I'm not entirely sure when I first got it into my head that a piercing would be a good idea; my younger brother had a centre-tongue piercing about two years ago, but subsequently removed it (when he settled down with his girlfriend who, for some bizarre reason, didn't enjoy it!).
At A Glance Author Mark P Contact Mark P@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Simon Williams Studio Manx Oddity Location Douglas, Isle of Man I remember thinking at the time that it looked pretty good, and some of the tales he relayed made it sound all worthwhile. "But the pain!?" I'd say. Would I believe him when he insisted that there wasn't any? No, of course not!
I spent a fair amount of time online, reading through all the BME centre-tongue experiences (and others types, just for sheer shudder-value!), and decided that I'd get it done. This was probably about a month ago.
I popped into Manx Oddity (the tattoo/piercing parlour, clinic, whatever you call it!) and asked if I could chat to someone about what was involved, how much it would hurt, how long it would take to heal, etc.
Simon, the piercer, was busy, so the answer was no. I couldn't wait around, so went - and bottled out of going back for a few weeks.
This weekend is my only weekend where I haven't got a sports fixture, so I figured that it would be the ideal opportunity.
I took the afternoon off work, and after a lunchtime gym session, headed home to get a bite to eat, and to clean my teeth.
I sat on the sofa, shaking like a leaf - although I kept telling myself that it was just muscle fatigue! ;-)
Three o'clock in the afternoon rolled around, and I wandered into town, to the clinic. All trace of nerves had disappeared, which I found rather strange; I suppose that I was apprehensive, not really too sure what it was going to be like - but I wasn't so scared as to turn around and run home. I was pretty pleased with myself, to be quite honest!
I filled in the disclaimer (which, to be fair, seemed pretty shoddy - dodgy photocopy; a couple of spelling mistakes, and the odd space in the wrong place. Perhaps it's just me being picky...) and Simon got me to sit on the bench.
He'd already washed his hands (I saw him), and he put on a pair of those oh-so-tasteful rubber gloves; I was told to swill the ubiquitous Listerine (original flavour; not the nice minty stuff I usually use) for about a minute, which I duly did.
During this rather tedious process, someone popped their head into the piercing area (separated from the rest of the room by wild-west saloon type doors) to let Simon know that he'd managed to get the things he'd asked for. Um, hello - that looks like a 1/4 inch Masonry Drill bit to me... please tell me that you don't use that here!
Obviously I couldn't say anything; Simon (jokingly) asked whether he'd be able to use the bit on my tongue. I laughed nervously, and swilled even more frantically.
The clamping process was pretty painless - by reading all the references to a clamp in other people's experiences, I had nightmare visions of something resembling a G-clamp on a workbench, or some sort of muzzle that forces your tongue to stick out. Not so.
Simon used something that looked like a cross between a pair of scissors (well, the handles anyway) and tongs, and stretched and gripped my outstretched, flattened tongue. The only slight pain/discomfort was when the tongs nipped the skin that joins the bottom of the tongue to the floor of the mouth - nothing serious, though.
Almost immediately, the needle was through. "Huh?!" I thought (and probably grunted unintelligibly) - I was under the impression that I would be shown where the piercing was going to go. Humph - no cool purple dot on my tongue!
The bar was attached, and pulled back through - again, no pain or discomfort; no tugging sensation as mentioned in other reports. He fastened the ball on the lower end of the bar, and that was it!
A swift mop up (uncontrolled drool on lips, as expected, and a small drop of blood on the upper surface of the tongue), and a swill/swallow of some warmed sugar-water, and I was done - and forty quid lighter.
Simon gave me some Tech2000 dental wash (free!), said that I should be able to eat and drink, but to choose foods carefully (stating that something like spaghetti would be likely to become entangled... pretty obvious, really!) and to come back in 7-10 days, when he'd replace the 22mm bar with a shorter 16mm one - included in the price.
Since then (umm... about three hours) I've observed slight oozing of blood on the top surface of the piercing, and a bit of an ache under my tongue (where the ball is causing my tongue to rest in an unnatural position, I think).
I've been able to drink (fruit cordial to make sure that I didn't collapse from low blood-sugar levels, and a couple of bottle of Bud just because), and talk (to a degree - I seem to be slurring some words/phonemes, probably due to my tongue not flexing as I'm used to).
Occasionally I've had a twinge under my tongue whilst talking, where it feels like the ball is pinching the skin, but it isn't consistent or reproducible, so I'll wait to see if it goes away.
The other thing that I've noticed is different is that I seem to be salivating a lot more! It's pretty tricky swallowing comfortably, so I don't know whether it is just me noticing the swallowing action more than normal. Not too serious, anyway.
So far, then, my experience has been positive - I can't wait to umm... try it out properly. It's also going to be fun turning up at work on Monday - they all think that I'm a nice, quiet, respectable kind of person! Muahahaha!
I hope that this is of use to someone (anyone??) out there, and that it helps to sway your decision to get it done.
Happy tonguing!