Before I begin my tale of tongue woe, I would like to give a little background information. My fascination with body modification, specifically tongue piercing, began when I was a wee tot of three. My favorite day care worker had his tongue pierced and that was just "so cool." Ever since then I just thought they were awesome.
At A Glance Author mellowgirl Contact danistar84@hotmail.com When It just happened Artist Martin Studio Purple Dragon Location South of Dallas I initially began researching the topic about five months ago here on BME. I would have to say I have read just about every story on here. I thought I was all set and new everything there was to know on it. There is a local shop here in 'hachie called Purple Dragon. It is a small little hole-in-the-wall shop, but so is just about everything in my town. I have heard a couple of good reviews about the place and thought I'd give it a shot. My eighteenth birthday was on Friday, 13 September and I was all set on getting it done that night. Due to problems that arose with a friend's auto, it did not happen. So the next day, Saturday, I sat around most of the day throwing around the notion of going and getting it pierced that afternoon. Finally around 15:00 I was like "to hell with it" and went on down there. I had already asked if an appointment was needed and the answer was no.
When I arrived there were two couples in there. One just seemed to be talking to the pierce /tattoo artist, Martin. The other two were checking out tattoos for one of them to get. Martin asked me what he could do for me that day and I told him I wanted my tongue pierced. He had me go behind the counter and sit in an electric purple office chair and he put on his purple gloves. (Do you sense a theme here?) He didn't wash his hands but at the time I didn't think about it because I was having a small adrenaline rush about the piercing. He gave me a little plastic cup of blue Listerine and had me swish around with it for a little bit. It wasn't that bad considering before I had left my house I had brushed my teeth and swished with my own blue Listerine. Then he dried my tongue and got his sharpie and put a dot on the top of my tongue. He didn't let me check it, but once again, I was not thinking about that. Next he took the forceps out of their little sterile bag and c lamped my tongue. He then took a VERY quick look underneath and said "ok". That is when I closed my eyes. He shoved the needle through the bottom and that was a little painful, but not too bad. He slipped the jewelry in and told me to close. I stood up and walked around to the other side of the counter and he said twenty-five bucks and then mumbled that I needed to swish after I eat and to eat a lot of ice. That was it. I gave him thirty because a tip is always appreciated.
I walked out and got into my bronco and drove over to Sonic. I ordered two cups of their ice and went on home. It was hurting at that point so I popped a couple of Tylenol and started in on the ice. It really hurt to have the ice on my tongue. About an hour later only half my tongue was hurting and I found that odd. I was on the Internet talking to one of my friends who has had her tongue pierced and she suggested that I remove it. I thought about that for about one-an-one-half hour later and decided to go with it. I figured I could always get it done again. I went and grabbed a couple of exam gloves (everyone in my family works at our private surgeon's office, my uncle is an ortho) and went into the bathroom. I took out the barbell and swished around some water because there was a little bit of blood. Then I looked at the bottom of my tongue and noticed that the hole was actually really close to the front of my tongue and extremely crooked as well.
Now that I look back on the experience I don't think I will be going back to the Purple Dragon any time soon. I would have to say that the whole experience took less than one minute. If I choose to get my tongue pierced again I will definitely go to a place with better references. About two minutes after I removed the barbell, my tongue felt normal and I have not had any problems sense then.
My suggestion to anyone who is wishing to get their tongue pierced is to make sure that the place you go to has really good references and that your piercer spends more time with you. Mine probably said fifteen words to me in all.