I tend to be experimental with my mods, so much to the point of attempting things that are better off avoided, I'm sure, but it's my body, my choice, my fun and my scars, and in the end I try and learn from my mistakes, instead of dwelling on them. This story is no exception. Please don't try this at home. Just don't.
At A Glance Author strawberry Contact strawberry@bme.anon IAM strawberry When Three months ago Artist Manuela Studio Il Negozino, Siena Location Siena, Italy I had been wanting a large(ish) gauge lip ring for quite a while. 0 ga would have been my ideal, but even I know that it's not possible to pierce at 0 ga (and if it is, well, it doesn't sound fun) and the only ways to get to that size was to either scalpel the lip or stretch it until it reached the right gauge. But I was in Italy then and didn't have access to any of the people I'd trusted to scalpel my lip and I don't stretch well in my ears, let alone in my lip, so one thing lead to another and I found myself begging Manuela, my former boss at my local piercing studio, to pierce my lip at the largest gauge she felt comfortable with. She wasn't too thrilled (she never is), but said that she could do it at 8 ga. It wasn't as big as I'd hoped, but I had to do with what I was offered.
8 ga it was. I took care of finding some jewelry (CBRs purchased in London) and we set a date.
I met Manu a couple of hours before the actual piercing and she said she wasn't feeling too well. But having known her for years, I'm well aware that she tends to pretend she's ill to avoid doing things she's not happy to do and I didn't pay much attention to this. She looked perfectly fine, to me. She'd just pierced another customer and all went well. As if.
We talked a bit more, I had some food and in the end it was time to pierce me.
"I'll keep my taper here, but no worries, it's an emergency method in case I lose contact with the jewelry and that shouldn't happen" she said as I looked at the fat, 6 ga taper that laid next to the needle, CBR and various stuff on the piercing table. I don't like tapers. Actually, I hate them furiously. I only tapered my septum and that was the worst pain ever. But I decided to trust her.
As I usually do, I asked her, "will I survive?" about 12 times, and she always said yes. She was getting excited as it was the first time she was piercing someone's lip at 8 ga and she knows that of all people, I'm not the worst piercee for "different" procedures. I am a bit fussy and a bit of a baby, but don't mind blood and pain and never faint. Which is just as well, as all these qualities would have come in handy later. I can't deny how nervous I was.
I sat on her dentist chair and tried to relax and she was marking the placement. I also focused on my breathing and on nice things, like cake and healed piercings, and I was feeling a lot better when Manu clamped my lip. The 8 ga needle was one hot, burning moment. A punch, but it was in much faster than I expected, and the pain was over in two seconds. I was already very happy. I was like, "this piercing that was supposed to hurt so much, this massive needle, and so little pain?". I was still in a state of amazement when Manu screamed, "oh fuck". Now, I don't like oh-fucks when the person who utters them has just shoved an 8 ga needle in your lip. I opened my eyes can there was a lot of blood. On my lap, that is, because what my lip looked like I don't know, as I had no mirror. But I couldn't see or feel the needle anymore.
Before I had time to say anything Manu had grabbed the taper and was about to taper my lip. Now, that hurt. And that comes from someone who has no problem cutting her own tongue open, or getting Brazilian waxes, or tapering her septum. That hurt far more than anything I'd ever experienced in my life. It is beyond words, but if I were to describe it with an image, think of a big, deep cut, and think of a big pair of hands trying to separate the two sections of the cut with no tact and no attention. Think of tearing fabric and its noise. These are the thoughts that come to my mind when I look back.
I think I screamed, because Manu's colleague, Anna, who's not too bothered with me rushed to the piercing room looking very alarmed.
But the look on her face was priceless when she saw me. I was covered in blood, which was pouring down my face and on to my t-shirt and lap, and Manu was very pale and shaky. I could actually see Anna turn slightly green herself and Manu's forehead covered in sweat. Somehow, after all this and in the middle of the blood, the CBR was put into place and closed.
