Sunday August 10th, 2008 @ 12:43 AM
I got a 16g Labret put in, and i was wondering, would i be able to slip a 14g in there or should i get it stretched?
Depending on how old the piercing is a 14ga piece of jewelry might be able to be inserted or it might not. Your best bet is to visit a reputable artist who uses Internally Threaded Implant Grade jewelry and see if they can slide the 14ga labret stud in, or if it’d require a taper to stretch it to 14ga.
Remember though this can heavily rely on the factor of how old the piercing is. So like I said visit a reputable artist in person to have them assess the situation for you.
+5 / 7 votes 
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Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | Comments
Tuesday August 5th, 2008 @ 12:42 PM
hello.
im 14 and have my nose, belly, tragus and a few piercings in my ears. i was just wondering which of these would feel somethng like a lip if any?
im getting it done in december and would just like to be prepared.
Put simply.. none. They are not lips. This is a question that nobody can really give you an accurate answer to as even someone with the same piercing may not experience what others do. Pain, discomfort, sensation etc are subjective and highly personal and many other factors feature highly in nociception (the experience of pain) such as headspace, menstrual cycles, lifestyle, state of health etc etc. The thing to remember is that piercing discomfort is wholly dealable otherwise nobody would ever have more than one piercing. It’s more the fear of not knowing what to expect that you have to suck up and push through.
+15 / 23 votes
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Posted by Tiff Badhairdo | Permalink | 5 Comments
Friday August 1st, 2008 @ 10:03 PM
I’d like to stretch my labret to at least half an inch but I was wondering, due to wanting such a large result would it be better just to scalpel it from the start? Or would stretching have a better end result? Could you list me some pros and cons please?
The situation would need to be based on your current labret’s placement. Your best option is to visit a reputable/experienced artist (one with a lot of labret scalpelling experience) who can assess the situation and offer an unbiased and truthful assessment of if it’d be better to stretch or scalpel your labret. There they will also be able to cite off the pros and cons as there’s a couple pros and cons for each way, depending on how its currently placed,etc.
+6 / 12 votes
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Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | Comments
Tuesday July 29th, 2008 @ 9:59 AM
hi bme, i’d like your opinions here, please 
i’m considering a vertical labret piercing. i’d really like a side labret much better, but i’m quite concerned about side effects, mainly gum recession/teeth issues. my reasoning is, vertical labrets don’t actually go inside the mouth, it’s all through the lip and doesn’t break the inner skin. therefore (hopefully) not rubbing against my pearly whites nearly as much. what do you think? is this something reasonable to assume, or do vertical labrets typically cause an equal amount of teeth/gums issues?
thanks so much.
A vertical labret does not touch the teeth and gums. If you opted for a more off-center placement vertical labret, it still shouldn’t touch the teeth and gums.
If you want an off-center regular labret piercing you can minimize tooth and gum erosion by downsizing your jewelry after a couple weeks. I have my clients come back in two weeks from the piercing date for the initial downsizing and then again in a couple months when it’s fully healed up for a snug fitting barbell once the risk of it swelling up isn’t as high.
There’s no denying that labret barbells can wreak havoc on gums, but appropriately fitted jewelry will greatly reduce this risk and for some people, eliminate it!
+4 / 4 votes 
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Posted by Lexci Million | Permalink | 1 Comment
Tuesday July 29th, 2008 @ 9:52 AM
Ok now I know this is probably going to make me sound like an idiot but im willing to wear that label at this point. I had my lip pierced on the bottom side for about 2 years and recently was told to take it out because apparently it was offensive working at a bank… go figure!!! so i took it out and it closed up. now the only way I cant get away with having it in at work is to leave the ball off it. so I approached a couple ogf piercers told them my situation and all of them said basically its a NO-GO, I understand duty of care etc and their own risk. so I decided to pierce it myself for about the third time. It was fine doesnt seem to have a problem however when I when to the piercing shop to get a longer bar story comes out and the guy pretty much told me, maybe not in these words but your a f!@# wit and tols me all the infections i would get!!! so now its out and here is my question to you. is it really that much of a risk to have a new piercing left without the ball on during the day?? I realise that its prob not the best idea but I see more people playing with new ones which i cant see would be any better. please give me a up front answer or help me out.
Cheers
I guess it would be possible to remove the ball off your lip piercing for work during the day as long as you’re putting the ball on when you leave work so it doesn’t fall out otherwise. You’re not going to want to be putting your fingers on your piercing that often though as you’re putting yourself at risk of infection. Nor will you want to be manipulating the jewelry to get the ball back on as that could irritate it a lot.
What I don’t understand is why you had trouble having it re-pierced professionally. Did you ask the piercer to pierce you and leave the ball off? I wouldn’t have done that, but you’d be able to remove the ball later on. I don’t know the whole story in that aspect, but I let people know the danger they’ve put themselves in when they come in for help with piercings they’ve done at home. Especially after I’ve turned them away for said piercing.
