Until I was sixteen, the idea of piercing anything but my ears had never crossed my mind. My ears were filled with holes, but I had never seen anything else that appealed to me. Then I saw a girl with her labret pierced and thought it was gorgeous. Ever since that day, I planned on getting mine done. I couldn't get pierced until I was eighteen, so I had a few years to wait. Besides that, my parents wouldn't let me.
At A Glance Author Sporkk Contact Sporkk789@yahoo.com Artist Canon Studio Acme Piercing Location Cincinnati, OH On my eighteenth birthday my friend, Danielle, and I drove to Acme Piercing, which had been strongly recommended to me by another friend. I was really nervous and excited. All of my ear piercings had been done by either a gun (eww!) or with a safety pin, so the idea of a big needle being stuck through my lip was a little unnerving. Before we went in, I decided to have something to eat so I didn't pass out or do anything else embarrassing. I felt better after that and was ready to continue.
After we reached the shop, it was only a short wait before Danielle and I were taken to our separate rooms (she got her lip pierced). Canon was to be my piercer and he sat me in the chair and started explaining to me the procedure I was about to go through. He told me about the whole process in detail and answered all my questions thoroughly. He described how everything was cleaned after each customer and told me about the sterile packets the equipment came in and how to tell if they had previously been opened or not. He was very friendly and he kept making jokes since it was obvious I was nervous.
Finally he cleaned the area to be pierced and started making marks. I planned on having a labret stud and had no desire to put a ring in it so I didn't like the first ones since they were too high, so he cleaned them off and tried again a little lower. This time I was thrilled and he made a matching mark on the inside of my lip. He was very calmed and talked me through the whole thing, making sure I was relaxed and comfortable before continuing on to the next step. He clamped my lip with the forceps and pulled it down. The forceps pinched, but didn't really hurt. He counted to three and pushed the needle through. I felt the tiniest prick and then it was over! He put the jewelry in and started explaining aftercare just as carefully as he had the procedure. The entire time he was talking I was sitting there in awe. The forceps hurt worse than the needle had, and my ears had hurt LOT more than my labret. People always ask me if it hurt and are shocked when I tell them that my ears hurt worse.
It was a little sore the rest of the day and my lip felt sort of heavy. I felt like I was sticking my lip out and making a puppy-dog face throughout most of the day. The feeling of the jewelry inside my mouth was odd, but not as bad as having braces. It felt as if there was a bit of food caught between my teeth and lip, which made meals a problem at first. Eating was strange because I had a long bar to allow for swelling and I didn't swell very much so my stud moved around a lot and kept getting chewed on. I would have to say that the worst part of the entire experience was that the back of my jewelry rubbed against my gums and for a while that made them really sore. Ever the slightest bump of my jewelry hurt. My actual lip didn't hurt after about a week. My gums stopped hurting after two weeks, and by the third week it was as if it was just an extension of my body. I would forget I had it and wonder why people were staring at my chin.
I absolutely adore my labret piercing, I think it's really pretty and it actually has the odd effect of looking somewhat normal on my face. It just fits. I'm really happy that I didn't chicken out. I hate needles and was very concerned about it before I went in, but this was completely different. I've been bitten by the piercing bug and intend to make further modifications to my body. Next on my list are prebrow/temple piercings and a hand web ring.
Anyone in or near Cincinnati should definitely check out Acme Piercing before deciding to go anywhere else. The atmosphere is comfortable and friendly and it is meticulously clean. So long as I am in Cincinnati, I'll never go anywhere else. Besides, if you're good they give you a lollipop!