If you plan to do it yourself, here are some steps that will help you:
Steps
Step 1. Use proper equipment
Mainly special and sterile needles. Cleaning is essential. Both in terms of professional needles and those for sewing.
Step 2. Clean the needle
This is a very important part. If you have a pre-packaged needle then chances are it has already been safely autoclaved, so no worries. (Boiling the needle in water for no less than 10 minutes can be an effective sterilization method if you use a sewing needle).
Make sure you clean the piercings well
Step 3. Prepare to pierce the lip
Blot your inner lip with a paper towel or dry cloth so you don't smudge on the side where you are going to put the piercing. Choose the area to pierce so you know where to thread the needle. Then make sure the area is clean. Prepare everything you need first, arrange the tools on a clean cloth to avoid germs and dirt.
Step 4. Put on rubber gloves
Do not touch anything else except the needle with gloves.
Step 5. Start on the inside of the lip
In this way it will be easier to pierce the lip as you will first pierce the muscle tissue (in the inner part of the mouth) and then the skin and not vice versa; it will hurt you less, but it will be harder to be precise. Hold the area where you will make the hole still, with the first push you should be able to puncture the muscle layer, pushing further you will go to make the needle come out piercing the skin of the lip. Make sure you make a perfectly straight hole; doing so will facilitate the passage of the needle, and it will be easier to carry out the piercing. Another method is to keep a finger behind the lip where the needle should come out, pressing both with the finger and applying pressure to pass the needle, the area to be pierced becomes thinner making it easier to pierce.
Step 6. Piercing insertion:
if you use a hollow needle, all you have to do is insert the piercing into the needle cavity by threading it as you pull the needle out. If, on the other hand, you do not use piercing needles, you will have to quickly be able to insert the piercing immediately after removing the needle. Be careful: once done, the hole will tend to shrink. Once you have made the hole with the needle you can leave it for a few seconds in the hole to widen it slightly, making it easier for you to insert the piercing.
Step 7. Show off your new lip piercing to all your friends
Make sure you clean the piercing well, don't remove it often and don't trade it with friends, as this is the best way to get an infection. To take care of your piercing immediately after doing it, use a saline solution (a cup of water and a teaspoon of non-iodized sea salt) for a few days. The healing times change according to the case.
Step 8. Healing
Over a period of about three weeks the new piercing may bleed, this is symptomatic of healing. Pay attention that the liquid is not yellow or greenish which instead indicates an ongoing infection. In case your piercing becomes infected, do not remove it, to avoid trapping the infection inside the flesh try to keep the piercing clean, avoid drinking alcohol, smoking and do not go to the pool for a couple of weeks. Healing takes about two months.
Step 9. Finished
Step 10. Finished
Advice
- Do not change the piercing until it has healed.
- Even if you decide to do the piercing yourself, use appropriate tools. Avoid needles, safety pins or earlobe guns, if not sterilized they will surely cause you infections.
- It is recommended to use titanium or surgical steel to get started. Plastic is porous and easily causes infections. Make sure you use proper sized pircing so that it can move.
- The "traditional piercings" (nose, lips, ears, etc.) do not present serious problems if done by yourself, but you still have to be careful. Lip piercings are less prone to infection due to the action of enzymes contained in saliva.
- Use a bright light to check the area you want to pierce to check for moles, scars, veins, etc.
- Cleaning the piercing after meals is a good method of prevention.
- DO NOT USE ICE! Ice stiffens the muscle, making passing the needle more painful.
- Before switching from the bar to the headband (classic labret), allow a few days to pass before making the change.
- To clean, use a cotton swab dipped in alcohol or a saline solution, push the bar outwards with your tongue and clean the piercing.
- Do not use the cotton swab to clean the skin or the hole as it may leave fibers or particles that cause infections.
Warnings
- Never use the microwave oven to sterilize metal needles or piercings.
- In case of infection, do not remove the piercing, otherwise the hole may heal during healing. Consult a doctor.
- It would be advisable to go to a professional firm (if you can afford it).
- If you are doing the piercing yourself, consider that it will not be as fast as a studio job and therefore may be more painful.
- During the piercing, no blood should come out, if you lose more than a few drops something has gone wrong. If bleeding occurs you may have punctured a vein, see a doctor right away!
- Before getting a piercing you must be really sure, do not do it secretly from your parents, who will sooner or later find out.
- Don't let a friend pierce your lip. It's best to do it yourself, so you know exactly what you want. If something goes wrong you will avoid trouble for your friend.
