I had wanted to get my tongue pierced for awhile but had always been too chicken to go through with it. I'd asked around to see if there was anywhere good in town to get a piercing done and some people recommended Atomic to me. On a whim I stopped in just to see how much it would cost, not thinking that I would actually go through with it. They were very friendly in the shop, it was clean and the two staff that I saw right away had some really nicely done piercings. They answered a few of my questions and told me they could fit me in in about 20 minutes!! I wasn't sure I was going to do it, so i left and went to go see a friend. He convinced me that I should go back and get it done and we went back together. I needed the morale support and I wanted to make sure Id have someone to drive me home if i got dizzy or anything (I get dizzy easily!)
At A Glance Author spunk33grl Contact spunk33grl@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Sheila Studio Atomic Tattoos and Piercings Location Courtenay, British Columbia I had to wait for about 10 minutes or so when I got back, which was nerveracking! lol Finally Sheila came out and led me back into the piercing room. It was very clean and Sheila washed her hands, put on her sterilized gloves in front of me, so i knew everything was being safely done. She explained to me how the procedure would go and asked if i had anymore questions, which she then answered. She asked me to sit on the table and I stuck my tongue out for her to mark it. Once that was done she showed me in the mirror so I could approve the positioning. It looked good so I told her to go ahead with the piercing.
I stuck my tongue out and she put the clamps on, which were a bit tight, but not painful or anything. Then we did a breathing countdown and she put the needle through. It really didn't hurt all that much..... I was pleasantly suprised!! It basically felt like a bit of a pinch, or maybe a minor biting of your tongue,but nothing worse. It felt a bit odd when she put the barbell through, but she explained what she was doing so that I would know, which was nice. We had a bit of a problem when she dropped one of the balls as she was screwing it on, but she quickly got a new, sterilized one and continued putting that one on. Then she took off the clamps and it was done! I couldn't believe that it all happened so quickly and that it wasn't too painful. It even hurt less than getting my ears pierced, and that was nothing.
We spent a few minutes talking about aftercare so that I would know exactly what to do, and what sort of things to expect as my piercing healed. I also got a sheet with lots of information on it and some special mouth rinse to use for the first week. She then instructed me to go get a giant slushie as a treat :) She also told me not to stick it out and show people too much, so she came to the waiting room with me and let me show my friend once and then told me to keep it in my mouth!
My tongue didn't really hurt over the next few days, but it was VERY swollen. I could barely talk and could only eat cold, mushy food. Also, the bar would get caught on things that I ate, or on my teeth and that could be QUITE painful. I took a lot of Ibuprofen and drank cold drinks to numb the pain, which seemed to help a lot. The only bad thing was going for a job interview the day after, in which I slurred and drooled through the whole thing! That lasted about 4 days and then it was just slightly swollen for about a month. It healed pretty well and I went back in to have Sheila look at it a few times and she was always very helpful and friendly. After about a month and a half I went in to get my bar downsized, and Sheila did that as well. It took only a couple seconds and felt MUCH better in my mouth once the bar wasn't so giant.
All in all my experience was awesome and I would (and have) gone back to Sheila for other piercings. Getting my tongue done was the least painful of my piercings and definitely the most fun. To anyone that has been thinking about it, just go do it! You won't regret it :) It doesn't hurt a whole lot and it's ridiculously fun to play with once it's all healed. Plus people seem to love kissing me with it, so that's always a nice bonus ;)