Labret Piercings?

[AudreyNicole]

I am toying with the idea of getting a labret piercing and I am looking for insite... How do they do it? If I hate it and want to let it close up, how obvious is the hole? Does anyone have any pictures? I need to show my husband before I get the final ok from him... Do you ever get any negative comments about your piercing? How do you deal with it? Do I have to have a ball when I get it peirced, or are there another other options? I want a diamond stud... Anything else I should know? TIA!

 

[mistella]

They'll pierce it with a 14g needle, sometimes with a clamp. I don't think they used a clamp on me. It really didn't hurt. I've had 13 piercings and this one I was most afraid of because I have sensitive lips. It went in really quick. They'll use a simple stud that's a little longer because of swelling and then after a few weeks (i think? i dont remember) you change it to a shorter one. My scar is very very small, no one notices it.
When I first got it and showed people, I got a lot of remarks like "why did you do that? You look better without it" ALL the time and it bugged me SO MUCH! I think that is so rude (even if they didn't mean it that way). but anyways, I think it is a cute piercing, go for it if you want it

 

[OliviaChristine]

I had mine pierced years ago, and I don't remember it hurting too much. I've had mine removed for 8 years, and I still have a scar, but it's hardly noticeable.

 

[CaraAmericana]

The worst part for me was swishing listerine to disinfect. lol I had mine for 4 years and also had my vaginal lip pierced. Both are removed now and there is little scarring. And like Mistella said, there was dumb comments made like that but I ignored them. Also, I had to have a fat gauge at first to keep the hole big and then after 30 days I got to change to a smaller shorter gauge. I switched to a 14kt gold cubic zirconia (no diamond for me) it was sooooo petty and feminine. Beware though, it really started to wear down my front gumline

 

[medusalox]

I've had mine done for 4 years now. It was my first piercing (before my ears, even!)...it didn't hurt too bad, but it was sore for a few days after. You should be able to get whatever type of jewelry you want...diamond front or whatever. If the shop doesn't have it, you can always bring your own. They'll clamp your lip first, and then just shove the needle through (it's usually a 14 gauge needle, but you could do 16 gauge if you wanted it smaller).

I say go for it! If you totally hate it, you can just take it out and heal it up with minimal scarring.

Good luck!

 

[thestarsfall]

Quote:

Originally Posted by medusalox IYou should be able to get whatever type of jewelry you want...diamond front or whatever. If the shop doesn't have it, you can always bring your own.

They wont just pierce you with anything though...haha...

 

[MisStarrlight]

I've had mine done for 5 years...I think that technically it's a lip ring I think-a bit higher than a traditional labret, but still in the center. Occasionally I will wear a stud, but I try not to keep that in for long (only when I loose the ball on my ring & don't have time/money to get another one.)....I don't like the stud because I constantly catch it on my teeth & pull it out & play with it & crap-like I can't control myself.

But yeah, it was one of the least painful piercings, but the healing sucked...probably wouldn't have been so bad with a stud though (it was turning the ring that was the worst)

Even when I take it out now, you can't see the hole unless you're close to my face so I cant imagine the scar would be that bad.

 

[VeXedPiNk]

I have an alternative to the labret piercing. Mine is a vertical labret, where the bar pierces upwards through my lip. It was pierced with a 16g curved bar bell. Painwise, it was very minimal. The clamps were more uncomfortable than the piercing itself. The healing process was a bit longer than my other piercings, but that may have had something to do with me not being able to stop playing with it

It's also fairly versatile. I've had several different barbells in it and they've all looked great. Although I find it's better to have a smaller ball on top (my gum line thanks me!), but if you were getting the traditional labret then you wouldn't need to worry about that! Those also come in a wide array of shapes, colours and gems. You'd be able to get a little diamond stud no problem, and I bet it'd look really cute!

Here's an old picture I dug up that shows mine.

 

[User49]

Just wanted to say thanks for this post. I've been toying with the idea of getting one too and there are three things putting me off:

1) the thought of it rubbing my gumline and wearing down my teeth/gums

2) the healing process- i had my earlobe peirced and that was annoying enough, i can't imagine having that annoyance x 10 on my face where you eat and it could swell and look ridiculous

3) the scar it leaves behind. You can always see it if someone has had one

I do think that once they've healed they look amazing and i wish that i had already had it done when i was going thru that phase when ur young and you just don't care, but now I keep umming and awwing about getting it done! Some one told me it's one of those things you just have to not think about and go for it or you'll talk yourself out of it. I'd be interested to read more comments on this post!