For the most part, I tell people that they sometimes just have to make a decision between their work and their piercings. Some piercings don’t fare well to being switched in and out at least twice a day - nor do they look very good after all that either.
+4 / 6 votes
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Posted by Lexci Million | Permalink | 1 Comment
Sunday July 27th, 2008 @ 1:38 AM
Heyy im 14, 15 in January n im wanting my lip pierced smetime this coming week.
Ive had my ears pierced before when i was about 7 and im getting them done again too but im just wondering a few things.
What actually happens when i come to getting my lip pierced, how it will feel, how much itll hurt andd just in general, how to keep it clean to stop it getting infected?
Before you go in to have your piercing done, you want to prepare your body for it.
Make sure in the upcoming days you’re having good sleeps, eating healthily with vitamin rich foods, and keeping your body clean. About half an hour before you go for your piercing you should have a bite to eat.
When you go in to have the piercing done, your piercer will have you fill out a release form (depending on where your from you may have to have a parent or legal guardian there to sign with you)
The piercer will then bring you into a clean procedure room where they will discuss how to take care of the piercing, help you select jewelry and prepare to actually pierce you.
Your lip will be cleaned inside and out and the piercer will mark your lip and let you have a look to decide if you like the placement.
Depending on the piercer, they may or may not put a clamp on your lip to hold it in place (they might just hold your lip with their fingers) A needle will be passed through the mark and then pushed out by the jewelry to follow.
It will hurt - probably not as much as you think. The best thing to do is remember to take slow deep breaths and stay relaxed.
Remember that harsh chemicals and soaps (like mouthwash and antibacterial soap) will be very irritating to your piercing and are not recommend for the aftercare.
Practice regular oral hygiene (brush your teeth!) drink lots of water, and rinse your piercing off with fresh water or a saline solution inside and out and it should be just fine.
While most piercers have different aftercare, the most important thing to remember is to keep yourself clean and healthy.
+13 / 25 votes
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Posted by Lexci Million | Permalink | 2 Comments
Sunday July 27th, 2008 @ 1:20 AM
Which is less irritating?
I mean, are seamless rings ever perfectly lined up? And if they’re not, does the uneven part ever enter the actual hole and hurt?
I personally don’t love either for piercings. I certainly don’t offer them for initial piercings because of the seams in either the segment rings or “seam rings”.
Seam rings (sometimes called “Seamless” rings for some reason…) definitely can line up perfectly. A high quality annealed ring will bend with ease to the side for insertion and back again.
The problem with them is that they do turn into the piercing and can irritate it.
+1 / 1 votes
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Posted by Lexci Million | Permalink | Comments
Monday July 21st, 2008 @ 4:58 PM
I have been gauging my ears for about 4 years now. I recently reached the size 7/8. I have always taken very good care of my years and try to take my time gauging so that I do not mess up my ears or get any blow outs. When I was at size 8 in my right year I got hit at work and became infected. I immediately removed it, cleaned it, kept any jewelry out of it and let it heal completely. I had to re-pierce it and re-gauge it. Knowing that my ear now had scar-tissue I was very careful when gauging that ear. Instead of tapering them I would get gauges that were double flared and simply wrap a layer of tape around them every so often allowing me to stretch it slowly and without much pain.
When I reached 3/4 I did the same thing. I rapped tape around them until they were about the size of 7/8. Here was my first mistake. The 7/8 I put in was silicon. The measurements of the taped gauge to 7/8 was larger then I had expected. After putting in the 7/8 my ear got very swollen and red. After a little less than a week the swelling went down so I decided to keep them in. My ear then started getting very dry and flaky and started to puss. The back of my ear was also so swollen that it was going over the back lip of the gauge. My ear constantly was pussing and had a very small amount of blood coming out whenever I touched the back. I had to actually cut the gauge out of my ear because it was so tight. Once I got the gauge out I discovered I had a pretty bad rip and my ear was a little blown out. I took out my jewelry, washed all the shit out, washed it with saline solution and put some neuo-sporn on it. I’m not sure what I should do next. I definitely want to re-gauge them when I am able to, but until I would like to know the best way to take care of them and get them back into a better condition.
I realize this is a “losing battle”, and most of the time I just let it go…just can’t do it this time. And please…don’t take it personally…because you’re far from the only person doing this.
1) It isn’t called gauging. It is called stretching. You stretch your piercings, you don’t gauge them. While “gauging” can be a verb, there is no definition that refers to making something bigger by “gauging it”. Much to my dismay, there probably will be one day because the word is mis-used with such regularity now.
2) They aren’t called gauges. They are called plugs or eyelets or hell…even spacers if you must. But not “gauges”. Gauges, in this context, refer to a unit of measurement. 8 gauge. 6 gauge. 00 gauge. Not, “Hey, I really dig your gauges.”
