When I was 15, I'd wanted some form of lip piercing for a long time, I'd seen people with them and I loved them, and I wanted them really badly, I'd been told I'd suit a lip piercing a few times as well. I had begged my mum and pleaded for 3 months leading up to my 16th birthday, but every time the answer was "No, stop asking." I'd heard about a place in a nearby town that would do piercings without ID, so I took the train there with a few friends, but every time either the piercer wasn't in, or they had run out of needles. I then decided to try my luck at classic tattoo, which was the most reputable piercer in my area, however, as one should expect from a decent piercing shop, he said he couldn't pierce me without a parent present to sign some forms, or some sort of ID.
At A Glance Author Zak Contact Zak@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Tim Studio Classic Tattoo Location Hertfordshire, England Jump forward to my 16th birthday, when I could finally get it pierced by myself, so I asked my mum again, yet another no! I was really annoyed about it, showing her that I could hide it from school with a piercing retainer, showing her the pages on BME, and letting her know how much I'd researched it, but still no.
This annoyed me a lot, so the next day, on impulse, I called up a friend, and asked him if he'd come with me to Classic tattoo in Apsley, he said yes so I ate something and off we went to the piercing place. I had originally wanted a single centre labret, but decided on two off centre labrets (snakebites) because I like the way they looked.
When we got to the place, I was taken aback by how clean it smelt, even cleaner than a hospital smells. We waited for a while before Tim came out to greet us, at this point I wasn't very nervous at all; Tim gave me a form to fill out and called me into the piercing room. I hopped onto the black chair and started to feel a bit nervous, however it was reassuring to watch Tim open everything from sterile packaging and lay them out neatly on the worktop which was also sterile. Tim's a really nice bloke, he talked me through everything and told me what to expect, every step of the way, he was asking me if I was alright, and if it was OK to continue.
So after we'd had a chat, Tim marked up the piercing points with two little dots and asked me if they were OK, I loved them, that was exactly how I'd imagined them. So after I gave him the go ahead, Tim got the sterile needle and lined it up, and told me to breathe in, and on the exhale he'd pierce it. I breathed in, and breathed out, a tiny little scratch, a bit like having an injection was all I felt. "That was it?" I said with a needle hanging out of my lip. Tim made sure I was ok, and then followed through the jewellery which I also barely felt, and did the same with the other side of my lip, the second one hurt a little more, but still just a bit of a pinch.
Tim got me a cup of ice cold water, which felt great with my new piercings, and I looked in the mirror, and I fell in love with them, they were so cool! Tim told me they'd swell up, and explained the aftercare, and told me to come back in a week to get the bars changed. He gave me a discount because I had them done in a pair, so I paid £55, a reasonable price for 2 piercings, especially considering that Tims a top bloke.
The morning after, I noticed a lot of swelling and the inside was bruised, I called up and was reassured that the bruising was normal, and that it should go down in a few days. For the next 2 weeks, my aftercare was religious, mouthwash (non alcoholic, of course!) after everything I ate, and also after smoking, sea salt soaks 3 times a day, there was a lot of lymph, but I just cleared it off with a q-tip. After that, healing was pretty uneventful, and I was soon the proud owner of a pair of healed up snakebites! The only really maintenance was wiping some of the jewellery crud that can accumulate on a healed piercing.
Jump forward about 2 months, to a yesterday. I had an appointment for some minor surgery, and I didn't really think much about it, but I realised I was gonna have to take my snakebites out, and I knew how quickly they could close up, especially being just a few months old! I was annoyed but really I justified it because I plan to get my septum pierced soon, and could get them re-pierced then.
The anaesthetist told me I would have to take my piercings out, and that the surgeon was even uncomfortable with the PTFE studs I had in for the occasion, it was a bummer, but I reluctantly took them out, and took out my 10mm flesh tunnels too.
When I woke up from surgery, after a good dose of painkillers, I made a futile attempt at reinserting them, but alas they had closed up to a tiny size and would not fit, no matter how hard I pushed. When I got home from the surgery the same day, I realised I still had 2 holes in my lip, albeit a really small one, so I disinfected 2 earrings and tried to put them in, Hooray, it worked! I had read stories of people reviving septums that have been out for a year with a taper, so I still had some hope.
Now, I know earrings are really poor jewellery for any piercing, but I only wore them to keep the holes open at 20g for the night, and planned to visit Tim the next day, please don't be a fool and wear earrings in your lip, they're really uncomfortable, more so with the butterfly backings, but luckily, I had some of the soft squishy backings around which helped.
So, the next day, I went to visit Tim again, he had a look and said he could taper open the holes again no problem, and that it'd probably hurt. I hopped up on the chair and he took out a short taper, and said that it would hurt, and to prepare myself. He pushed the taper in a tiny ways and told me to breathe in and then pushed it through really quickly, following through with the jewellery, it was over before I knew it but OUCH! That hurt so much more than getting it pierced. He tightened the balls and gave me some time before having the other side done, same thing, same amount of pain, OUCH! He said that it hurt so much because they'd shrunk down and he was probably stretching it the better part of 1mm to get my studs back in.
I asked him how much I owed him and he said nothing, and that he was sorry about the amount of pain he'd inflicted, I thanked him immensely and went on my way. Due to the fact my painkillers are anti-inflammatory, they haven't swelled up, and they're only a bit tender now, but I've soaked them in sea salt to be sure, and ice cream helps a lot.
So there's my experience from piercing, to taking them out, to having them stretched back up. I love my snakebites.