I've had the left side of my lip pierced before by some guy who was'nt licensed or experienced. I decided to try for 'snakebites' this time around to see how they would work out. I searched the internet for information,aftercare,problems and reputable studios near me.
At A Glance Author Umeko Contact Umeko@bme.anon IAM Umeko When A month ago Artist Autumn Studio Warlocks Tattoo and Body Piercing Location Raleigh , NC I went all over Greenville, looking and going into the different shops. Two of the places the people there were extremely pissy and having an attitude, so I left both. I found one in Raleigh that seemed to be really good. It has a lot of praise found on a lot of sites. I forgot where I got reccomended to it.
So the day came, it was a friday. I drove an hour to the studio. When we parked I got scared and had an anxiety attack, but this came to pass as I do this often when I go to new places I've never been before. So I took a deep breath and got out of the car. Once I walked in I was kind of at ease, really because the atmosphere did'nt really seem all that overwhelming. It was really clean and kind of homey, with a little bit of decorations.
I talked with the piercer,Autumn when she was done with someone else. We talked for a bit I think I got a little on her nerves though; I kept asking her about titanium and she said that the only thing she had for titanium that she could pierce me with was labret studs. She promised that her steel jewerly was good, and that if I had any problems I could come back and she'd fix it for me. So I signed the form, and sat in the black dentist chair.
After she thoroughly went threw the aftercare for inside and outside of my lip, I told her that I had been pierced before on my left side.
She had me swish with some mouthwash, but I spit it out too quick, so she made me do it again. It was kind of embarrassing. I sat back down and waited for what she was going to do next. She brought the marker next to my lip and I kind of freaked out. "Oh my god! is that the needle?!" she told me that it was'nt that she was just marking where she would place the rings. So I pretty much freaked over nothing. She then had me get up and look in the mirror to make sure that I liked the placement. She had made to sets of marks under my lip, because she could'nt decide which, but prefered the sets that was closer to the center of my lip.
I agreed with her. I went back and sat in the chair, kinda anticipating. She took my rings out of the autoclave/spore test thing.
She then clamped me and had me breathe in and out about four times. Then the needle went through the left side. I kinda made some noise and she asked me if I was ok, and I did a kinda "mm" noise and she said 'do you need anything? feeling lightheaded?' I slightly shook my head. She slid the ring through the needle and closed the CBR.
She did my left one just the same way, and explained everything as she was doing it. After she was done I jumped up from the chair to take a look in the mirror. To me, I liked them, they were beautiful. My lips were reallly swollen now that I think about it. After I walked out of the little piercing area, I asked her if she would mind putting a ring in my nose. She told me it wound'nt be a problem. I asked her about where I should buy the stuff I should use to clean my lips with, and she told me she had them. I ended up buying a can of H2ocean and a bottle of Satin. She then stressed the importantance of salt soaks which I religiously did. I payed her and went home a happy customer.
About 1 week after having the steel in my mouth, my right side of my lip was acting up. I panicked because I did'nt know what I was doing wrong. It looked like the inside of my lip was coming out through the top of the piercing. I called Autumn to ask her what was wrong and she said she'd have to see it. I had to waste time until Doug got off of work, so I went back to the girl in Greenville where I had gotten my nose done and asked her what she though it was. She told me to rinse it with bottled water and in a few days if it did'nt get better she'd go from there.
So I took the trip back up to Warlocks and had Autumn take a look at my lip. I was all paranoid and my mind was running a million miles a minute. She answered all my questions as fast as I was asking them, and told me 'you did both sides of your lip at the same time, one of them was bound to get pissed' she then told me she'd change my jewerly to the titanium studs for a little next to nothing. Of course I had to think about it, because I have this hate relationship with all studs. I ended up getting them, for the sake of saving my lip.
She changed me and sent me on my way. She gave me her card and told me to call her in a few weeks to order some custom rings. For the ride home the swelling and the skin had gone down immensely. The week after that the skin that was inside (on the top) of my lip had withered away. But with all the swelling gone down the studs began to catch on my bottom teeth and I began to absent mindedly chew on them. This went on until I had the money to order the rings. My teeth were hurting something major, so I went to the nearest spencers to see if they had anything I could use until my other jewerly came in. I was in luck. They had some bioplast as part of this four ring set. I bought them and immediately changed them in the bathroom. It's funny how people look at you when you change your jewerly in a public bathroom.
I will definately be going back to her for all my piercings.