This is the story of my self-done labret - my fourth lip piercing. Now I'm sure you are going to be thinking, "Here's another story of a dumbass with a safety pin." Happily, I can assure you this is not the case. I run/co-run three body modification webgroups on the Internet, and seeing as I spend most of my time lecturing said safety pin-wielding dumbasses, I had no intention of being hypocritical.
At A Glance Author Siren IAM Siren When Three months ago
To get the standard introduction over with, I'm 18 and have been into piercings since I was about fourteen or fifteen. I have my bridge, earlobes [once], four in my lip and two clavicle surfaces pierced. Go me. Now onto the story.
I made an order from a reputable store. Blade needles, 14 & 16g. Pennington slotted clamps. Surgical marker. I managed to procure a pack of gamma-radiated surgeon's gloves from my nursing assistant partner and bought some antiseptic solution. I fished a penlight from an obscure drawer. I was ready to pierce – well, when my supplies came.
So a week or two after my orders came, all pre-packaged and wonderfully sterile, one morning I began the annoying task of cleaning down the room I was to be piercing in. I decided to pierce in the only bathroom in the house that didn't harbour a toilet, though I don't recommend piercing in the bathroom at all. Therefore, minus the various bacteria and fungi that I'm sure were festering on the seat.
About forty five minutes later I had finished cleaning the bathroom down with a hydrogen peroxide and water solution. I laid out my tools on a field of gauze to keep them from rolling all over the place. Not to mention to keep them from becoming contaminated as opposed to aseptic. Note: Cleaning the room you're piercing in may be the difference between a healthy piercing and a piercing that gets infected. Bacteria live on everything, including your skin.
After I had laid out my tools, I used some cotton wool to clean the area I was going to be piercing. I used 1 part Dettol antiseptic to 2 parts water, as I find pure antiseptic or soap dries out the skin. Then after I had finished cleaning, I changed my gloves for what seemed like the hundredth time and foraged for the penlight to check for any veins in the area. I wanted the labret about ¾ of a centimetre below my third already healed lip piercing. I didn't want to risk having the two holes merge into one, nor did I want it too low down – that would look stupid. One of the pressures placed on yourself as a DIY piercer is to get the placement absolutely perfect – I believe it is one of human's natural tendency to be highly critical of themselves.
It took a few attempts to get the placement dead centre, as by that time nerves had taken over and I was shaking. Eventually I got it and managed to get it right the second time. Then came the moment of truth. I opened the clamps and 14g needle packages and clamped my lip. It was awkward to do at first because of the position my hand was in, but I maneuvered them around so I could get a decent amount of room. I put my needle against the purple dot that marked my future piercing, and began to push.
My first thought was that some water based lubricant would definitely have helped here. I believe some of the scar tissue from my third lip piercing made it more difficult to pierce my labret. However, I kept on track and kept piercing my labret, though not too fast in case I slipped and hit something. It was interesting to watch in the mirror, because my lip was going white where the needle was coming through. But then it was through, and I disentangled the clamps from my lip with a sigh of relief and reached for the jewellery.
Then it started to bleed.
Fuck.
I held the needle firmly with one hand and mopped up the blood with tissues. There was copious amounts of it, and for a moment I thought I had hit a vein. But no, my veins had showed up in the pen's light, weaving through the tissue of my lip, but not where I had pierced. It must have been a minor capillary.
After a moment I carefully transferred the jewellery – a 14g x 10mm labret barbell – and dropped the needle into my sharps container. It was done. I ran my tongue over the new disc in my lip then washed my mouth out to get rid of the taste of blood.
Disclaimer etc:: I don't recommend anyone else DIY at home. Unless you have the proper equipment which has been sterilised, and that you have an aseptic room to pierce in. Piercings are great, but they are not worth your health, or your life. I have been educated by many knowledgeable people and am lucky to have information and support on hand.