Since I retired my center lip piercing in September of 2005, I had wanted to get two off-center lip piercings. I planned to get them on my 20th birthday in November, but I chickened out thinking about how my job would react to them. So instead I got a pair of 6 gauge second holes in my earlobes. Still I really wanted those lip piercings. After getting my tax return in April of 2006, I decided to save some of it for the piercings. After procrastinating again because of my job, I decided "screw them, it's my body."
At A Glance Author Tiffani Contact Tiffani@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Josh Studio Braindrops Location San Francisco, CA Checking my work schedule one day, I discovered I had 4 days off in a row. Because that never happens, I knew it was the perfect time to get pierced. I would have a few days to wait for the swelling to go down before I went back to work. So on Saturday June 3, 2006, I drove to Braindrops in San Francisco (where I had gotten my 6 gauge earlobes and septum pierced). The piercer who had done my previous piercings was on vacation, so I settled for the guy who was working that day.
After waiting a little while for the people that were in line in front of me, I finally was welcomed into the piercing room. I sat on the doctor's office-looking table and watched him set up. I told him how I wanted them placed and he took about 5 minutes to get the marks perfect. I inspected the dots in the mirror for about 10 seconds before I told him they looked good. He checked them again and decided that he could do better. He took about 5 more minutes making marks, wiping them off, and making more. When he was finished, he told me to check them again. I studied them for a little bit and decided they were perfect. So he marked the inside to show himself where to exit the needle at. Then we were ready.
So on to the piercing. He took one needle out of its package and placed the tip on the mark on my left side. All of the piercers at this studio practice freehand piercing, so he did not use a clamp. He even mentioned that clamps just cause unnecessary trauma to the tissue. Anyway, he stuck the needle through and...ouch. It hurt a lot worse than the center lip piercing I had retired the year before. He inserted a 7/16" labret stud and screwed on the ball. He then proceeded to take a new needle out of its package. He again placed it on the mark and on my exhale, he pierced. This one hurt even more than the previous one. The same length stud was inserted into this piercing as well.
I stood up and looked in the mirror. Instantly, I fell in love. They looked perfect. Right before I was about to pay, he looked closely at my lip and decided that they were already swelling too much. I needed to have them changed to 1/2" long bars. So I jumped back on the table while he pulled out the two bars from their packages. He took the first stud out and inserted a taper into the piercing while he screwed the flatback onto the new bar. I'll save you the boring details of him changing them. Let's just say it hurt...a lot.
I paid for the piercings and jewelry and placed a tip in his tip jar. Then I drove home while checking in the mirror once in a while to admire my new twins. For the first day, I was taking ibuprofen and sucking on ice left and right. The swelling just wasn't going down on my right side. The ball was pressing into my lip and it hurt to eat or talk. On Monday, I drove back to the studio and told them I needed them changed for longer bars. They put 9/16" long bars which were insanely long but instantly the right side of my lip felt relieved.
On Wednesday, I had to go back to work. The second my manager got me alone, he told me that they could be deemed offensive by the customers. So I told him I would wear clear retainers once I bought them from the internet (glasswearstudios.com). I actually never changed them to the retainers even after I got them in the mail. However, he never bothered me again about them so it didn't matter.
Two weeks after I got the piercings, I went back to get them downsized. The piercer looked at them and told me I would have to wait another week. Two weeks later, I went back and they only changed the left one. He told me that that one would need another week. Being the broke girl I am, it took me 3 weeks to get back there. It hadn't gone down any so I had to leave and return a week and a half later. Finally I got them both downsized. The left one was changed to a 3/8" and the right, a 7/16".
During all of this, I had gotten a bump on my left one which disappeared after lots of sea salt soaks and aspirin paste. However, my right one still hadn't settled down. One morning, I woke up and the right side of my lip was swollen. The ball was pressing into my skin and it had dried blood on it. I washed the crusties off with Satin soap and it continued bleeding. I had to change it myself because I had work in a few hours and I couldn't drive the trip to my piercer and back before then. After about 20 minutes of trying to twist the ball off, I finally got it out and changed it to the 1/2" bar I still had. After a couple days, I developed a bump on this one that hurt a lot (the previous bump on my left hadn't hurt at all). I sea salt soaked the hell out of it for a few days and nothing changed so I decided I had to retire it. I hated the thought but I knew I had to do it. That was last night at midnight. It has been 24 hours and the swelling has disappeared, the bump has gone down, and my lip fe els relieved.
I might get the right side pierced again in the future. My boyfriend even promised to pay for it because he knows how much I love them and how much I went through for them. I was disappointed that I eventually had to retire it even though I worked so hard to keep it. I am just happy that I still have the left one (it was my favorite).