I had always been interested in piercing but had never really thought I would be the person to actually have a piece of metal in me apart from maybe a hip replacement when I was 70 how wrong I was. As I had never been pierced before and the only other pierced members of my family where my mum and sister and they just had their lobes done I really had no idea where to start or what to look for in a piercer so onto the net I came that when I discovered BME and spent literally 100's of hours browsing all the sections brooding over all the different pictures. Anyway after much deliberation I decided I wanted to get my labret pierced and I wanted it done at perforations in Brighton.
At A Glance Author Mr.Chris Contact mr_chris2211@hotmail.com When Three months ago Artist Tom Studio Punktured Location Brighton UK The day arrived that I was going to go get it done and after a 3 hour train ride down to Brighton I arrived there with my assorted family members in the pouring rain but nothing could dampen my spirits, we headed down to where perforations was supposed to be only to find out... it had closed. I was shocked as I had heard so many good things about it determined not to get disheartened we headed off to the place that Perforations had recommended Punktured. I had been in here once before with my girlfriend but had never thought I would be getting pierced here.
We walked in and the place looked very clean they had nice wooden floorboards with different jewellery in the all display cases. I walked up to the desk and booked an appointment for 20 minutes later this was good as it gave me time to go get a drink and something to eat to boost my sugar levels which I would recommended to anyone as your a lot more likely to suffer adversely after a piercing e.g. fainting if u have low blood sugar levels. I looked at my phone and realised I only had 5 minutes left so we headed back to Punktured and pretty much as soon as I had sat down I was called up by Tom. He got me to choose the size I wanted and told me that I would be pierced with a longer bar to begin with to compensate for any swelling but due to extensive research I already knew this.
He then lead me into the room I was going to get pierced it was IMACULATE it was incredibly clean and had a large dentist size chair and a big glass mirror in so you could watch yourself get pierced. Tom firstly talked me through the procedure and joked about how he loved the new chair as it had all these little functions on it I certainly felt at ease and was happy that he was going to be piercing me. He then put some gloves on and put some soap like stuff on them from a dispenser I suppose it was some form of alcohol rub to make they where 100% sterile he then started marking out the positions to have it done. It wasn't like he was in a rush either he would mark a place let me get up and look then I could tell him if I wanted it slightly different from that and he would change the position and let me check again this went on for about 10 minutes, I guess its because im a perfectionist but he didn't once appear agitated or annoyed he just wanted to make sure I was happy with it. After finally choosing the position I liked I went and sat back down on the chair.
He then used some for of that gel stuff and also got this alcohol swab and swabbed both the outside of my lip and inside (the entry and exit sites) to make sure they where clean and sterile. He then showed me him getting a single needle out of a sealed packet as well as the jewellery out of the auto-clave. He told me to breath normally and as I breathed out he would pierce my lip. Sure enough as I breathed out I felt the needle go through. Personally I didn't think it hurt that much at al I mean u could feel it but it wasn't unbearable or even particularly bad. He then put the jewellery in which I felt hurt more than then needle but still not a bad pain by any means. He checked I was ok, gave me an after care sheet and went over things with me and told me to come back in 6 weeks to have it changed to a shorter barbell.
I was on a total high I got up thanked him and had a look at the pictures my dad had taken as I was having it done. I then walked out the shop with a huge grin on my face. My Lip ached a little but nothing excoriating. I went down the road and had a juice at this juice bar thing then realised I forgot to tip him! I ran back to the shop tipped him and bought a retainer just incase i had any trouble at school.
Anyway I followed after care rigorously making sure everything was sterile as I cleaned it and making sure I cleaned it with exactly what I was told using either salt water boiled up or sterile saline. My lip stayed swollen for about 3 days and due to the longer bar eating wasn't always and enjoyable experience as sometimes I caught the bar on my teeth causing it to yank down on my lip, which hurt a lot. Another warning I have is if u go to school or somewhere that doesn't allow piercing either wait or get it done at a longer holiday than just a week. Or don't get it done atal I had a lot of trouble about mine from teachers I still have it through careful hiding but several times I have had to take it out or suck it into my mouth which im sure has prolonged the healing of it and I don't recommend it to anyone unless its totally necessary. Due to this and the secretion of what I now understand to by Lymph I got very paranoid it was infected probably due to the fact it was my first piercing so anyway I went t the doctors whom tried to talk me into taking it out and told me the lymph was actually dried spit, and I thought doctors where meant to know what they where talking about?
Anyway after the 6 weeks I returned to get it changed to a shorter bar and also bought a spike I was still impressed by the costumer service at Punktured for after changing my jewellery for me for free I was given some sterile gloves as well as a load of alcohol swabs incase I ever wanted to change the jewellery which I have had to change a lot due to school.
Its been 3 months now and I still love my labret piercing I still clean it twice a day and still have lymph coming from it I phoned up Punktured and they told me this could happen for up to 6 months which helped put my mind at ease. I would really recommend Punktured to anyone they made my first piercing experience a very good one and I am hoping to return to them at this half term to get my nipple pierced.
I would also like to say please PLEASE look after you piercing properly as it will result in a lot better experience and hopefully mean u have no problems with your piercing.
I hope this experience will be of help and I know I have mentioned it already but I mean it just look after your piercing! Salt soaks and with clean hands and just do as your piercer tells you unless you feel his/her advice is very wrong but if a piercer is given you bad advice you probably shouldn't have gone there in the first place. A word of warning... piercing is very addictive! hehe. Happy piercing everyone.