To start off, I have had many piercings done by many different piercers, and I even did a few myself when I was a teenager. Bad idea, I know. Point is, I have never had so much trouble with a piercing... Read More
To start off, I have had many piercings done by many different piercers, and I even did a few myself when I was a teenager. Bad idea, I know. Point is, I have never had so much trouble with a piercing.When I was 15 I pierced my nostril any my own lip twice. My lip swelled a bit but other than that I never had any trouble and had the piercings for a long time. I currently have top and bottom belly button, both nostrils, septum, tongue, industrial and lobe piercings. All of my nose piercings and my bottom naval were all done by my usual piercer but yesterday I had a strong urge to go get a new piercing and my piercer was out of town. I made the mistake of going to a piercer that I don't know and trust, but after reading the yelp reviews I was under the impression that the old piercer was pretty clueless but that there was now a new one.So I go in for a basic lip piercing. Simple. I've had my lip pierced 3 times before, like I said two I did myself and one I had professionally done once I was of age and realized that I should not be piercing myself. The place is fine, I was greeted and everyone was friendly and the place looked clean. I fill out the paperwork and lay down to get pierced. For those of us who have been pierced multiple times, you know that it's usually pretty quick. Skin is different depending on the body part/presence of cartilage and what not, I get it. But having had 18 piercings in my life, 15 of those done professionally, I know that getting the needle through should not take more than a few seconds even in an area where the skin is tougher. After I was cleaned and clamped and he initially started pushing the needle through, I was in the chair for a solid ten minutes before i had the jewelry in. I asked what was going on and he just told me it was being difficult. After a few more minutes I ask again and he tells me to calm down. I'm not nervous about piercings. I was calm. I simply wanted to know why he was fiddling with my lip for so long and what was going wrong. He tried to explain that the needle was sticking as if it was not lubricated and that he wouldn't be able to get the jewelry in but that the needle was now all the way through.He takes it out and says that I can either leave or that he can try again. I figured that since I had already gone through the pain I might as well tough it out. My mistake. He had to pierce it again, I'm not sure if it went through the original hole he made because it hurt like hell the second time. Until yesterday, I have never had a lip piercing that was more than a slight pinch.So he finally gets the jewelry in and my lip just looks extremely irritated and a little swollen. He tells me it's free because of all the trouble. I thank him and leave. About an hour later the jewelry falls out, the ball just came right off the stud. I tried to put it back in but couldn't. Went back in as fast as I could and he told me he could put a horseshoe in. After 5 more minutes of forcing that through my lip, I leave again with an extremely sore lip. He told me several times that sometimes the balls fall off of the jewelry. As I said, I have had 18 piercings. I am well aware of this. But an hour after I get it, it shouldn't already be falling out.So in the end here I am with an incredibly swollen lip. The only piercing that has ever swelled was the lip piercing I did myself with a safety pin and no clamp, but that was not nearly this bad. So here I am debating whether I should take it out after all that pain or wait it out and risk having a f****d up lip.I don't know what the hell happened yesterday and maybe he usually knows what he's doing but I will not be back. Read Less