The first time I saw this piercing was probably about 2 years ago at a concert in columbus. The person was in a band I don't particularly enjoy, but he was a very pleasant young man and I was very intrigued by the metal in his cheek. That night was when I decided that spot was the coolest spot ever for a piercing (although my thoughts have changed about that since, I don't really think any spot is the coolest or best spot for a piercing) and if I ever got the balls to get something pierced, it would be that.
At A Glance Author steve Contact thisismyaiibi@aol.com When A month ago Artist Clay Studio Skincraft Location Cincinnati About a year later, on my 18th birthday, I got my lip pierced. I had always liked that piercing, no matter how cliche, and it didn't seem like it would be that painful, so I got it. I was too afraid to get the Anti-brow piercing (as I discovered it's name by looking at the BME website) due to fear of pain, I'm a big baby. The lip hurt about as much as I had anticipated, although the swelling afterwards was more extreme than I had thought. For the next week and a half I was very careful about cleaning, eating, and sleeping. It hurt so much from the swelling I was afraid of causing more pain. After about 3 weeks it seemed completely healed and I've had it for over a year now and it's doing fine.
I always regretted not getting my anti-brow, especially after many of my friends and many, many, many other kids I saw around were getting their lips pierced. I wanted something more unique. I kept contemplating the anti-brow, but I had spoken to many of my friends about the piercing and they all put down the idea either because they thought it would hurt too much or because it would look dumb, or a combination of the both.
Finally I decided I was going to get something done. I visited my usual tattoo/piercing shop, Skincraft, here in Cincinnati and consulted the piercer that was in that day and spoke to the young lady who has done all three of my tattoos about the piercings I was considering; the rook, the tragus, medusa, monroe, and the anti-brow. I was leaning away from the medusa and the monroe, and the piercer that was in the day of my first visit informed me that he was not experienced enough to do any of the others, but I could come back when the other 2 piercers were scheduled to work.
I came back a few days later and spoke to Clay. He has pierced many of my friends and they all were very pleased with his work and him as a person. He was extremely friendly and very honest about his thoughts and feelings about my ideas for my next piercing. I kept pushing the idea for the anti-brow and he said, "I will do it if you want it, but..." then proceeded to list all the reasons not to get it. I was a bit discouraged and began discussing the idea for a very interesting industrial that would consist of a ring through my rook with a bar attached to the bead that would go through my conch, using my friend that accompanied me as a model to demonstrate his idea. While very excited about that idea, I was not too excited about the thought of all that pain nor the price of the jewelry that would be involved. Despite all the reasons against getting the Anti-brow, I made the decision to pierce it.
While preparing for the piercing, my friend and I sat on one of those "doctor's office" tables you sit on when you're a kid going in for a checkup at the pediatrician. I was very nervous and when I'm nervous I tend to ramble in question form. One of my inquiries to Clay was the number of these piercings he, himself, had done. He chuckled a bit and said, "to be completely honest, you'll be my first." This made me very excited, I had only seen the piercing once so I already figured it'd be rather unique and then for someone who had been piercing for almost 5 years to say they had never performed the piercing I was about to get caused a lot of joy, which out-weighed my anxiety. He put two dots below my left eye, diagonally, pointing towards my earlobe. The clamp didn't hurt at all, just a soft pinch. The needle was the most painful part, although that's not saying much because I barely felt it, much less pain than my lip. It went very smoothly. Then he put in the jewelry, all the while a small bit of pain. As soon as he let go all the pain vanished. I looked in the mirror and was very pleased with the piercing and very surprised at the lack of swelling. My friend, who before thought I was crazy for wanting that piercing and who also expressed disgust with the idea of how it would look, became very excited and told me how surprised she was and how good it really looked. Clay took a picture for the book at Skincraft, I thanked him, paid him (he also gave me a 5 dollar discount, woot!), and then I left very happy.
Over the next few days I barely noticed the piercing, as far as pain or irritation goes, and I got plenty of compliments and enthused reactions to the sight from friends and family. Then one evening I fell into the arm of a chair (I don't feel like explaining how it happened) and it did swell for a few days after that, but the pain was very minimal. My lip hurt much more.
It's been over a month now and I am very pleased. It's completely healed already and I have not had one negative comment (aside from the "why did you do that" from my mother). Many of my friends have told me that they now want this piercing but it looks so painful, so I tell them that it hurts very very bad and I regret having it done. I just don't want Cincinnati to be running around with kids with metal in their cheek. The pain is almost non-existent and for such a pretty piercing, it's very much worth it!