Ever since the age of 15 I wanted me tongue pierced. All the cool girls at school had theirs done and I'd be damned if mine wasn't! I unfortunately told me parents of me plan to put more holes in my body "than God intended me to have" and was strictly forbidden to even think about such things. Of course, I always kept the thought in the back of my mind all through the years. I have a really long tongue, and always stick it out; a tongue stud would be the greatest I thought.
At A Glance Author Marie Contact Marie@bme.anon When A week ago Location Victoria BC I always knew of the risks and was always told by my conservative friends how disgusting it is; however, I was willing to take it all. People would always say how your tongue would fall off if it got infected, how dirty ones mouth is (which is not always true, mind you), and how if it is done wrong, you can die. Nevertheless, I was more than willing to risk it, besides, things like that are rare cases, right?
Last week I woke up and decided I was going to get it pierced. So I went down to my tattoo shop (which I love and trust dearly) all by my self, and got it pierced!
It didn't even hurt, just a wee pinch and that was it. Plus some minor imaginable pain afterwards. Nothing seriously painful at all.
I read all the aftercare instructions and followed them strictly. I had the yellow Listerine after I had anything other than water, I brushed my teeth, I made sure the balls were on tight, and I never ate anything one shouldn't.
As the week went on, I noticed my tongue swelling more and more, and the top ball become more and more lodged into the top of my tongue. It wasn't that bad at first, you could see maybe half the top ball and a huge dent in my tongue. So, I figured it would subside, however I was unfortunately incorrect.
6 days after it was pierced, I was making sure the balls were on tight before going to bed and suddenly my tongue just started pouring blood like a river. I managed to get it to stop, rinsed my mouth out with the evils of yellow Listerine (as usual) and popped some ice in my mouth. Bleeding isn't fun normally, but when it is coming from your mouth, it is just that much worse.
I went to look in the mirror a few hours later, and my tongue had swelled so much you could just see maybe a 1/4 of the top ball that had sunk deep into my poor tongue. When I would push the bar up, my tongue would start bleeding a river once more. So again I rinsed it out, took some Ibuprofen and a Tylenol, some more ice, and managed to get the bleeding to subside, and off I went to bed. I woke up the next morning with blood everywhere. I was less than amused and frankly quite scared and grossed out.
I called my shop and I went downtown for them to have a look-see. You could hardly see any of the ball at this point. First off, the piercer and another fellow took a look and said "HOLY SH.." well you can finish the rest.
We looked all around town to try to find a 1 inch bar to put in, but only came up with a 7/8ths. Very close indeed and much much better than the 3/4 already there.
So after a lot of blood, some more Listerine, 23 bucks for the new barbell (not to mention the horrendous initial cost of the piercing around this town), and a freaky experience; the new bar was inserted along with massive balls.
The piercer (who wasn't the one who did my tongue, she had the day off) took out the old bar, wading through the swamp of blood and drool, and then put in the nice new long one. This felt one million times better! I was so worried that I wouldn't be allowed to keep my tongue piercing, or something like that.
My tongue was instantly better and stopped bleeding! It was such a relief. It didn't really hurt during the ordeal, however felt a lot better without the pressure on it, and the blood.
So that's my horror story. One always hears about stories like that, and trust me, it's not just to scare you away from it.
Sure it was less than fun; however, I wouldn't give my tongue piercing up either way :)
Moral of the story: sure a bigger barbell will be annoying for a while; all the same, it will be changed to a smaller one soon enough and you're less likely to have my experience happen to you! Better to be safe than owwie...