I'll start off the story with a little bit of background information before I go into the procedure and what not. My Mom has always been very anti-body mod's, but a couple of months ago I convinced her to take me to get my industrial done. After that, I talked her into getting my nose done, which ended up getting really infected because I didn't read the cleaning instructions at all on any websites and the place I got that done (Easy Street Tattoo) told me to clean it with bactine. Well I'm sure you know (and if you don't) that on the bottle of bactine it says "Not to be used on puncture wounds." ....But I never bothered to read that. So after that happened I convinced my mom to take me in to get my Monroe done.
At A Glance Author alexys Contact notetoself_@hotmail.com When A week ago Artist Michelle Studio Santa Rosa Tattoo Location North Sf Bay area, california (santa rosa) So I called the place to make sure the piercer was working and everything after I got rid of the infection in my nose, and went in a week and three days ago around 630 at night to get it done. I talked to the piercer and she seemed to know what she was doing, and the store was very clean. I had read on bmezine before I went to get it done to make sure that the jewelry you got it pierced with was long enough, and had read a few stories that said that their piercer had used labret stories, as well as the many horror stories with the skin in your mouth overgrowing the jewelry. Needless to say, I was a little nervous. She said she had done a lot of Monroe's before and showed me the jewelry she would be using, and it did look like it had enough room for swelling if there was any. She explained the procedure and we filled out all the forms, and then she had me rinse a few times with Listerine, take off my lipstick, and cleaned the skin (I forget the name of the stuff she used) whe re the piercing would be.
I wanted to get the piercing done in the crease where Marilyn Monroe had hers' exactly but she told me that the tension from the muscles right there would cause it to reject more easily (or something to that affect) so I got as close to the crease as I possibly could. She marked the spot and I was very happy with it.
I got very nervous about the clamp seeing as that I had never had a piercing that required one before (ears, industrial, nose, and lip > but I did that one myself so there was no clamp used.) She put on her gloves, and warned me about the pain the clamp would cause, and said she'd take it off very quickly afterwards.
She put the clamp on, and I felt like the entire lower half of my face went numb with pain. She started asking me if I was okay and I said yes and was thinking to myself "just pierce me already." She stuck the needle through, and I felt a pinch – now I'm not sure what happened here – whether it was painful or not. I had eaten lunch that day (just pita and hummus and juice though. ) around 1 o clock, and after she pierced me I immediately started feeling lightheaded and dizzy, and I came to that point right before passing out where you vision and hearing goes funny. I laid down and don't remember a lot for the next 15 or so minutes. She asked me if I had eaten today and how I was feeling etc. etc. etc., and around then my adrenaline kicked in and I started feeling all excited and wanted to see it and what not. It was extremely swollen afterwards, but there was a very minimal amount of bleeding.
She told me I could ice it or take ibuprofen to reduce the swelling, so when I got home I took two ibuprofen and iced it for about twenty five minutes. I was in a lot of pain over the next few days, and iced it a few times and kept taking my ibuprofen and cleaning it with the salt water solution and diluted gold Listerine (although I have read since then that you should try to use a mouthwash without so much alcohol in it.)
I woke up a couple different days and had white puss coming out of it, but that was nothing to be worried about. Once that finished the swelling went completely away. It looks WONDERFUL now, I've had no problems with it getting infected or the skin trying to over grow it, or anything like that.
It's pierced with a plain metal 14 gauge right now, but I can't wait for the next couple weeks to go by so I can change the jewelry. I've been wanting to post the pictures on bmezine, but I'm going to have to wait until I get a digital camera, cause as I've read, web cam pictures just don't cut it.
If you're considering getting a Monroe, I would DEFENITLY advise it, it's my favorite piercing that I've gotten so far. If you have any questions about any of this, feel free to email me.