My lip piercing was a vague idea floating around my mind for a long time before it became a reality. I decided that I'd like to accentuate my favourite feature with some stainless back when I was living at home and attending a school which had a strict 'No Visible Piercings' policy. Irritating my school didn't bother me so much, but my Mother isn't keen on facial piercings (she cried when my brother got his eyebrow done) and, although she would never have forbidden me from doing what I wanted to my own body (she even took me to get my tattoo on my 18th birthday), I decided not to upset her by getting it done while I lived under her roof. I stopped thinking about it until I moved to Bristol for university in 2004. At first was so overwhelmed by the experience of living away from home and meeting so many new people that getting pierced was the last thing on my mind. Eventually though, things calmed down and I remembered my desire for a lip piercing.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Sean Studio Pierced Up Location Bristol, UK My problem now was deciding what sort of piercing to get. I wasn't keen on a central labret stud, probably because most of my friends who have them are blokes and I've come to think of it as quite a masculine piercing, even though I've seen it look fabulous on a lot of girls. I toyed with the idea of a ring, hooking an appropriately-sized earring round my lip in various positions and looking at myself in the mirror, but I was never quite happy with the placement. I felt that it emphasised my long face when placed centrally, and distorted my mouth when at either side. I eventually decided that maybe I just wouldn't suit a lip piercing and pushed the idea to the back of my head. Then, a few months later, I saw a girl in the supermarket with long white-blonde hair and a labret stud at the side of her lip. It looked stunning and I began to think that this placement and jewellery could be the solution to my worries. I went home and tried to imagine myself with an off-centre labret. Immediately I could and I knew that this would be what I was getting.
Pierced up is definitely my local piercing studio, but I was wary of going there as my housemate had her navel pierced there and it had been nothing but trouble, swelling excessively and migrating. Then a friend told me that there was a new piercer there who really knew his stuff. He had refused to pierce this guy's nipple on the grounds that it was too small, which doesn't sound like something an irresponsible piercer would do. The reviews I found on the internet were very favourable but I wasn't convinced until my housemate went in there to show them her problematic belly button. The new piercer, Sean (I think, hopefully, I've got it right, if not- Sorry!), took one look at it and removed it, telling her that she wasn't suited for a navel piercing as her torso creases across where the bar lies. He apologised profusely for her crappy piercing and gave her good advice about minimizing scarring. This gave me great confidence in him.
My boyfriend and I walked into Pierced Up after lectures (and a good lunch) a couple of months ago on the off-chance that I would be able to get pierced straight away. Luckily for me, Sean wasn't busy, so he went straight into the piercing room to prepare everything while I sorted out the formalities with the lady behind the counter. I filled out a quick form which confirmed that I wasn't pregnant/drunk/underage and the lady checked my ID because I'm under 21. By the time I had done this Sean was ready. He led me through to the piercing room where I climbed onto the dentist-type chair and my boyfriend took a seat next to me. Sean showed me two labret studs, both in unopened plastic baggies, at different gauges and asked me to choose one. I picked the smaller, thinking it would hurt less. In retrospect I should have chosen the larger one to minimize the risk of tearing and migrating in the case of a knock to the jewellery, but I've not had any problems with it so I guess it's ok.
Sean cleaned my lip and the area around it with an antiseptic wipe. (I had brushed my teeth thoroughly and used mouthwash at my boyfriend's flat, which is conveniently on the way over, both for hygiene reasons and out of courtesy towards my piercer- just thought I'd let you know.) He then marked the placement with some kind of pen and asked me if I was happy about it. I checked in the mirror and asked my boyfriend's opinion before deciding that it was perfect. By this point I was quite nervous but Sean was calm and professional so I just entrusted myself into his hands. He told me to lie back and affixed the clamps, which I hardly felt. He then asked me to take a deep breath and then exhale. As I let my breath out he smoothly pushed the needle through my lip. It hardly hurt, I'd give it maybe a 2/3 out of 10 on the pain scale. It felt a lot like when they insert the needle when you give blood. At this point I felt incredibly relieved and was happy to sit with the needle through my lip while Sean picked up the jewellery (and possibly changed gloves, I wasn't paying attention). I barely noticed when he then pulled out the needle and guided in the jewellery.
I then immediately jumped up to examine my new adornment in the mirror. I was a little shocked by the length of the bar, but Sean assured me that by the morning my lip would be swollen to match it. He told me to return in two weeks so that he could downsize the bar and gave me an aftercare sheet. I thanked him and paid the lady at the counter £30. I bought some alcohol free mouthwash from the shop (Tech 2000) but turned down the offer of aftercare solution, electing instead to use salt soaks, which have worked perfectly for all my other piercing. I felt fine straight away and went about my business.
For aftercare I rinsed with Tech 2000 twice a day, rinsed my mouth out with salt water every time I ate and soaked the front of the stud twice a day in a shot glass filled with warm salt solution. Swelling was minimal, It came and went within 48 hours and I was left with a lot of bar sticking out of the front of my face. I also had trouble eating, as the back plate of the bar would get stuck behind my bottom teeth if I wasn't careful. I eventually got used to this though, and after Sean put a smaller bar in these problems disappeared. The only other event in the healing of my piercing was when a small bump developed next to the disk of the bar. Sean took a look at it for me and said that it was probably nothing, but told me to put the longer bar back in if it remained. It went away pretty quickly though, its disappearance coinciding mysteriously with the end of a chain of heavy nights drinking. Since then, it's been no problem. I wear a plastic retainer in it when I go kayaking to avoid breaking a tooth if (when) I smack my face on a rock, and it's never swollen up or gotten particularly crusty after jewellery changes. I love my lip piercing, my boyfriend thinks it's sexy and I've got loads of compliments for it. I had a great, stress- free experience at Pierced Up and would recommend it to anyone.
Happy Piercing!