 

[MaddyMoo]

I had mine done in April, and I love it! It didn't take too long to heal (about 2 weeks and it wasn't swollen or sore, but still obviously not fully healed)
I have mine done with a stud fairly high up so I can also wear a ring if I want. I find that because its a little higher it doesn't touch my gums at all, the only thing I found was that I was getting it caught on top of my bottom teeth for a while cos I wasn't used to it and I still had the longer bar in that it was first pierced with, but I barely even notice it now.

I didn't really find it too painful at all, and it's over in 5-10 seconds so I would say go for it! You can always take it out if you don't like it.

 

[Showgirl]

I've got a "mini monroe" - ie, a labret above the top lip, done with a smaller than standard needle. I had this done with the thinner needle because I was told it would minimise any scar left should I ever decide to remove it, but I've since been told by other piercers that I was misinformed on this count, piercing with a bigger needle's actually better, it heals better, and you just use a smaller piece of jewellry in it - dunno what the truth of it is...... The lass that pierced me does seem to have some ideas that I've not heard from other piercers and this leaves me a little wary of her advice, I don't think I'll go back to her again...

My labret was a flippin' nightmare to heal, it swelled up like a *b@stard* and I kept waking up in the middle of the night covered in blood from it at least once a week, for at least a month after (gave my boyfriend one HELL of a fright the first time it happened!). While I'm pleased with the final "hole", it still swells up badly enough on occasion (nearly a year on - mainly after alcohol or spicy food, or sometimes in my sleep) that I feel obliged to wear a relatively long bar on it to give it "room" should it start to puff up... this means I have a fair amount of visible metal (3-4mm) poking out of my face, not the prettiest, also impractical as I've caught clothing on it etc.... I'll try going down a bar size soon, but I'm nervous of that after my continued bad experiences. Trust me it's NOT fun to wake up with your face swollen up and your stud embedded DEEP into the centre of the puffy part, because the fecker's had a wee reactive tantrum and swollen higher than the end of your stud. I think I'm on 10mm at the moment, I might try 8 if I get another whole month of it behaving itself (I think I've been "monroe incident free" for about 10 weeks now, touch wood, but up till then it's played up on a regular basis)....

I think it's chipping the hell out my gums and teeth, too. I'm irritated by this, if the piercing had been placed 1 mm further down on my face (and there's plenty of room) it would have been in the part of the gum that sits loosely over the teeth and would likely not have caused problems at all. Where it is, it sits right at the *top* of the teeth, where the flesh of the face sits right against the teeth, meaning my jewellry is rubbing, rubbing, rubbing all the time.

I've persevered with it, but think I should have been been given better advice by my piercer when it was done. I did ask about potential damage to my teeth, she said that would not be a problem at all, but then again, she didn't really look inside my mouth to see where the potential piercing site would be in relation to my gums and teeth. I would have happily had a larger guage or altered the position to something more teeth friendly had the information been made available to me, but it wasn't. I've got it now and it is cute, but it's not a piercing I would advise. I think a lip piercing like what VexedPink is sporting is a MUCH more "tooth friendly" and future scar-proof option..... I do have other piercings (tongue, ear cartilege) and have had problems with everything except for the tongue piercing, which was a total piece of cake... so it's entirely possible I guess that I'm just one of those folks whose body reacts badly to getting pierced, and heals real slow....

 

[MisStarrlight]

My friend has had her lip ring out for a year...it kinda just looks like an enlarged pore.

And VeXedPiNk, I love vertical labret piercings! Had I known about it before I got my lip done I totally would have opted for that instead.

 

[VeXedPiNk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Showgirl I think a lip piercing like what VexedPink is sporting is a MUCH more "tooth friendly" and future scar-proof option.....

The original piercing wasn't, but that's only because it was pierced with a longer barbell to accommodate the swelling. I found rinsing with natural sea salt and warm water to be the best thing for it. Once it was given the necessary time to heal, I replaced it with a shorter barball, that also had slightly smaller balls. This has eliminated the rubbing on my gums as I talk, although I do nick it on my teeth once in a while. But my dentist says that there is no visible damage caused. As for scarring, it sits high enough and is covered enough by my lip that I do not think a scar would be overly noticeable if I ever decided to grow it over.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MisStarrlight And VeXedPiNk, I love vertical labret piercings! Had I known about it before I got my lip done I totally would have opted for that instead.

