I've wanted my labret pierced since I was probably around 13, but when you're living with your parents and are 13 (lets face it, it is a little young to be getting pierced) then you have to understand that you are in for a wait. They even threatened to take my car away if I did it, they were just that bent on keeping me metal-free (strangely enough, by age 13 I already had 2 lobe piercing in each ear, as well as a conch in each and a helix in my right). I guess I finally wore them down, because 4 years later, I was given permission to finally get it done.
At A Glance Author Nicole Contact Nicole@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Ian Studio 1st on Granville Location Granville Street, Vancouver, B.C. At first I was made to research potential consequences by my parents, who by this time just wanted me to make an educated decision. The more I found out the more scared I got. Gum erosion scared me the most, and stories of people having to get grafting done didn't help. For a while I entertained the idea of getting my vertical labret pierced to try and avoid this, but I scrapped that idea soon. The labret was what I wanted, and it was what I would get.
Next, at my parent's request again, I visited my doctor and discussed potential consequences. She told me what I already knew, and seemed less freaked out about my getting pierced than my parents. They say this is just because I'm not her child, but I like to think my parents were over reacting on the whole piercing thing in the first place. That day I visited the piercing place I wanted to go to, 1st on Granville, and got a card to make an appointment.
I called to make my appointment for the next day, and I ended up getting there half an hour early. I will never do that again. We walked around for 15 minutes trying to kill time, but there really wasn't anything we could do for only 15 minutes, so we went back to sit in the parlor. BAD IDEA! Sitting there I got very worked up. This being my first non-ear piercing, I was very nervous, but I tried to play it down. I went through all the legal work and picked out the bead I wanted for the ring (plain silver for me!). Then Ian (piercer) led Dan, Lindsay and I into the back room and I was "prepped" for the piercing.
I sat on the table, and asked him all the questions I had asked everyone else before about gum erosion (have I mentioned how much this concept was REALLY freaking me out?). He assured me that it didn't happen often, and I calmed down a little. I lay on the table and waited as Lindsay and Dan were watching intently from the other side of the room. Ian rubbed some disinfectant of sorts on my labret area. As soon as all this happened I was completely calm. The procedure of piercing fascinates me, and watching it was a much more calming experience than sitting and waiting. He made the marking, and I made sure it was in the place that I wanted it. Next he placed the clamp on my labret. People had told me the clamp was the worst part before, but I never really believed them. Well, now I did. That thing hurts, and it was on there for an insanely long amount of time.
Finally he produced the needle, and placed it on top of the dot. He made me take a few deep breaths and eventually said "On this next breath, I'm going to push the needle through," and when he did, I didn't feel anything. He later told me that I had very soft labret tissue and that with many people it takes a lot more force to get it through. He put the ring through and attached the bead. This ring was huge, I have never seen anything so huge on a piercing ever, and it wasn't even a ring really. The part of the ring that was on the inside of my mouth was actually flat. Eventually I paid, tipped, left, and spent the next two weeks with this gigantic ring flopped to one side of my mouth. The worst part about it all was that I couldn't eat things like sandwiches and hamburgers. The most it hurt was the following week when it would be painful to flip it to the other side of my mouth.
Two weeks later I was b back at first, getting the ring downgraded (FINALLY!) to a long stud. As soon as it was changed I noticed how weird it felt to actually not have something sitting on top of my lips. The bar did feel a little tight at first, though it was the same size as the ring. The next day was the worst day in the whole procedure. The flat back of the stud was rubbing up against my gums, and it was not only annoying, but also quite painful. Fortunately, the pain was gone by the next day.
After four years of waiting I finally have my labret pierced, and I love it. It was a very good first body piercing (aside from ears), as it was relatively easy to take care of and pretty much painless. I can't wait until I van get my next piercing!