Now…on to the question at hand. First of all, I’m sorry you are having trouble with your ears, especially if you’ve taken so much care with them over the years. Unfortunately, this stuff happens from time-to-time.
The best thing you can do for your lobes right now is to leave them be. Don’t wear any jewelry in them…even if it’s significantly smaller than what you were wearing. Your ears need absolutely no trauma right now. They need to be treated with care and gentleness. You shouldn’t try to do a bunch of stuff to them or put a bunch of stuff on them. Your body knows exactly what it needs to do to heal them…so let it do its thing.
You should be able to re-gauge re-stretch them at a later time. However, you need to give them lots of time before you start this process again. Without seeing exactly what is going on with your ears, I can’t say for sure…but I would imagine you need at least a month before you put something back in. From there, you will need to take the process VERY slowly.
Silicone can be a wonderful material for many people. I personally wear it without any problems. However, it also has the potential to do some serious damage when used for stretching.
Best of luck.
+29 / 33 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 11 Comments
Friday July 11th, 2008 @ 11:33 AM
5 days ago, I woke up and my lip piercing was swollen, warm and was giving out yellowish pus. I didn’t over look this, and went straight to the doctors, where they told me to take it out. I know the dangers of trapping an infection in the body if it was taken out, so I havn’t. So I got some antibiotics. Since I got it pierced I’ve been doing salt soaks, and mouthwashes and everything right (I’m a clean freak) So there is no reason for it to be infected.
So it cleared up after these 5 days, no swelling, no pus, i thought it was getting better. But I woke up this morning, to find that it was swollen and pus again!!
I do have half a course of antibiotics left, but I don’t want it to keep reacurring. How do you blast an infection so it doesn’t come back?
And is it adviseable to get it changed to a stud in this condition (I think I may be knocking it in the night) because I dont want the jewlery being chabnged, to push the infection furhter in if you get me. And also would it cause more aggrivation.
Correct me if I am reading this wrong but did you discontinue your course of antibiotics after you thought the infection had gone? If so, this is very dangerous as the dosage is designed to be enough to kill the bacteria causing the infection. These little critters are clever things and if you don’t fully kill them by not finishing a course of antibiotics they can then adapt to become immune to that particular type of antibiotic. This is one of the reasons that MRSA (methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus) is so prevailent. People reading this - if you are prescribed a course of antibiotics you MUST complete the course, even after all the symptoms have subsided. I cannot emphasise the importance of this enough.
As for contracting an infection, well, we can take precautions (such as being pierced in a sanitary studio by a respected piercer following all the right protocol and following good aftercare advice) but sometimes it can be down to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Also, if you have an infection that you weren’t aware of, that can become systemic and find a home in a fresh wound. Like if you are recovering from a sore throat. Your body may be doing a good job of dealing with it but a simple piercing can be enough to tip the scales. These things happen. The best advice I can offer you is to finish your course of antibiotics and if it hasn’t started to show signs of clearing up towards the end, go back to your doctor as you may need another course. Continue with your aftercare regime and once the infection has cleared up switch to a sterile labret stud (as mentioned in a previous post, I am not a fan of BCRs in fresh lip piercings - a feeling shared by most of my friends in the industry). Good diet and hydration will also be of benefit to you.
+12 / 14 votes
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Posted by Tiff Badhairdo | Permalink | 2 Comments
Friday July 4th, 2008 @ 10:31 AM
I had an off centre labret pierced two weeks ago with a CBR. I had pretty bad swelling for about 10 days and recently it has gone down. My piercing is laying more to the side now and it feels alot more comfortable. But seems to have moved. I read about a process called nesting. At first I thought it was that, but I noticed that there was a small patch of bruising at the bottom of the ring on the innerside of my lip. It looks like migration (I’ve delt with surface piercings before) and I have never had an oral piercing (my baby brother also clocked me in the lip so it might be that). I was wondering if what has happened was just nesting, or if it is migration or even rejection. Can labrets actually reject? Because I want this to be a long term piercing because I adore it.
Thanks!
This is why I am not a fan of fitting rings in a freshly pierced lip. The swelling and the constrictive nature of a BCR can cause the piercing to migrate during the initial healing stages. Also, they tend to move around alot more freely once the swelling subsides and this alone can irritate the piercing thus lengthening the healing time. It is unlikely that your piercing will reject. It would have to have been pierced ridiculously shallow for this to happen but it may well settle in a placement a little off to where it was originally pierced. You could ask your piercer to pop a sterile labret stud in there but to be honest, this is a little like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. Keep up with your aftercare, baby it, try not to play with it and hope for the best.
+6 / 6 votes
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Posted by Tiff Badhairdo | Permalink | Comments
