This story is a WARNING.
At A Glance Author Lucie Contact Lucie@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist best friend Studio friend's house Location Newcastle, Australia
Six months ago I was caught in the midst of a piercing craze, wanting many various mods which seemed fascinating to me, but really freaked my parents out. First on the major list was a medusa. A tiny, shining ball placed delicately between nose and top lip...I had to have one.
My parents thought otherwise. I was still underage and there was no way in hell they would consent to such a thing.
My friends and I had the perfect solution. My parents couldn't do anything about the piercing if it was ALREADY done, right? We just had to do it ourselves, of course. My best friend had already done a medusa on one of our friends with no problems. Said friend has had a lot of experience with stretching, and generally the bunch of us were pretty knowledgeable about body modification.
Set to go, I bought a needle and labret stud. This meant explaining our plans to our professional piercer of choice. Naturally, he did not give his support. Naturally, I did not listen.
It was a warm, sunny, sticky afternoon in the city. My overseas exchange was set to begin in less than a month....if we didn't do it today, when would we get the chance? We were smart kids, and nothing was going to go wrong.
I drove the lot of us to the house of the friend who lived closest by. We boiled the needle for about 10 minutes (yes, the only way to sterilize is by autoclave....yet another stupid idea), scrubbed up with regular Dettol soap, swabbed all around my mouth with alcohol wipes, marked the spot with a felt-tip pen. My friend asked me seriously: "Are you SURE you want to do this?"
YES!
Our piercing salon: me sitting on the couch holding my friend's hand, my best friend standing before me with the needle poised, the loveable dog bouncing around in the background and a few onlookers.
She held my top lip with one hand and guiding the needle through with the other. Of course there was pain, but it was a tolerable sting. Nevertheless my eyes started watering straight away. The needle was through, hanging there, and I comically tried to talk: 'Now what do we do?'
This is why professional piercers have to TRAIN. I had a needle hanging through my top lip, and nobody was sure how to get my labret bar through. But we proceeded, holding the end of the bar to the end of the needle and threading through the other way. This was MOST unpleasant. But not entirely unsuccessful. Eventually my bar was through, its little ball screwed on, and according to the others, I had a fine-looking medusa.
But something wasn't right. I couldn't smile or talk properly, and not just because of the swelling. The bar was seriously crooked: pointing upwards severely so that the backpiece was almost visible in front of my teeth.
We took a photo, and I tried to smile, but I had to let everybody know that unfortunately, it was not a complete success. They realized what I meant straight away and told me that unless I was planning to stretch (I had no intention of stretching), my new addition would have to go.
I was disappointed, but could not seriously say I didn't expect it. You know when you do something new and exciting, but KNOW it's a stupid idea? This was one of those times. My best friend dragged my bar out and it was presented to me in its little plastic package again. I was left feeling quite faint with a very swollen top lip and a piercing closing up by the second. I then had to drive an hour home and pretend in front of my parents that nothing happened.
I'm not angry with my friends or anything – it was actually my idea. And the experience is very funny in hindsight – my best friend feels incredible guilty, but we still reminisce with good-natured embarrasement. But just listen....if you want a piercing, ALWAYS get it done by a professional. I'm old enough now, and it didn't take that long, so it's not that terrible to wait. I still have a tiny bump inside my lip that I can feel with my tongue. Luckily I didn't get any infections from our at-home piercing, but it could have been SO much worse. We didn't autoclave, the room wasn't sterile and we went against the advice of a pro.
I still plan on getting a medusa, when I am at the right stage in my life to take care of it properly. Right now I am living overseas and I've decided to put it on hold. When I finally get it, it will definitely be professional. Do the right thing!