I think I was 14 when I first saw a tongue piercing, about 7 years ago. It was really the first piercing, other than ears that I had seen. I was completely intrigued by it. It was absolutely fascinating to me. I loved the idea of having this piece of metal through a thick chunk of muscle. I spent 6 years thinking about the piercing.
At A Glance Author veruschka Contact veruschka@bme.anon Artist Jamie Studio Altered Evolution Location Milwaukee, WI I'd given the piercing a lot of thought before actually getting it done. I'd been spending a lot time on BME, reading up on after care, what to look for in a studio, etc. Since it was obviously a fairly common piercing I wasn't very concerned with possible complications. I'm a vegetarian and take plenty of supplements and eat organic foods as often as possible. I always heal fairly fast and with few infections in any kind of situation (cuts, scraps, bacterial, illness and otherwise) So with all that in mind I asked around, talked to people I knew who were heavily modded and had work done int he area. Altered Evolution came strongly reccomended.
At lunch, I mentioned this to my friends who offered to drive to the studio with me and hold my hand if needed. So after a good meal we piled into a car and headed towards a long awaited and much anticipated new hole. I had to wait a few minutes once we got there because a couple of boys were making appointments for tattoos. This gave me a few minutes to look around. I looked at the various jewlery the shop had for sale. I was put at ease by the cleanliness and knowledge of all the staff. I was pretty jittery and the adrenoline was making em feel really alive. I signed in, presented the clerk with my proof of ID, filled out the forms and went in.
Inside the room where the piercings are done was well lit and immaculate. Jamie sat me down and I told him my fears of getting a tongue piercing and as a result of a short tongue developing a lisp. nervous chatter on my part I suppose. He assured me everything would be fine. He then explained to me what he was going to do, how he would put the needle in and replace it with a barbell, etc, etc. I really appreciated this, because afte rthe piercing I was so high on endorphins I didn't hear a word he said. So I sat back in the chair and he handed me a cup of Listerine to rinse with. I like Listerine. I spit and he asked me stick my tongue out. He dried it and marked it. Then came the clamps, each step he explained what he was doing. then he asked me to breathe in and out deeply and slowly a few times because he ready to pierce me. In, out, in, out, I breathed deeply and tried my best to relax my whole body and then the needle went in. It seemed like I didn't feel anythign until it was about halfway through my tongue. Now I don't know if this is because it slid through relatively easily until that point, or if i actually felt it the whole way through and just assumed it was the middle or if I felt it the whole way through and as he ws moving it through I tensed up. I'm not sure which of those, or if any of those are the reasons, but at that point I was in pain. More pain than I ever expected. More pain than anythign else I'd ever been through. It was bad.
Thankfully however the pain was relatively short-lived. He replaced the needle with a barbell and cleaned everything up. Then he sat across from me and again explained the after care for me. I wasn't in pain anymore. The endorphines had kicked in and I was on cloud nine. We left and I bought some water to sip for the ride home. In a few hours I was in really bad pain. I took pain killers but nothing helped. My tongue was huge. I gingerly ate ice chips in hopes of reducing the swelling. Nothing was helping. I was so miserable. the initial swelling went down in about 3 days. But it was still larger than normal and very, very uncomfortable. I couldn't eat solid food for 2 weeks. I was on a Slim Fast and baby food diet. After a few days of this I had a new found appreciation for pizza. I rinsed with watered down Listerine. Which I now understand is not the best choice of mouth wash, but thankfully it never gave me any problems. I drank a lot of water and tried to use my tongue as little as possible. After 3 weeks everything was back to normal. I had no pain when eating, swelling was completely gone and I was thrilled with the results.
Initially the healing process was elngthy and more painful than most of the other experiences I've heard. I'm very prone to excessive bruising and swelling so for me this was normal. It's been over a year now and I've since downsized my barbell and chipped a tooth. In that order, oddly enough. there isn't much more to say about sucha commone piercing and a relatively commone experience. FIN