At A Glance
Author	aniorange
Contact	aniorange@gmail.com
IAM	aniorange
When	Two years ago
Artist	Jason
Studio	23rd Street Body Piercing
Location	Oklahoma City, OK

The original plan for me was to get both sides of my lip pierced at the same time. I wanted what some people refer to as venom piercings. As is the custom, things never go as planned. When I could not wait to be pierced any longer, I went and had the left side of my lip pierced. I could only afford one at the time but it satisfied my urges at the time. The plan then was to come back when I had money and do the other side. Well two spontaneous decision later (a surprise verticle lip piercing and a trip to Texas that earned me a tattoo and Nape piercing)it was time to get back on track. Funny how things happen.

I had told my friend Krystal, who had accompanied me before to get pierced, my intentions. She wanted to get pierced as well. She wanted to get her nipples pierced. We decided on a date and time that we where to meet at the shop. Last time we met up, I was running late and they had to wait for me. This time I was early and had to wait for them. I went into 23rd Street Body Piercing and made myself comfortable. They have a couple of comfy sofas to sit on. I had a seat and looked around at all the neat decorations they have. At one point the lady behind the counter asked if I wanted to get pierced. I told her I did but I was waiting on some friends. She went ahead and got my information. I told her what I was there for; she made the usual copies and had me sign here and there. I paid and told her and the piercer I wanted to wait for my friends. I then headed back to the comfy sofa.

Often people ask why. For me piercing is partly esthetic. It is also partly spiritual I guess. I really like the way piercings look on others. That makes me want them myself. There is also a feeling of "surviving" the experience. With every piercing, I feel fear and uncertainty. I face those fears and come though fine. It gives me strength and fulfillment. There also has to be some sort of balance or symmetry. Sometimes there has to be asymmetry. In this case I felt out of balance. I had my lip pierced on one side but not the other. It made me feel out of balance. As I sat there the thoughts of being back in balance went though my head. I thought about how good I would feel after this experience. I thought about how good I would feel with my new adornment. All together this gave me much anticipation.

I sat there for quite a while. The staff there asked a few times if my friends where indeed coming and if I wanted to continue waiting. Krystal and her friends did eventually show up. We made our greetings and she headed for the counter. She told them what she wanted and chose her jewelry. We waited a few more minutes for the piercer to ready himself and then we where called back. We all entered the room and Jason closed the door.

I went first. Jason (the piercer) recognized me. He was the one that pierced the other side of my lip. I told him I was here to complete things, to get the other side pierced. Jason got his gloves on and his toothpick. He dipped the toothpick in some dark chemical or liquid. He touched the toothpick to my lip to make a mark. Jason asked me to look in the mirror to see if I liked the placement. It looked just fine. I sat down on bed/table and waited for Jason's instructions. He got out different colored liquids. Jason got his needle and my soon to be jewelry ready. He had me to lie down as he took my lip, checked things out and got ready to pierce. Jason had me breath in, then out, in again. As I exhaled the second time, he swiftly and cleanly pushed the needle though. I felt a little sting. It took no time at all for him to put the jewelry in and snap the bead into place. It was nearly painless.

I checked out my new addition in the mirror. I was back in balance, symmetrical. I could feel the excitement inside me rise up because I met the challenge again. It felt good; it looked good. I looked at Krystal and her friends for their approval. They like it. Most of them enjoyed watching me get pierced although I think one of them could not look.

Before I could step outside I heard Jason tell Krystal to go ahead and take her shirt off, it was her turn. I had intended to leave by this point and show some respect. She asked me where I was going. I was a bit shy at this point. Apparently everyone was expecting me to stay. She endured her experience and put her shirt back on. I checked myself out in the mirror a couple more times while they where busy. The more I looked the more it seemed that my new piercing was bigger than the other.

As everyone began to step out I asked Jason if the jewelry was the same diameter. I asked if anyone else thought that one looked bigger than the other. Krystal saw what I saw and agreed with me. We looked carefully and the piercing itself was even, so it did not look like it was pierced unevenly. Jason told me that they should be the same size, but if after it healed it still looked uneven to come back and they would be sure to match them up.

I thanked Jason, and said my goodbyes to my friends. We hopped in our cars and headed our separate ways. I was so full of excitement that I had trouble sitting still in my own car. A few hours later I started my usual ritual of TLC. I soaked the piercing several times a day with saline solution. I soaked a cotton ball in saline solution and held it to my lip. I also followed at least two soakings a day with some provon soap. I put a dab on a q-tip and worked it around the piercing. Then I wet the other end of the q-tip to rinse it off. I also rinsed my mouth out with diluted, non-alcoholic mouthwash. The healing went just fine.

The apparent size difference between the two lip ring piercings did not change. One always looked larger than the other. I thought about going back to the shop to make sure they where the same size. I thought I might just take a look for myself. Taking my lip rings out was a bit more challenging than any of my other piercings, save for my smiley, which I have never been brave enough to try on my own. I could not pop the bead out with my fingers and ended up using my ring opening pliers to open them just enough for the bead to fall out. I took both rings out and laid them on the table to compare them. The two rings where actually the same size. It puzzled me. The rings where the same size, and the piercings where even. Then it occurred to me. I had that little accident with my first lip ring at the show that night. I looked closely at the inside of my lip and started to realize that the first one had pulled and tore on the inside, and that was why they did not look even.

I had waited so long to get these piercings and it brought me such joy to finally have them. The thought of me taking one of them out to heal up and having it pierced again just was not an option. I could not live without it for that long. I decided instead to try and make them look even. I found a slightly smaller ring and decided to put that one in on the torn side and put the larger one in on the newest side. This was even more challenging as I had found out once before. I had to use forceps to hold the ring while I snapped the ball into place. There was just not enough room for my fingers. They did look more even, although you could sort of tell that one ring was smaller than the other. I wore it like this for a couple of hours before I decided that it did not look right.

Back to the bathroom mirror.

I thought about it for a while before I came up with another possible solution. I decided to use the same two rings I had originally, but instead change the bead. The beads on the ring were fairly big as far as beads go. I dug though my collection of used jewelry and found a smaller bead. I pulled pinched and resized the one ring to accommodate the smaller bead. I then switched out the smaller ring I had in with the larger ring and smaller bead. This looked better. It was not perfect but it was close enough to not be obvious. The size difference in the beads was not obvious either. I felt better about it, although I was still a little frustrated. It was my own fault however.

I wore the rings like this for a year or so. I ended up taking a job delivering pizza. Their policies did not allow facial piercings. I had a trick up my sleeve I had used before. I bought some weed eater (weed whacker) line that was about 14 gauge and cut small pieces to slide into my piercing while I was at work. I would take out my lip rings, along with other jewelry, and put the line in its place before work each day, and after I finished work, I would come home and put the jewelry back in. It was just barely noticeable and work either did not mind or did not notice. It grew to be a bit of a pain. I did this for several months before I found another job that did not mind the piercings. It was a relief to not have to worry with it anymore. It took some extra care sometimes switching out the jewelry so much. I occasionally found myself cleaning up with some provon soap to make my piercings happy.

I did eventually reach a point of taking the piercings out. I wanted to appear more professional and get a little farther at my job. It makes me sick to my stomach to think about it now. I hate that appearances mean so much still. I have lived without them for over a year now, and I dearly miss them. I will have to pierce them again someday. At least now I have the chance to make them even at last. I am just not complete without them.