I've always loved the look of piercings, but I never thought I'd look good with them. After quite some time I decided that body modification was something for me, and I wanted to delve into it. This is the story of my labret, and how I'm now permanently drawn towards body modification.
At A Glance Author AoD Contact AoD@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Wes Studio Epidart Location Moncton, N.B, Canada One mid-afternoon while packing my bags to head up to university with my girlfriend; I decided that if I do get a labret I'd want it done at the local shop 'Epidart', which had a flawless reputation in my area. After realizing that the next time I'd be in town would be in a few months, I called them up and made an appointment for in an hour's time. I finished packing up my stuff, said bye to my Mom, and off we went to get my labret done.
For 95% of the time before the actual procedure I was busy packing and conversing, so the fact that I was on my way to getting my lip severed left my mind completely. When we got to Epidart, Wes introduced himself to us, and asked if I wanted to go in right now. I said "sure", and he went out back and started preparing things. This was the only time that I actually had to get nervous. Being the first piercing I'd ever had I had no idea what to expect. After a minute or two Wes came out and said that we can come to his room and get started. For those of you who've never been in Epidart, Wes and Bobby's room is painted all grey, with paper mache pierced faces coming out of the walls. Wes sat me down in the big reclining dentist's chair, and put on a new set of gloves. He then pulled out a marking pen, and marked where he was going to put my labret (I noticed that it was angled down a bit, but I later found out that it helps prevent gum recession.) On a side note, Adv il (Ibuprofen) and Asprin (acetasallycyllic acid) thin your blood, so try to veer away from taking those before a piercing. Tylenol (acetaminophin) does not thin your blood however, so that is ok to take beforehand.
After I had it where I wanted it, I sat down and he dried the inside of my lip, clamped it, and put the needle through. The needle going through felt strange. For those of you that used to enjoy sticking needles through the skin on the tips of your fingers, that's probably the best way I could describe it. Overall not painful, but rather a good feeling if you enjoy a moderately masochistic lifestyle. Then again that could just be the adrenaline speaking.
After he was done pokin' me he gave me an aftercare sheet with basic information about caring for the piercing. We went out front and I thanked him, he gave me a nifty frequent offender card, I paid, tipped, and we where off for university. About an hour and a half later we got hungry and went for a sub at Subway (Buffalo Chicken, with barbeque sauce on the chicken before they microwave it, instead of the hot sauce.), which I gobbled down pretty easily. The only problem eating with a labret at first is that the flat back will jump up and hook on your teeth while your chewing. I find if you put your index finger in your mouth against the back of the labret stud while you eat you can manage very well. At first I was worried about the back always catching when I ate, but in about 5 days it 'sunk' down, and now I might catch it once a month when I eat.
For aftercare, I treated the inside of it as you would an oral piercing. Diluted mouth wash after everything you eat or drink other than water for two weeks. If your tongue turns yellow/green dilute the mouth wash a little more until it returns to normal. After two weeks I used undiluted mouth wash three times a day or more depending on how it felt, up until it was completely healed. Make sure there's no alcohol in the mouth wash, or it will inhibit it's healing, and can cause irritation. For the outside I put warm water on it, and removed any 'crusties' that built up on the back of the cone with a toothpick. Also when I woke up and went to bed I used mild anti-bacterial soap on a cu-tip to clean the outside off. I tend to play with new piercings, so at about day three it started aching a little bit. I filled a bowl with warm water, and sea salt soaked my whole chin in it. This really eased the pain, but also lightened my goatee a few shades, so beware of facial ha ir and sea salt. Also on another side note, if you switch to a ring in your labret for a long while (e.g. over 2 weeks-ish), you will lose the 'indent' around where the labret stud backing sits, and when you put a stud back in you'll have to go through not being able to eat for a while.
I hope this will inspire you to come to love body modification as much as I have grown to care for it. Good luck.