I have my ears pierced, my lower lip pierced (on the left side of my face)(your left), and as of this morning/yesterday afternoon my monroe (I'll be putting that story in after this). I'm not very hardcore into piercings, but if I was old enough, I'm guessing I'd have about 7 piercings and a few tattoos.
At A Glance Author Allison Contact atcasey_1793@yahoo.com When Three months ago Artist myself Studio Longwood Galleria (a food court) Location Boston, Massachussettes
I actually pierced my lip about two-three months ago. I didn't exactly keep track. Also, I did it myself. You see, I had wanted my lip pierced for a while, a few months or so, and when I found out a girl who I wasn't too hot about did hers herself, I was a little pissed. Mostly because the girl is (honestly) very annoying and ruins everything she does. She'll overuse a certain phrase or something so that when a person says it everyone gets reminded of her. Anyways, she ended up having to take it out, lucky for me. But still. I was under the impression that she had it in, and one day I was staying home from school. I did this thing where I'd take a safety pin and push it in a little bit, just to see if I'd be able to man it when I really got it done.
But then I just kept going, and it was done. I got pretty excited and when my sister called home after school I told her. She got very angry (I don't know why, its my lip, not her's) and made me take it out.
The next time I did it it was the same way, only it was my intention to pierce it. But I chickened out and it was out soon. Then the next time I was at lunch on a Friday, planning to pierce it later on that afternoon. Somehow I got roped into it and took a safety pin from my bag and pierced it right there at the table. I got shrieks and screams the rest of the day as people noticed a safety pin in my lip. Freaked some of my friends out who aren't into this stuff. I wore it out the entire friday (ended up repiercing it after it fell out a little in a movie theater) and on to saturday morning(strangely enough my parents didn't notice, but I did try to hide it), when I noticed an odd greenish thing on the inside of my mouth. I took it out because of it, and didn't pierce it again for a while.
Then my art class went on a field trip to a dumb art health convention (me and two friends just took all the freebies and left, then came back near the end of the day and the award ceremony). One of the flyers I got was an oral piercing thing about all the dangers and stuff. Piercing your lip can lead to brain damage, speech impediment, uncontrollable drooling, chipping and erosion of the teeth, and a big one. Kidney failure. If you pierce a vein in your lip, it can ultimately lead to kidney failure. But I was still determined to do it. Because honestly, I knew a kid who fell of a swing and got a wood chip through his lip, and he's alive and well and smarter than me. People cut their lip all the time, so as long as I took care of it, it should be fine.
So one Friday, a friend of mine was flipping out at the Longwood Galleria near Boston Latin School and Huntington Ave in Boston. He was all excited because he found out the small jewelry stand there sold body jewelry cheap (about $2.99 for a lip ring and $4.99 at the most expensive price), and he had recently got his tongue pierced by Scumbfuck (I don't know who that is, someone he knows though). So he got a new tongue ring and I picked out what I thought was a lip ring (it was actually an open loop with two spikes, I don't know what its called but I'll put a picture of something like it at the end). It was pretty thin and the lady didn't say anything so I thought it was fine.
So we stole some hydrogen peroxide from CVS and sterilized the safety pin at a table. Then I pierced it. Doesn't hurt anyways after the first time. So after the audience of friends all shuddered, we tried to get the ring in, but we lost the hole and I had to pierce it again. Then after many people's fingers in my mouth (fingernails against teeth is so awkward), we got a kid's ear stud in. They told me I should use a stud and not a ring while it heals. But that sunday (my parents still hadn't noticed), I switched it to the ring. The ear stud was too short and digging into my lip, and I was afraid it'd be swallowed up by my skin. We had lost one of the spikes, so I had to keep one spike right up against the inside of my lip to it wouldn't slip in.
It was hard to sleep, I'd have to wake up and kind of push it around because the skin would get stuck. My parents didn't notice for a week, for the entire spring break. When my mom did, she was only concerned about it getting infected, but was fine when I told her I was taking care of it properly (gargling with Listerine after every meal for the first few weeks, gargling every night). My dad found out when I was sleeping over a friend's, and since hasn't said much to me about it minus "I can't believe you did that" and shaking his head while smiling a little. I thought he'd beat the crap out of me.
My mom took me out to get a stud after a few weeks, and its been fine ever since. Everyone (including my mom) says the stud looks really good on me and I agree. I have thick lips anyways so a ring probably wouldn't work too well. I don't gargle anymore, I kept on forgetting and then every so often I do, but its fine. That part of my lip is a little bigger than the other half of my lower lip, but only noticeable if I let my lip puff out.
I'm pretty happy with it, and I hope to get my nose, tongue, cartilage, and possibly my belly button and eyebrow pierced in the future. Doing it myself was cheap and worked out for me, luckily, but I wouldn't recommend it if you've got the resources to get it done professionally.