Chances are if you're reading this, you're interested in getting a lip piercing.
At A Glance Author Al Phoenix Contact Al Phoenix@bme.anon When A month ago Artist I forget his name, but he's been working on me for a year Studio Gifted Buddha Location Watford, England I say, go for it! In my opinion, there's very few facial piercings more attractive than a lip ring and the pain of getting it done is nothing in comparison to the happiness and boost in self-esteem you'll experience as a result.
For about 5 months I'd had a labret just below the centre of my lip and a ring to the right of it. I was happy with this for a while, but one morning I woke up, looked in the mirror and realised how incomplete my lip looked. Later that day I went out and got the left side of my lip pierced.
I spent the weekend taking good care of my new piercing, doing all the things I did with my others. I find my aftercare routine works really well and my other piercings, including an eyebrow, two lobes, a labret, the left of my lip and two ear cartilage piercings healed up with minimal discomfort. However, there was one problem I had with my latest piercing which I did not have with the others that I had got before and that was the fact that this time round I had a job and I had to be at work on Monday, only two days after I was pierced.
I'm the only guy under the age of 30 in the small office that I work, and as a result, although a friendly bunch, they are reasonably uneducated in the reasons behind getting holes stuck in your face. Out of my seven piercings, the only one I have visible is my ear cartilage ring, and even that caused some rather rude comments by my colleagues. I dread to think how they'd react if they knew I had three holes in my lip!
I use labret retainers to hide my lip piercings at work, and only one or two millimetres of clear plastic can be seen protruding my lip, only really visible if someone's up close.
I obviously couldn't go into work with my brand new piercing visible, so it was either call in sick for the next few weeks while it healed or hide it with a retainer. I chose the latter. Big mistake.
On the Monday morning my lip still ached a little, not bad of course, but I was aware of it. I had to fumble about with the jewellery to get it out and then stick a piece of plastic through the hole. It stinged quite badly and I was not looking forward to having to do this every morning for the next couple of weeks.
By the time I got to work the right side of my lip seemed to have tripled in size, I had never seen such swelling before. Not only this but half of my lip had gone totally purple and whenever I talked it sounded like I was talking with a mouth full of food or something. It would have been less noticeable if I had gone to work with the damn jewellery in!
I was in discomfort for the whole seven hours I was at work, and longed for the time I could go home and suck on an ice cube to stop the swelling. The experience was made even worse by the fact that, because my lip had swelled so much, the retainer no longer went all the way through so every couple of seconds I had to stick my hand in my mouth and push the plastic pin through so the hole didn't close up at the other end. It was a horrible experience which didn't improve for the rest of the week. I guess I'm really lucky that the discomfort did eventually subside and I didn't get an infection, although I empathise again that I was REALLY LUCKY.
Anyway, time has passed and I'm really proud of what I see as a completed lip, I wear a blackline labret in the centre and two blackline Bar Closure rings either side of it. I love the look of my lip, with it's black jewellery, and can't resist looking at myself in every reflection when I'm out and about. Yeah, vain I know, but what are you gonna do? I went through pain and discomfort to look like this!
Anyway, why am I telling you this? Well, apart from the fact I want a membership to BME (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) I also want to point out that getting a piercing isn't all swings and roundabouts, especially if you don't care for it. My advice to you is, if you do plan on getting a piercing, make sure you can display it proudly to the World at least during the time it takes to heal. Believe me, getting a piercing then having to hide it practically the next day is no walk in the park. Be patient folks, and open up to the beautiful world of body modification when the time's right.