The first time I saw a smiley piercing was on a girl at the pub I had just started working at. My initial reaction was to wonder who on earth would want one of those? The more I thought about it though, the more I realised just how beautiful it was, and so personal too! No one need know it was there if you don't want them too.

So I headed on over to bme and looked at some of the uploaded photos. I gradually realised that this would be my next piercing. After reading up on the risks though, it seemed that they are so prone to rejection, and can cause such serious damage to your teeth and gums that it wasn't worth the risk. Sadly, I put the idea on hold and forgot about it for a few months, until I saw my colleague again. As soon as I saw it, I wanted it. She had not experienced any side effects with hers, making mw think that at least part of the risk of the piercing is choosing the right piercer.

Having made my mind up to get it done, I went home and started to save up some money. The next day, I noticed the frowny piercing. This was just as beautiful as the smiley, so I figured, why not?

I sent an email to Access All Areas, Notts, UK, the only piercing studio I will use now, as their standards are so high and the staff so friendly, plus they will do almost anything you ask for. They have previously pierced my sternum, tongue venoms and nostril, when other studios refused sternum and venoms on the grounds they are too risky to perform. I was also quite cheeky, and asked if they would do a discount for having two done at the same time. They said they could give me 10% for 2 piercings, or 15% for 3. That sealed it, I had been wanting a tongue web piercing for quite a while, so I booked in for Saturday morning, to get my tongue web, smiley and frowny piercings.

I spent the days leading up to getting them done reading up on other people's experiences. There are quite a lot of people who have DIY piercings. While I'm fine with the pain, I'd rather leave it to a professional to find the best placement and use the right tools if I'm going to get stabbed!

The day finally came. I had to head to the walk in clinic before my appointment, so I fugred 2 hours would be long enough to get seen and make it to the studio on time. Wrong. After an hour wait, a man came in with chest pains. He was admitted next as he was classed as an emergency, and within 5 minutes he had collapsed and the clinic was in lock down til the paramedics arrived. By the time I had finally been seen and had made it over the road to the studio, I was ten minutes late.

Walking into reception, I was handed the paperwork to fill in, and then sent upstairs with another client, who wanted to get a nipple piercing realigned that another studio had pierced on an angle. She went to see the female piercer, I got the male piercer.

He had me sit down, and explained the risks of the piercings, while he placed cloth soaked with numbing lotion on the areas I was being pierced. I chose to have bars put in all 3, and opted for the smaller balls on all of them.

Then it was time. He started with the smiley. After checking the area, he lined up, and pushed the needle through. There was no pain, and within seconds the bar was through. He asked me to hold my lip up out of the way so he could screw the ball on, which took him a couple of gos as it is quite an awkward place! Exactly the same again for the frowny, though he told me he was putting the bars in quite deep to try and minimise rejection, and because I don't have very prominant webbing in either place.

Lastly, my tongue web. This was tricky for a couple of reasons. Firstly, my tongue venoms made getting the placement for it quite hard, as ideally the balls would sit directly under where the tongue studs are, which would make it quite likely that I would catch them and irritate both piercings. Secondly, I don't have much of a web there either, so he had to pull the skin up, and pierce it that way, meaning that my tongue web piercing is also in quite deep. Once he had screwed all the balls on, he had a look at all of them. The smiley and frowny he was pleased with, but my tongue web came slightly to far across on the left side. He wasn't very happy with that, so he made me promise that I would call back in a couple of weeks to have it aligned and to get the other piercings checked on.

Once I promised to call back in, he gave me the aftercare information, and I left, one happy customer with a mouth full of metal.

It has now been 2 days since I had them done. Eating is ok, as long as I eat slowly. The only one that hurts is my frowny, as it gets pulled on when I talk or eat. I'm rinsing with antiseptic mouthwash after I eat, and cutting back on the smoking as much as I can. They look amazing, and are completely hidden!

The only thing I have noticed is when I talk, my venoms clack on my tongue web, making me sound metallic!