This was not my first piercing, by the age of 15 I had, had many piercings but the only ones remaining were my eyebrow and my belly button, I'm lucky enough to have very broad minded parents who gave their consent to each and every piercing I have received.
At A Glance Author Rosie Contact Rosie@bme.anon When A week ago Studio The Red Dragon Location Horsham, West SUssex, England I decided to get the center of my lip pierced as I had already had one on the side and I had a scar in the center of my lip from where a friend who decided to frisbee a road sign at my face! I thought it would be an ideal place as when that road sign hit me it went all the way through, I just didn't have any jewelery to put through it.
I don't really get nerves about piercings anymore as I have discovered I had quite a high pain tolerance. I went to The Red Dragon in Horsham as it was the nearest place and my mum had a tattoo there which went well. I walked in with my mum and sat in the chair, the woman was friendly and I chose the have a monroe stud on my piercing as it was smaller and more subtle. She asked me where I wanted it done and then gave me a mirror and told me to mark it on myself, even though I thought I wasn't nervous my hands were still shaking a fair bit and when I marked it on I knew it wasn't perfectly centered but for some reason I went with it anyway and so did she. She put the clamp on, the clamp she took out of a little clear plastic bag which I found put me off a little bit as whenever I had piercings anywhere else the clamps always came out of sealed packages, it didn't hurt, just a little bit uncomfortable. She then took a brand new needle out of a sealed package and asked me if I was ready, "Yup." I replied. She shoved it through the bottom of my lip but it didn't go through, it was quite painful and quite scary, "Blimey you've got tough skin, girl." she said with a smile, she could probably see I was worried by the way I had clamped my teeth shut and my eyes were squinted. I found it pretty hard to smile back with a clamp and needle attached to my face, but I didn't want to be rude, so I managed a grin. Eventually it came through, it was quite painful but I found my nose piercing to have been a lot worse, it didn't bleed at all which surprised me because all my other piercings had bled a lot. She put the jewelery through effortlessly, screwed on the ball and with that it was done. She explained that the bar was long to allow for swelling, but I have a pretty fat bottom lip anyway so it actually wasn't too long, the only problem I have found with the length is that it catches on my teeth quite a bit and when I eat I am often biting down on it, I'm going back there in a week to get it changed to a shorter bar but I don't think it'll fit through my lip!
I thought that would be it, just a simple case of keeping it clean and so on, but it was a lot more painful than my last lip piercing afterwards. I found it becoming very sore and a large red lump rising around it the next day, right now I've only had it done three days, but that lump hasn't got any smaller, just bigger and more like a bubble. Luckily a body piercer lives right across the road from me so a couple of hours ago I went across to her house and asked her to take a look at it. She put on some gloves and took a look, she said that it didn't look infected and could possibly be because I had it pierced through scar tissue or that I am allergic to the metal that I've been pierced with. I've been told to continue cleaning it with salt water and if it doesn't get better then to go back to her and get a titanium bar. I've rung up a few places, some saying it's normal, others telling me to go there so they can take a look at the piercing. So many places with different ideas of what is the best way to clean a piercing some saying it is ok to use Listerine mouthwash, I would say DON't, because it stung for me and the alcohol is too harsh on a new piercing.
It was a pretty stupid idea for me to get this done as I am going back to school in a week and a bit and will need to change the jewelery to a retainer which I predict is going to be extremely painful if this hasn't healed up. I just recommend not getting a piercing through a scar that isn't from a previous piercing because for me I predict a keloid!