Piercing Piercing Experiences Facial & Oral Lip Piercing

It was about a year ago, a couple of weeks until my 17th birthday, that I went to my piercer to bet my bridge pierced. I had wanted it done for quite some time, and the day came that I finally went for it. As it turned out, I was being rather silly to assume that a minor could get this done. When I told my piercer what I wanted, he told me that he wouldn't perform surface piercings or any other "unconventional" mods on minors. It made sense, but I was still rather disappointed.

However, I was far too excited and anxious by now to just leave with nothing. I had been planning on getting dual lip rings for a while, after I got my bridge. But since that was a long ways off, I decided to go for it. I told my piercer, "Okay, this is going to sound really spur of the moment, but I've been planning this for a while, so I think I'll get two lip rings instead."

"Now?" He asked, looking a bit surprised. I said yeah, now, and so that's what we did. I filled out all of the necessary paperwork and went to the convenience store to get something to eat quickly, as I am prone to feeling lightheaded. By this time, I was scared to death. I really am terrified of needles, so getting something pierced is always nerve-wracking for me. He told me he was going to pierce me with something small, which I wanted anyways, and got two 16 gauge rings (autoclaved and individually packaged, of course).

Rob led me back to the piercing room and I sat on the "dentist chair" while he got ready. I made my friend come in with me to hold my hand, as always. After putting on gloves, he cleaned the outside of my lip with one of those little orange things that get all over your face, and he then made me swish with Listerine for 30 seconds, which he did with me (for support, haha). He then began marking the placement, which took a while. I already had a center labret, and he pointed out how everybody's face is quite asymmetrical, which made it harder. After several tries and lots of staring at me, he decided the placement was good, and I agreed.

Then comes the scary part. I closed my eyes and squeezed my friends hand, heart pounding and all that stuff. To be honest, I don't even remember if he used a clamp or not... I think he did though. He started with the right side and told me I was going to feel a little poke, told me to take deep breaths, and after a few seconds he pierced. It hurt- not a huge amount, but it certainly wasn't nice. He put the ring in and started the next one. He warned me that the next one was either going to be way better or way worse, and I cursed him for telling me that. The procedure was repeated, but this time, it did hurt a LOT worse. He could tell, too, and he apologized. He quickly put in the ring. By this time, I was about ready to pass out so he gave me a drink of water. He then finished up by putting in the beads (this also hurt a bit).

I didn't want to look for a couple of minutes- I just sat there and waited for the adrenaline to wear off. When I did look though, I was very pleased. They were perfect- symmetrical, and at just the right angle. I was very happy with the results.

After all the cleaning and wiping and drying, my lips were very dry and I asked him if I could put on chap-stick. He told me to go buy a new one, and wipe it off with a Kleenex every time I used it. He then went over after care with me. Instead of telling me to use Listerine, as another piercer instructed for my labret, he said by a natural, alcohol free mouthwash, and use lavender soap for external cleaning. He explained the high alcohol content in Listerine makes it not really ideal to be using 20 times a day, which makes sense.

Random points:

My lip rings both healed fine- the left one was a bit more swollen and took a bit longer, but it wasn't that bad.

My friends and I want out to dinner after, which proved to be a bit of a challenge.

Natural mouthwash costs 12 dollars a bottle, but it comes in cinnamon!!

Overall, it was a good experience and not quite as painful as I had expected. I am very happy with my "fangs", and can't imagine ever having to take them out.
-Shannon