Finally, finally, oh finally, I got my Monroe repierced yesterday. Let me give you a little background to why I had to take my previous one out:
At A Glance Author Allison Contact Toolhush462@yahoo.com IAM xglamxgirlx When It just happened Artist Derek Studio Blue Buddha Tattoo Location Burlington, Vermont I had it pierced back in January and everything seemed fine up until May when it started to develop some scar tissue on the inside hole. I let this go on for about a month because it was act up for a couple days, I would baby it, and it would settle down, but then a week later it would act up again. So one morning in late June I woke up to the entire stud inside my lip. This had happened over night. The back was completely inside my inside lip, and the ball was just poking out when I pushed on the back with my tongue. Well me being in MUCH pain and it was Saturday so my shop wasn't open and nor were the doctors office so I struggled and took it out myself. It was a giant red irritated mess. I knew it wasn't infected, just severely irritated. In any case, that Monday I went to the shop I go to so my piercer could check it out. He said it was in fact heavily irritated and that if I hadn't taken it out, he could have fixed it for me, but I didn't really care. I was going to wait for it to heal and repierce it because it IS my favorite piercing. He also said that it had probably been giving me problems because the shop that did it (not his) pierced it on a weird angle and the location of the piercing. So I'm never going to that other shop again.
Back to the story of yesterday. I went to Blue Buddha Tattoo so Derek, my new piercer, could look at my septum because I want that dermal punched at 6g. So he checked out my nose and told me it would affect the shape of my nose, so I'm going to let that one float around in my head for a while. In the mean time I wanted to get pierced, and he knew I was waiting to get my Monroe redone so he suggested that. I said alright, since it was a great idea. We went back to his piercing room so he could measure me and he also introduced me to his new apprentice or "shop bitch" Jesse. He seemed pretty cool, and he's got a great teacher so I hope to be one of his guinea pigs.
Anyway, we decided that 7/16th would be enough room for swelling (I have a fat lip anyway I think) and he got out the jewelry to put it in the autoclave. I had about 20ish minutes to kill so I went back to the lobby, read some tattoo magazines, went to the bathroom etc. Then Derek brought over the consent forms for me to sign, so I did that, gave him my ID to photocopy, and then it was time to ROCK.
We went back into the room and I hoped up on the leather table. I handed shop bitch my purse to hold, ha-ha. Derek explained that he was going to put one of these 3 piece labret studs in and to come back in 2 weeks and he could just switch out the bar for a shorter one. I gargled with CARE TECH 2000 mouthwash for 60 seconds. Spit it all over myself because those boys make me laugh. Then Derek packed my mouth with gauze to soak up moisture, and like the "fuzzy bunny" game I mumbled
"This reminds me of getting my wisdom teeth out"
Derek replied "yeah I have to get those out soon, but I think I'll just take care of them myself..."
HA-HA. Well I almost spit all the gauze out. He was joking of course. Then he cleaned the outside of my lip with that really hospitally, smelly stuff (I keep forgetting to ask him what it is, it's like a gel, and I don't think its iodine). After that it was time to pierce. The whole time he was explaining to shop bitch what he was doing and why. He bent the 14g needle and told me and shop bitch it was because when you're piercing something like a lip where you have to do it from an angle, you can bend the needle to make sure you pierce it at as natural an angle as possible. He then asked me if I wanted to know when he was going to pierce me, and I said yes, remembering when I got my nipples pierced and I said no... That was traumatic. Ha-ha. So he said on the third exhale he would pierce me. So I took three deep breaths and it was over. I like Free-hand piercing a lot better than piercing with forceps because the forceps always hurt me more than the piercing itself did. With another deep breath he slipped the jewelry in, which I didn't even feel. He explained the angle he pierced it on and the positioning, and how it was better than my original Monroe.
After that I hoped up to take a peak in the mirror. It was like a quarter of a centimeter lower than my last Monroe, which was fine with me. I went back over to Derek and he cleaned the tiny amount of blood off and gave me my mouthwash and aftercare sheet. I listened to his aftercare schpiel again, and then went out to pay. Derek is a strong supporter of the LITHA method. But since this is an oral piercing there is a little more bacterium in the mouth than other piercings so the after care is:
+Swish Caretech2000 mouthwash for 30 seconds 3 times a day
+Rinse mouth with salt water (3 tsps to 1 gallon distilled water) after I eat or drink anything.
+Keep makeup and face wash away from the outside
+Do hot compresses for 10 minutes each day to loosen the lymph.
That was basically it. I paid the $65 and gave Derek a $10 tip (should have been more but that's all I had) and went on my way.
I'm going back in 2 weeks so he can switch this stud out for a shorter one. Overall it was another great experience with Derek and Blue Buddha. I highly recommend them to anyone in the Burlington Vermont Area.