Friday September 26th, 2008 @ 11:50 PM
I just got my lip pierced today. When I put the stud holder (thing) in, it won’t go all the way through the other side. I think it’s because of the swelling, but if I don’t put it all the way through, won’t the outside close up?
I have no idea what a stud holder (thing) is. Would I be right in thinking you replaced the jewellery with a retainer or is this a sewing needle job whereby you can’t fit the jewellery in afterwards?
If this piercing was done in a studio then you should have no reason whatsoever for fiddling with the jewellery. If you decided to remove the jewellery the same day you had it pierced then of course you are going to have issues getting it back in and yes, if it is only half-way through then the outside will indeed close up. The initial oversized jewellery should be left in situ for the first two to three weeks (without removing it at all) until the swelling has subsided, then your piercer should downsize the jewellery and that should remain in the piercing without being removed for at least four months.
+12 / 14 votes 
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Posted by Tiff Badhairdo | Permalink | 3 Comments
Wednesday September 10th, 2008 @ 7:48 AM
A few weeks ago, I had my lip pierced. I was very excited, as I had wanted this pierced for roughly three years now. Short and to the point, my mouth is small, and the piercer decided to be ‘creative’ and give me a sort of center lowbret without my knowing. And, yes, I can testify that those piercings are extremely uncomfortable. My piercing would bleed every time I would eat because the downward slant caused the disk to scrape my gums and apply extra pressure when I opened my mouth. After less than two full days, we worked on getting it out (which was in itself a struggle) because my mouth had swollen horrendously and my gums were being cut into already in such a short amount of time.
I allowed the piercer to re-pierce me this time, making it absolutely clear that I wanted to sacrifice aesthetic (the ball is somewhat obscured by my larger bottom lip) for safety. It is rather straight now and has not been giving my gums much fuss. However, today I noticed a pain in my front bottom teeth whenever I suck in air, liquid, or really anything else. Is this a problem related to my lip piercing, and is it temporary?
Also.. my mouth is small. I don’t think the piercer could have forseen this, but my top teeth slightly cover or push down on the disk when my mouth is closed normally. Is this typical?
Thanks.
It sounds to me that you just aren’t anatomically suited to a standard labret piercing. I would retire it and if you still want a lip piercing of sorts then maybe consider a vertical labret. The jewellery will sit on the outer portion of the lip so it won’t interfere with your gums and teeth. You don’t want to be messing with your gums and teeth. Gum erosion tends to be irreversible and can lead to tooth loss.
+10 / 10 votes 
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Posted by Tiff Badhairdo | Permalink | Comments
Monday August 18th, 2008 @ 12:30 AM
hey, my labret piercing is 2 weeks old, pierced with a stud. It looks a feels fantastic, but i was wondering if i could get a downsizing from my piercer? Or is it too early? Also, do i just walk into the parlor and have them downsize, or should i call first?
Thanks so much.
-Au Revoir
Bonjour, 
Now that I’ve used up my entire French vocab that I remember from my early school years, lets get get on with the topic at hand. Downsizing.
It is best to call up the studio and ask them if you need to make an appointment, or if you can just walk in. Many shops allow you to simply walk in, however sometimes a studio might require you to make an appointment. Some studios are just busier than others and require appointments, that’s all.
Also based on what I was seeing in that picture, I’d be inclined to say you should wait another week or two. However if you visit the studio they’ll be able to properly assess the situation and determine if your labret can be downsized now, or if there is still swelling and would require more time before downsizing.
A lot of people are a bit confused, quite often, when it comes to downsizing. I often have customers coming in requesting to downsize and to show that its “so long” what they do is smile or actually use their bottom teeth to compress the lip tissue thus giving the appearance that the labret is too long. This is not an ideal viewpoint to confirm the labret needs to be downsized. The ideal way to confirm that downsizing needs to be done is if your face is perfectly relaxed and still and you see extra length of the bar showing/sticking out.
But as I said your best option is to just visit a studio and they’d be more than happy to sort out the downsizing for you. Most studios should be offering some sort of incentive for customers to come back to get a downsize anyways.
+8 / 12 votes
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Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | Comments
Thursday August 14th, 2008 @ 1:15 AM
I’ve had my lip pierced for about 6 months now; I had it pierced with a bigger ring for swelling purposes and I haven’t changed it since. It tore a bit so I went to the place that I got it done at and they said it could possibly heal although it had migrated as well as torn. I’m wondering if I should try to wait it and out and see how it feels, or if I the irritation could be from having such a large ring still?
I don’t pierce center placed lip piercings with CBRs for this reason.
Your irritation could definitely be from wearing a large ring in the piercing.
I would suggest you put in a longer flatback labret barbell and heal it with that. Once the piercing settles down you can begin to downsize the barbell until all the residual swelling subsides. From here you should be able to comfortably wear a CBR in it.
+2 / 2 votes
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Posted by Lexci Million | Permalink | 5 Comments
Tuesday August 12th, 2008 @ 2:40 AM
This might be a really stupid question, and if it is I’m really sorry about that. I was wondering if you could use a microdermal in an Ashley piercing, I’ve had this piercing done before but each time the back would show or would look to low on the lip, no matter how it was positioned. Because of this I was wondering if I could use a Microdermal instead. Yet again I’m really sorry if I shouldn’t of even asked this question in the first place.
Sorry again I have another question, I used a labret for the jewerly and on your Encyclopedia picture it looks like a curved barbell could that of been a reason for my previous problems…Thank you for your help.
Using a straight labret barbell could be the first reason for the rejection of your previous ashley piercing. A curved barbell is going to be the best choice of jewelry, in my opinion - though many piercers do opt for a flat disc on the inside of the lip to reduce the risk of tooth and gum erosion.
A dermal anchor in the thin, stretchy lip tissue wouldn’t be the best alternative. I’ve removed several of them in the past and have never personally been interested in doing one for anyone else. It’s just too high-impact and high-movement to be able to anchor into place stably.
+6 / 6 votes
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Posted by Lexci Million | Permalink | Comments
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.
+4 / 8 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.
+7 / 13 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
