My Mouth is Full of Metal: My Venom Experience

At A Glance Author Cessandra Contact cessandral@hotmail.com Artist Jacquie Studio Addictive Location London ON.

I suppose that a little background would be appropriate to set the scene. My name is Cessandra. I live in London, ON and go to the University of Western Ontario. I am 21 years old. I have loved piercing for about 8 years. My family does not approve and lets me know every time I see them. My ex boyfriends felt the same way. I desperately want to be a professional body piercer and I absorb all the information I can get my hands on. I currently have my lower lobe piercings at a 00, the second ones at about an 8, the third ones at a standard 12, upper cartilage rim, navel, tragus, both nipples horizontally, labret, and my tongue at an 8. In the past I've let 2 other upper cartilage rim piercings close. So that makes thirteen that I've kept in all. That is, until now.

The greatest guy I've ever met has been buying me piercings for my birthdays and X-mas. He's basically the first person I've been really close to that has given any support to my love of piercing. For my birthday this year he gave me a $100 gift certificate to Addictive, my favorite piercing shop. It was supposed to go toward my vertical nipple piercings, but my horizontals aren't quite old enough yet. And to be completely honest, I had something else in mind.

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 many multiple tongue piercings. That is, until I stumbled upon the venom placement. For fear of damage to my teeth, I considered them for a long time, 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 to have a consultation with me first to discuss placement, gauges etc. That just shows how conscientious she is. I got the go ahead from her, and booked my appointment.

After a few setbacks (throat infection, radio training), I was in the chair. The studio is spotless, and they are incredibly aware of contamination and transmission of pathogens. Jacquie tells you that everything is clean and sterile, her tools have all been autoclaved, she says exactly what she's doing the whole 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 walk into the studio. 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, I rinse with the horrible yellow listerine for what seems like an eternity and we're ready to go.

She has me lie down so it's easier and more comfortable for me, dries my tongue and clamps it. Due to the minute length of my tongue, this is distictly uncomfortable, but bearable. We decide to pierce on the first exhale. She has me take a deep breath and pierces as I breathe out. Lots of pressure, no sharp pain and it's through. Not bad at all. She puts in the barbell, which for those of you who don't have your tongues pierced, is more a bizarre feeling rather than painful. She checks on how I'm doing, has me check placement and then 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 from experience that the second piercing in one session tends to hurt more. But this time that was not the case. It was exactly the same; intense pressure, no sharp pain. In goes the barbell, and I'm all set. She checks to see if I'm lightheaded, slowly raises the chair upright and has me check the placement. I am more than satisfied with her work, as usual. I rinse again with the hated yellow listerine for a few seconds and then get to fully admire my new adornments. My mouth is full of metal, and it feels great! I'll be going back in a few weeks to downsize the barbells and then again later to stretch.

I suppose I should say that for 10 days BEFORE the appointment I ate a balanced diet, took vitamin supplements (especially Zinc, Vitamin C 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. My aftercare consisted of healthy eating, lots of rest, vitamins, rinsing with a sea salt/distilled water solution and lots of Ibuprofen. Works like a charm.

If you live in London or nearby, I strongly recommend that you go to Addictive. The staff is incredibly nice, Jacquie knows her stuff inside out, she makes you feel really relaxed and the studio is immaculate. If you are interested in this piercing, and have weighed the risks to your teeth, I say go for it. The procedure is minimally painful, and it looks fantastic. The healing period is a bit longer than with the centre placement, but not bad at all. If you have any questions, feel free to email me. Thanks Ian, Jacquie and BME.