For years, I've been fascinated with piercings and the people who had them. I had always longed for one but I could never get one because I was not 18 yet and I went to a Christian school. When my 18th birthday rolled around, I was so happy for I could always get the piercing I always wanted. This was not the case. Due to delays and school, my piercing was put off until just a week ago. I was excited and nervous when I walked into Gary's Tattoo. The studio was a lot bigger than I thought it to be, and I was greeted with a smile by a woman I'll refer to as "Suzie". After a brief discussion about what I wanted, Suzie had me rinse my mouth out with some mouthwash. I sat down into the dentist like chair while Suzie laid out her instruments and prepared to pierce me. She marked my lip with a purple marker and gave me a mirror to confirm the location. I confirmed it and she proceeded to clamp my lip. I was told to take a deep breath. On my second breath, I felt the pinch of t he needle and felt it slide thru my lip. When she tried to put the ring on, it fell off into my mouth. She had to re-insert the needle and try again. This was the worst part of it all. It was very uncomfortable because she had to move the needle around a bit and even though I already had the hole, the needle going thru again wasn't very pleasant. She finally got the ring in and everything was ok. I originally was going to get both sides of my lip pierced, but the pain was so bad on the first piercing I had to put off my second one until a later day. I paid her the very cheap price of $30.00 and I was on my way.
At A Glance Author Multikillionaire3 Contact Multikillionaire3@bme.anon When A week ago Artist I don't know Studio Gary's Tattoo Studio Location Odessa, Texas About two days later, my lip began to swell more than it was and I got worried. Around the hole on the inside of my mouth was tender, purple and blue. It hurt when I spoke, ate, anything. While I was at work one day, it began to bleed severely from the hole on the inside of my lip. I was mad because it was bleeding and I tried extremely hard to remove the ring. Bad idea. This only made things worst and delayed my healing process. I looked up what was wrong on the internet and found out that my piercing was infected. I didn't know how this could be for since the day I got it, I washed it with anti-bacterial soap and always used mouth wash. I began to use sea-salt soaks and that didn't help so I went back to Gary's to see what the problem was. I spoke to Suzie and she told me that it was infected, not the worst case she's ever seen, but still pretty bad. She gave me some triple a antibiotic ointment and told me to purchase some Neosporin and ear piercing care fluid. I did as I was told and also picked up some zinc and vitamin C tablets to help fight the infection. After three days of vitamins, and cleaning with the above products, my piercing looks a lot better. The swelling has gone down significantly (even though it is still slightly swollen), and the pain is gone. It is no longer bleeding randomly and the purplish color near the hole is gone. I can now talk normally, eat normally, and enjoy my day without having the immense pain present in anything I did. Hopefully, my road to recovery is almost over.
Overall, my experience was not what I had hoped for, but was not the worst experience in my life. I know things I didn't know before, and hopefully my next piercing and/or tattoo will go a lot better. I still don't know how my piercing got infected. I suppose it is because I'm a cashier and I'm involved with people and money all day.
My advice to everyone out there is even if you have a slight problem with your piercing, contact whoever did it. I waited and was in the worst pain of my life for 4 days. When you do get a piercing, I suggest taking vitamins to help fight any infections that might come. Boost up your immune system with things like zinc, vitamin c, and garlic. It can only do well. Also, never use over the counter salt. I did, and it only dries out your mouth and it seemed to only make things worst. Also, try to use mouthwash with no alcohol. The alcohol only seemed to irritate my piercing. Thank you for reading my review and cheers!