I was given (or I got myself) a plastic cup and spit there, while Manu was sitting on the floor crying and shaking, having a bad panic attack, and Anna had to leave the room not to vomit. For people who work in a piercing studio they seem a bit squeamish with blood, but to their defence I have to admit there was a lot of it. Still bleeding, I gave Manu a hug and a coffee chocolate and mopped some blood off the floor because the room was looking quite gross.
Someone (I can't remember who) had produced some ice and I sucked on that for a good 15 minutes and the bleeding eventually stopped.
Not feeling good about staying there anymore, I headed home, with a friend. We stopped at the chemist's where I stocked up on mouthwash and painkillers, I had some chocolate myself (I was the one being poked and bleeding, after all) and took the bus home.
The first night was a bit rough, but I took care of my lip with warm sea salt soaks and plenty of Ibuprofen. I was also extra careful with my oral hygene and a bit OCD about washing my teeth after every drink or bite of food. Surprisingly, there was little swelling. It was swollen, but nothing dramatic. The ring, however, was chunky and quite ugly, but I couldn't wait to wear a smaller one, because I was already in love with this gauge. I am pretty small and even 8 ga looks massive on me -the look I was after!! On the second day I decided to inspect the inside of my lip. I could distinctly see a big tear where the taper had been and that hurt more than any other part of the piercing. On the outside it looked okay, though, just some redness. Two weeks passed by, the swelling subsided but I kept the piercing always nice and clean and didn't stop soaking it, either. On the third week, I got myself a labret stud, instead of the CBR and it was really cute. However (although the two aren't probably related) some hypertrophic scarring began to appear. It was a small lumpy thing on the outside hole. I kept soaking it and hoped it'd go away. It didn't. It got bigger, the size of a lentil, and it "spread" all around the hole. You could actually see it if you looked at me carefully and it was bothering me a lot. It wasn't painful, though.
After some further battling with it, I found myself in London, talking to some friends at Cold Steel (the studio where I get poked when I'm there) and they suggested downsizing. They gave me a 0 ga labret and it did make things a lot better. The scar (or whatever it was) began to shrink and look less angry, and it felt better too.
The excitement didn't last much, though, because after shrinking a bit, the scar didn't shrink anymore. I babied it with sea salt soaks, or sea salt&camomile soaks (as per the BME/Wiki suggestions) but to no avail. One day I was so pissed off with it that I downsized again at 14 ga. This, too helped a bit.
One week later, I got hold of a cute, small 16 ga labret stud with a little crystal on top and I loved it and wore it instead. At the same time I decided to give tea tree a go (again, as per BME/Wiki hypertrophic scar suggestions). At that stage I'd tried everything apart from that, and I said to myself that if it made the piercing worse I could always retire it altogether or something and that I'd nothing to lose.
It took one week, but the scar shrunk a lot more. Which, my dear readers, takes us to this week, when my lip piercing is doing much, much better. The scar is still there, but the piercing looks healthier and I think that if I can manage to be patient for a few more weeks, I can even get it 100% okay. I go everywhere with my tea tree oil bottle, and apply it about 3-4 times a day. It is a bit drying for the skin, and harsh, too, but it works wonders for me. I use it pure, directly on the scar and soak up excess oil with a q-tip.
This experience has taught me a lot. Never trust people you don't feel you trust. Go for your gut instinct. If it doesn't look or feel safe, it probably isn't. If the person has no idea what she or he is doing, go to a professional. This may mean waiting, but the results will be worth it. Also, don't push anybody into doing something they're not 100% comfortable with. Having your piercer getting a panic attack halfway through is scary, dangerous and unpleasant. I feel mostly guilty for not being patient enough to wait until I can go back to NY (where I had my tongue and ears scalpelled and where this was done very professionally by Brian Decker), but I'm still willing to experiment with my body and have no intention to stop doing so. I should probably feel guilty for Manu, too, but she agreed to do it, after all, and she could (and should, I dare to add) have said no. But I wouldn't turn back time. Never. You learn from things like these. You get horrible pictures (I didn't have many, silly me, though) that make friends and relative frown. And experiences like mine, once they're well and truly over, make for great stories to tell grandchildren one day. Or to share on IAM and BME :)
I have no disclaimer other than this. Don't try this at home. Feel free to IM me to say how stupid I was, though. I do deserve it.