After I got my nose pierced, I fell in love with piercings and couldn't wait to get more. I knew the one I wanted next was a Monroe. I had seen other girls with them and thought it was a really pretty piercing.
At A Glance Author Peach Contact Peach@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Rockwood Studio Big Island Tattoo Location Big Island, Hawaii One week, I was talking with my boyfriend and he said he would buy it for me as a present. Friday night, I spent some time looking in the mirror, deciding exactly where I wanted it. I chose a spot on the opposite side of my nose ring, right inside my smiley-wrinkles. I was so excited.
The next day, my mom drove me down to the tattoo parlor and signed the paperwork. My boyfriend had recommended the place because he got two tattoos there. He and a friend showed up. I read the paper on caring for the piercing while the guys looked at the flash. I was getting the butterflies in my stomach, and was really nervous when my name was called and I went into the little room.
I had to rinse my mouth out and then got into the chair as Rockwood readied his equipment. My boyfriend came in and stood next to me to hold my hand. My friend also came in to watch. I was quite nervous, anticipating how much it was going to hurt. He marked my lip where he thought it would look nice, but, having chosen my exact spot the night before, I corrected it. When I was satisfied, on went the orange gunk, and then he came at me with the clamp. I had no idea the clamp was going to hurt that badly! Well, once it was on, I wasn't nervous anymore, because I knew there was no way a needle through my lip was going to hurt more than the clamp.
And so, I was right. The needle went through, from the inside-out, with little pain. The only part that actually hurt was when it came through the top layer of skin. He put the bar through and then tried to get the ball on it. I say tried, because it took him a few tries to screw the ball on. He's a guy with big fingers and the ball was really tiny for him to hold onto. Finally, he got it on. I got out of the chair and looked at it in the mirror. I was thrilled! It looked amazing! I loved it.
I had to sit in the waiting room for a few minutes, feeling a bit woozy and light-headed. But, we left, and I felt awesome. I was hanging out with my friends afterwards, feeling very loopy, and I started playing with it right away. Maybe I just have an oral fixation or something, but, I was afraid I had loosened it, or would, so I stopped myself.
For the next couple days, my lip was swelling a little bit and it was uncomfortable to laugh and eat. Eating with a spoon becomes incredibly difficult with a swollen lip.
On Wednesday, I decided to change my nose ring. I had it pierced at a different studio than my lip, so I went in there to get it done. When I got there, the piercer looked at my lip and remarked at how swollen it was. I thought it was just the regular new-piercing-swollen, but he said it was more. That the bar was too short and I should have it removed before it got any worse.
So, before I knew what was happening, he had me in the chair, his apprentice holding on to it inside my mouth, and him twisting the ball off. It hurt a lot! So much worse than getting it pierced. I was very dizzy afterwards. My mom got me a soda, and after I calmed down a bit, I got my nose ring changed, and left the place.
I was so upset at having lost my piercing after only five days! I cried for an hour afterwards. My lip swelled up and was enormous! Way beyond normal swelling size. Luckily, it went down by the next day.
The next weekend I went in to talk to Rockwood, and told him the whole story. He said you should, of course never go to another piercer for a piercing they didn't do. He also said he couldn't really tell me if it was right or not to take the jewelry out, since he hadn't seen it. But, that, if I waited a month for it to heal up completely, then he would re pierce it for just the piercing price.
So, when getting a piercing- any piercing- make sure to clean it and follow all instructions given by the piercer. If you think you're experiencing any problems with it, always go to the piercer who put it in.