I had been toying with the idea of a lip ring for quite some time when I saw a girl with a vertical labret. I inquired about it, fell in love, and got it done the next week

 

[te.amo.mac]

i got a labret peircing with a captive ball ring in it. For the first few weeks or so it would swell up but then after that it was good and i havent had any problems. I have fairly large lips which draw the ring away from my gum lines, but you should be aware that a receding gum line is a possibility as a result of the piercing. The only person i got the OMG why did u do that? was from my mom but thats expected but everyone else seems to think its really nice and ive gotten nothing but compliments. And being that i go to a relatively conservative college i still feel really comfortable with it on. I would say def go for it give it a while to heal and get used to it and if in the end you dont want it anymore no big deal its a small hole and any scaring could be easily managed with simple concealer. oh and i dont have any scarring around the hole as some people tend to get on some piercings.

 

[AudreyNicole]

Thank you girls so much for all your help and advice! My only hesitation is having to get it pierced with a larger stud that will be in there, only because I want it to be super small. I don't want it to be overly obvious, because personally, that is not something I would be comfortable with. I know they have to allow for swelling and all, but how soon is it safe to change into something smaller? Some say a week, some say months... When I had my nose done, they pierced with a 16 guage instead of a 14 because I wanted smaller. Would they be able to do the same if I got the labret?

 

[PomPoko]

I dunno if you've gone for it yet, or are still interested?

The first time I got it done, I decided I wanted a ball captive ring rather than a stud, BIG mistake, it started to reject. It rejected to one side because of the weight of ring, and outwards too. By the time I took it out it was practically the positioning of a vertical labret!

So I went to a different piercer to say..."am I imagining this movement?" (I got it pierced in my home town, then went back to uni in another city) and she was appalled by it. Apparently its not great to get pierced with a ring, as they use a large size to accommodate for swelling, and the weight of the ring was mostly to blame for the rejection going on. My original piercer should have informed me of this, but he didn't so...there we go!

Well, I took it out after a couple of weeks, it had basically at no point healed at all while the jewelery was in.

3 weeks later, when the first hole was completely healed, the piercer in my uni town re-pierced me, this time using a bioplast (i think thats the name) post. It healed fast, and I had barely any pain through healing. The worst for me, is the anesthetic (the first time I almost didn't go through with it cos I swallowed some of the anesthetic they put inside your mouth and had a total panic because I have a huge anesthetic..."thing." It made my throat completely numb and feel all closed up and the back of my toungue swollen! ergh! Given the option I would have gone with out! blarrrrgh anesthetics *shudders* needless to say the second time I only had the freezing solution they put on the external area, and it barely hurt at all when the needle was going through!)

Now, I get irritated with it sometimes, cos it catches on my teeth and gums occasionally, but thats my own fault cos I like to wear a long bar in it. Also now its all healed i can wear rings no problem and i have done for weeks at a time, so if you fancy that for a change its an option

And I'm terrible for fiddling with it! I just cant seem to leave it alone, which makes catching more of a hazard.

So all that being said, I would definitely recommend a stud for initial piercing! its so much easier to heal IMHO!

As for peoples comments...I've had them from my family (negative that is) and it does seem to draw attention from people I don't know as well. For example, when I was out for a meal and the owner of the restaurant compared me getting my lip pierced as the same as my father slapping me in the face, but "if he did that you'd be mad, but you pay to have this done" (yep, I see the logic there...:confused

and the people that are like "ewww why have you got that done?" nine times out of ten they have their ears pierced. I find the best response is "well, why do you have ear piercings?" that usually flummoxes them.

heres a couple of pictures if you still want to see:
not the nicest picture, but you can see my lip well
when i hold my mouth normally you cant really see it...but then I guess thats just me, cos I've a miz mouth

Sorry I've written you a book! Just want to be helpful

 

[MisStarrlight]

I've gotten my lip (and a ton of other piercings) done w/ rings & have never had a problem-it's all in your piercer I believe.

Going on what PomPoko said...I do get a lot of comments. Most of them are positive, but a lot of them are unwanted. Dirty men asking me why I got it done & implying something sexual. When the old men ask, it's kinda cute (I'm talking old like 80 that ask how I kiss), but when the random guys (25-40 yrs old) trying to pick me up cause they think I'm freaky, it gets pretty gross.