My mouth is full of metal! Venom piercings

At A Glance Author cass Contact cass@bme.anon Artist Jacquie Studio Addictive Tattoo and Piercing Location London, ON. Canada

To set the scene (and since these experiences have to be a whopping 800 words minimum) I'll give bit of my background. Feel free to skip this and go on to my actual experience. I'm 21 and have been into body modification since I was 13 or so. My family, on the other hand doesn't approve of it at all. And since they pay the bills/tuition, I have gone to great lengths to conceal my love of piercing from them. I was not allowed to have anything but my lobes pierced once per ear. So all through high school I stretched these holes to about gauge zero with anything I could find/afford, and then let them shrink back down just so I could stretch them again. When I was 17 I got my navel and tragus, and upper cartilage pierced 2x. My parents just found out about my navel this summer, and I wore my hair down for over a year to conceal the tragus and cartilage piercings. When I went away to University, I went piercing crazy. I pierced my ears four more times and stretched those, got my tongue done, both nipples, and my labret.

Tips on hiding these piercings: I wear an "L" shaped piece of large gauge fishing line through my labret. It looks like a pimple, and my parents didn't see it and neither did my bosses at work. To be honest, I don't think it's that they don't see it, but that they don't want to ask in case it's a zit or something else. Flesh tunnels I fill with cork and stick a regular earing with a piece large enough to cover the front of the hole. Looks like regular earrings. Tongue is easy; cover your mouth when yawning, tilt your head slightly downwards when speaking or buy a retainer. Now, onto to the actual reason I was writing this experience.

The following is the story of my latest mod: venoms.

I've always loved tongue piercings for the discreteness of them, and at the same time their sexiness. Unfortunately my tongue is quite short, and I never thought I would be able to have multiple tongue piercings. That is, until I stumbled upon the venom placement. For fear of damage to my teeth I considered them for several months, did a lot of research (thanks BME) and decided that yes, I must have them. Next stop was to Jacquie at Addictive in London, ON. She wanted a consultation first to discuss placement etc. That just shows how conscientious she is and how much she cares about what she does. I got the go ahead and booked my appointment.

After a few setbacks (throat infection), I was in the chair. The studio is spotless and they are incredibly aware of contamination and transmission of pathogens. Jacquie lets you know that everything is clean and sterile, everything has been autoclaved, she tells you exactly what she is doing the entire time, changes her gloves more times than I can count...etc. etc. I won't go into all of that, you should know what the acceptable standards are BEFORE you get pierced. All I want to say is she has fantastic chairside manner and really knows her stuff. She then takes great pains to ensure proper placement, and we're ready to go.

She has me lie down (so it's easier to maneuver), dries my tongue and clamps it. Due to the minute length of my tongue this is distictly uncomfortable, but entirely bareable. She has me take a deep breath and pierces on the exhale. Lot's of pressure, no sharp pain and it's through. Not bad at all. She puts in the barbell, which is more bizarre than painful. She checks how I'm doing, rechecks placement, and asks if I need a break. I didn't, so onto the next piercing. The clamps are again uncomfortable, and I was expecting more pain for this one. I've found that the second piercing in one sitting tends to hurt more. But it was the same; intense pressure, no sharp pain. In goes the barbell, and I'm all set. She checks to see if I'm lightheaded, and has me check placement. I'm thrilled with her work, as usual. My mouth is full of metal, and it feels great! I'll be going back soon to downsize the jewelery.

I suppose I should say that for 10 days BEFORE the appointment, I ate a balanced diet, took vitamin supplements (especially Zinc and B12) and slept really well. I find this reduces the amount of time I spend healing my piercings, and reduces problems with them after the fact. After the piercing, I only used sea salt water to rinse, and a whole lot of ibuprofen.

If you live in London, I strongly recommend that you go to Addictive. The staff is incredibly nice, Jacquie knows her stuff inside out, she makes you feel incredibly relaxed and comfortable, and the studio is immaculate. If you are interested in this piercing, and have realistically weighed the risks to your teeth and gums, I say go for it. The procedure was minimally painful and they look fantastic with my centre tongue piercing and labret. The healing period is slightly longer than with the centre placement, but on the whole not bad at all. If you have any questions, feel free to email me. Thanks Ian, Jacquie and BME.