| At A Glance | |
| Author | anonymous |
| Contact | anonymous@bme.anon |
| When | A week ago |
| Artist | Brandon |
| Studio | His Home. |
| Location | PA |
So my "need" and desire for this piercing would come and go in bouts, and I finally took the initiative to get my butt in action, and get it done.
I had planned to get it by my regular piercer, who I had become pretty close with the past few months, but then one Sunday rolled around, and the shop was closed. Luckily a friend of mine had a cousin who's boyfriend was a piercer.
I anxiously waited for 2:00, and then my friend finally showed up. We drove to his grandmother's house where the piercing was to take place, though it sounds unsterile and unsafe, it was far from.
We hung around for a little while as the piercer got things ready. He washed his hands with soap/water and then lied down a large sheet of paper towel, and set all the supplies he needed in order to proceed with the piercing.
He had and alcohol swab, a marker, the barbell, latex gloves, and the clamps. He said "ready when you are" and I slowly walked into the kitchen where they made a joke of how nervous I seemed.
He continued to wipe the nasty-tasting alcohol across my chin and lower lip, and then marked my lip for the alignment of the piercing. He asked my friend how it looked, and when he got that approval, he clamped my lip. That pain never bothered me, in fact the clamp really produces no pain at all. He used a 14g curved barbell, which I was a little nervous about since I originally wanted a 16g. He assured me it would look okay, and heal just the same, and that in the future I would be able to change it to a 16g if I really wanted to.
This is when my nerves started to tense up, he counted "1, 2, 3" and the needle went through. I had my eyes closed while holding my breath, but the pain was much less than I had expected.
It felt about the same as when you burn your tongue, except it was my lip. My friend was not helping very much however, because he made the "aww" and "ehhh" and "oooo" sounds as the needle went through.
Next came the barbell, a little sting, but nothing traumatic, about the equivalent of a shot at the doctors.
His girlfriend (my friend's cousin) then preceded to wash her hands and screw on the ball, which the piercer was having a lot of trouble with since it was so small and his hands were large, and shaky. Afterword there was not a sting of pain, even if i talked or smiled.
Afterword, I knew I had psyched myself out way too much, because I felt dizzy and lightheaded. This happens with every piercing I have gotten, so I knew it would subside shortly, which it did.
I was able to eat and drink easily, with only a few dripples here and there when I drank from a bottle.
Later that night I cleaned it with antibacterial liquid soap, and layed down, not expecting what was about to happen. I was texting while I was lying down, and dropped my phone (how embarrassing) on my face. The pain was terrible, but eased in about 30 seconds.
The next morning it was nice and swollen, but with little to absolute no pain, until 3rd period when I was laughing uncontrollably and it began to bleed and sting, I ran it under cold water and that alleviated any pain, and washed away the blood.
Over the course of the next few days I got very sick. High fever, bad, chest cough, but I continued to clean the piercing, and it has caused very little irritation and pain.
The next morning and days following, my lips were terribly chapped, being that it is winter, and the swelling cracked them more. I have been using vaseline, which has helped tremendously and caused no irritation to the piercing at all. I have been careful not to apply it straight on the piercing, but around it. The only awkward thing is getting used to the feel, as it is for most piercings. Overall a very successful piercing, easily cared for, with little to no pain.
Here is a picture of the new piercing, as well as the vertical industrial, and my size 0 gauge.
