staff. They were all lovely people and gave me some advice on the best kind of piercing. I had been dithering over getting my eyebrow or my lip done. In the end I got my lip done as I wear glasses and thought it would look a bit too busy with an eyebrow piercing. So I made my appointment for the next week with a lovely lady whose name totally escapes me now. I went in the next week, slightly hyper and all excited. Rather unfortunately the lady was off ill, so my appointment was re-organised for the following week
At A Glance Author Nermilla Contact Nermilla@bme.anon When Five years ago Studio Primal piercing Location Sheffield, UK I went in on the day and chose a fabulous deep blue niobium ring with ball for the jewellery, then got to sit for 10 minutes with some vile tasting anaesthetic liquid in my mouth. I think I would have preferred to do without it in the end, as it only affected the outer layers and didn't penetrate at all. Plus I ended up swallowing half of it and ended up with a numb throat. I then went into the back room, it was all very clean and the equipment and jewellery was fresh out of sterile bags. A numbing spray was sprayed onto the outside of my lip and then the needle slid through. It went through really easily and only stung for a second, then my ring was threaded through and the ball snapped on. It bled a little bit but seemed fine after that. It looked fabulous, although my mum had a fit when she saw me a few weeks later!!! I was given a sheet of aftercare instructions as well as directions to go down the road to the chemists and buy some savlon wound wash. I was also told to sit down and rest for 10 minutes because I looked so pale. I did try and explain that I'm just naturally pale, but they insisted which was kind of sweet.
I had a few problems during the healing process, mainly because I seemed to fiddle with the ring unconsciously and even when I was asleep. I ended up have a small swelling just at the base of the piercing on the outer lip, which was quite sore and didn't look so fabulous. This was all solved a few weeks later when I lost the ball of the piercing after meeting up with an old flame in a club. (I think he might have swallowed it!!!!! Oops) I returned to primal piercing to get some new jewellery and although the lady who did the original piercing wasn't in, a new guy recommended that I get a as it might heal better, plus is much easier to change for new jewellery. I never have been able to get a ball back onto a ring. He kindly autoclaved the new jewellery and put it in for me and it healed up perfectly in a week.
My dentist took issue with my piercing for a while; he seemed to think that it would wear away my teeth at the front. It of course didn't do anything of the sort; in fact it only touched my teeth when I tapped it against them.
I had this piercing for just over 7 years and loved it the whole time. I have quite full lips and the actually seemed to emphasize them. I had lots of fun changing the ball for spikes or those spaceship fronts. Strangely my mum seemed to prefer the stud to the ring, even though I often had weird bits attached to it. Although she did insist I take it out for my brothers wedding. In the end I got a transparent plastic retainer stud for the wedding. What was really annoying was that mum didn't actually notice this until about 6 hours later!!!! This was especially annoying as the back of the retainer was quite rough and rubbed against my gums much more noticeably than my metal stud had. Unfortunately I got a job in a hospital after eventually finishing at university a few months ago and was obliged to remove my piercing. I really miss it!!! I keep reaching up to fiddle with the ball and just smacking myself in the mouth instead. Hopefully I'll get a job soon where I can get it put back in. Until then I'm going to get something new done, maybe something a bit more private.