Body piercers will insert the jewelry into the new labret piercings which is large enough for letting it to swell during the healing time of about 6 – 8 weeks. Most of the swelling in the labret piercing ceases after 2 – 3 weeks. You can change the jewelry only after swelling reduces. Try to avoid wearing jewelry of large circumference or long jewelry because it causes problems to the gums and teeth from the contact with metal. In order to avoid this and to choose proper jewelry, below lines give information on how to change a labret piercing.Following are some tips to change a labret piercing jewelry:
1. Before touching the labret jewelry, wash your hands thoroughly. Ask the body piercer for the length or circumference and gauge of the labret ring prior to purchasing the jewelry from the piercer. Hence, it is good to know the appropriate size for the piercing. Remember that jewelry for piercing cannot be after purchasing it.
2. Determine what kind of labret jewelry is in the piercing. Circular barbells, flat-back labret studs and captive bead rings are the appropriate jewelry for the labret piercing. Circular barbells have a horseshoe shape that has two beads which screw on and off the open ends. Captive bead rings are hoops that contain a bead to hold it with pressure. Flat-back studs have 3 parts – a ball which is visible on the external side of the lip, a post in the piercing channel and disk which lies flat on the internal side of the lip.
3. Use an antiseptic lotion to rinse the mouth.
4. Next remove the piercing jewelry. For circular barbell, hold it on the curved section of post. Turn one of the beads to left till the threads are exposed bead comes off the post. Now pull the barbell out of the mouth by holding other bead on piercing jewelry.
For the flat-back studs, hold the back disk in the mouth while turning the ball to the left. As the ball becomes loose, you can see threads on the ball. Now completely remove the ball from post. Pull the post from the piercing from inside the mouth using your fingers to grip the disk.
For captive beads, use your thumb to push out the bead . Slightly tilt the ring such that one side of bead opening can be visible. Push the ring up and down to remove it from the jewelry.
5. Insert the new labret jewelry into the piercing. Reverse the process of removing the jewelry for new labret jewelry. After inserting the jewelry, tighten the beads to make sure that the ball or beads will not fall off.
