I got my upper labret pierced about 1 1/2 years ago at the North Carolina Tattoo Convention. It was done by Jessika who currently owns and pierces at River City Tattoos in Richmond. I had been planning on getting done for awhile and finally decided to make it one of my two yearly piercings. I've made myself pace out my piercings a bit by getting one every 6 months for both healing and decorative purposes. I felt I had a perfect little divot in my upper lip where the piercing would sit perfectly. Also, I have my labret pierced and thought it would be cute to have both the top and bottom of my lips pierced. I was pretty excited the day I planned to get pierced. It took me about an hour to get to the convention in Greensboro. Once I got there, I took my time looking at the different booths and displays. I kept my out for Jessika's stand, as I had found out that she was the piercer there and had researched her some. I was pretty satisfied with the info I found on her. However, after circling around the convention, I hadn't seen her. I went to the entrance to make sure she was there and they managed to point me in the right direction. That was a relief, it would have sucked if I couldn't get it done.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When N/A Artist Jessika Studio Tattoo Convention Location Geensboro, North Carolina When I finally found the right place, I didn't have to wait to long. I talked to the counter girl about what I wanted and she got all the necessary paperwork and stuff. Jessika soon came out and introduced herself. I talked to her briefly about what I was interested in and the (already autoclaved) jewelry I had brought with me. She was very nice and went behind the curtained area to set up. Then she had me come in and sit up on the table ( a piercing table/chair thingy, not just a table.) She cleaned the outside of my lip with something that stung just the tiniest bit and had me rinse with some mouthwash. She marked the area to try and keep it centered with my bottom lip piercing. Now is probably a good time to mention that my labret piercing, which has since been redone, was slightly off center. I had noticed this almost immediately after getting it done, but it was so slightly off center that the only person who really noticed was me so I had let it go. Anyway, tr ying to mark the upper lip to match the lower lip was not the best idea. It just kind of made both of them look more off center. I pointed out to her the place I had envisioned the piercing being placed and she agreed that was a good spot, but it didn't match the lower piercing. I made the decision to go ahead and do it there anyway because I really believed ( and still do) that that was the perfect place to put it. You can see why I ended up repiercing the bottom one.
Once the marking was done, she put a set of forceps on my upper lip. She took the needle and stuck it in front to back. It hurt a bit more then my lower one, but that one barely hurt at all. Plus, you really are in pain for less then a second so it doesn't matter that much. She slide the internally threaded 14 g. labret stud in and screwed on the backing. I looked at my new piercing in the mirror and was very happy with the outcome. The jewelry sat exactly where I wanted to on my lip. I made sure to tip her on my way out.
The healing was pretty uneventful. I used TECH2000 mouthwash after I ate to clean it on the inside and Satin soap and sea salt soaks for the outside. Also, I made sure not to touch it with dirty hands or play with it. It swelled more then my lower one and took a month or two longer to heal. I pretty much expected that since my upper lip is thicker then my lower lip. I was very relieved when I could finally switch it to a smaller stud, since I had a fairly long one in to allow for the initial swelling. After awhile it had gotten irritating because it was winter and the cold seemed to make it always have a little crust on it. So when my lip would move, it would move the bar, thus disturbing the crust. Not painful, but annoying and uncomfortable. I did start to experience some gum erosion but I replaced the disk backing with one of those acrylic No C-um half-dome thingys. That seems to have helped a lot. Thanks for reading my lip story!