August of 2003 my parents had just left to go on vacation without my brother and I for the first time 3 years. Seizing the opportunity, I went out and had my labret pierced, but I am getting ahead of myself.
At A Glance Author Skip Contact Skip@bme.anon IAM Skip3s When Two years ago Artist I've never learned his name. Studio Bristol Tattoo Location Bristol, Bucks County, Pa. I had been planning on a labret for a few months. I didn't do much research on it in terms of reading experiences, but I must have looked at hundreds of pictures through Google and BME's archive. I've seen the labret piercing in person only a few times before, and thought it would look good. I had went as far as to do a photoshop of myself with both double and single labrets. In the end however, I decided on a single labret since I had never had a needle pushed through my flesh.
I headed over to Bristol Tattoo without any thought. I had never had a piercing before, and this was the only place I knew of. I had been inside before while my friend was having a tattoo done. The artist seemed very professional when we met him and knew what he was doing. The studio was/is laid back, had good music playing, and was an all around friendly environment – an important detail that made myself very comfortable.
Going into the shop on August 3, 2003, I knew exactly what I wanted, but wasn't really sure how to go about asking. It was empty that afternoon, just the artist, heavily tattooed up and down his arms and around his neck, a labret of his own, and a few ear piercings, greeted me, and asked how he could help me. I asked about the labret prices, "40$", how long it would take to heal, "about 1 – 2 months depending on my cleaning regiment", and finally the ever persistent question...How does it feel/will it hurt? His response, plain and simple, "come find out".
I agreed and he handed me a clipboard with the usual form, made a copy of my driver's license, and had me take a seat on the stool in the back room behind the half-door. My brother sat in the front room watching as he took out the sterilized needle, clamp, sterilization swab and some A&D cream for lubrication of labret stud. Gloved up and ready to go, he cleaned the outside of my lip with the swab, then carefully started placing the clamps, he checked the inside and outside alignments to make sure it was straight and centered. He took pulled my lip out and down, and asked if I was ready. Not being able to speak I gave a bit of a "uh huh" as he touched the needle to the inside of my lip. "Breath in...", he checked the alignment one more time, "...breath out", the needle pushed through my lip as if passing through marshmallow. The pain was nothing, a bit of pressure, a slight pinch, then just heat. He carefully removed the clamps and held my lip down with his one gloved hand and took the ¾" labret stud in the other. He lubed up the stud with a dab of A&D ointment, and pressed it against the butt of the needle down through the inside of my lip and out the front.
The A&D ointment burned slightly as it touched the new wound and its taste was nothing to talk about. My lip swelled up enough to engulf the entire stud from flat back to the ball the artist fastened onto the end. Swollen and a bit sore, I handed him 60$ (40$ piercing + 20$ tip), thanked him, and followed my brother out to my car. The first words out of his mouth were "That was disgusting and looked painful". I chuckled a bit and told him I barely felt it.
After getting home I began chewing on ice and drinking anything cold I could find to help with the swelling. It wasn't painful, just a bit annoying to have my lip feel so swollen. I was told to use a diluted solution of Listerine (50%) and water (50%) as well as A&D ointment on the outside to help promote better healing after washing with antibacterial soap. That night and the following day I had a limited amount of trouble eating, in fact I had little to no trouble. By the third day my lip had returned to normal, still was a little sore, and I had to learn to not stop messing around with it. Having something foreign in my lip for the first time was odd, being able to feel it spinning around inside was quite the odd feeling. The next month or so I used the 50/50 Listerine/water solution and applied a small dab of A&D ointment to the outside and around the piercing.
Two months after having first been pierced, I stopped using the A&D ointment, and moved to a 75/25 Listerine/water mixture. A few weeks later I notice I started to develop a white ring around the stud – of course I still couldn't keep my hands off of it and had to constantly spin it. I went back to using the A&D after every time I cleaned and was able to clear up my blow out quickly. I restrained myself, and didn't touch the stud for an entire month unless I was cleaning it.
Overall it was a great experience, which I of course credit to a good piercer and aftercare. I've since stretched my labret from a 16ga to 10ga. The stretching wasn't too much of a hassle. The stretch from 16 – 14ga was done by my friend Brian (who has done my eyebrow, tongue and tongue venoms) with a taper and appropriately sized jewelry. Healing was quick, I waited about a month or so. From 14 – 12ga I used a circular barbell with tapered ends. Lubricated with A&D I pushed the jewelry through slowly, washed off with a bit of soap and hot water, and let it heal for about a week and a half. For the stretch from 12 – 10ga I used similar jewelry, a circular barbell with tapered ends, again used A&D and pushed it through slowly. The first two stretches were nothing, they didn't feel odd or any different than the original 16ga. The stretch to 10ga I felt a slight bit of pressure, nothing major, which I account to not using enough ointment.
My labret is still at 10ga, and gives me very little to no trouble. Proper jewelry use has kept my gums from recessing; although sometimes wearing flat-backed studs, spikes and the like can aggravate the back of my lip after a few months of constant wearing. I find using a ring every now and then for a couple of days relieves the aggravation. All in all, it has been a wonderful experience.