Do It!!!

At A Glance Author Anniebelle Contact mail4anoel@yahoo.com Artist Joel Studio Absolutely Skin Images Location Hanover, PA

I started out wanting to get my eyebrow pierced after my boyfriend convinced me it would be worth it. Turns out, I ended up worrying about the scar when I took it out, and I got into tongue piercings instead. After about 6 months of harping on my parents, we finally came up with a deal. If I could accomplish straight A's on my first report card of this school year, it was mine. Well, I did it, and they reluctantly held up their end of the deal.

My mom convinced me to wait until after Thanksgiving, and I'm really glad she did, if you have anything REALLY important coming up, just wait until its over, because it IS going to hurt for a little. OK, so finally the Monday after Thanksgiving comes, my mom, my best friend and I get in the car and off to Absolutely Skin Images we go.

For anyone in the central PA area, I recommend SI. It was extremely clean, and Joel, my artist, was really comforting. I picked out a 12 gauge steel bar with just plain silver balls on both ends. The bar is much longer than you probably want it to be, for the purpose of accomadating the swelling. Now, the procedure itself is relatively painless. You would think having a piece of steel through your tongue would be SLIGHTLY more painful than it actually is. I'm sure it depends on your pain tolerance, but for me, it hurts much worse to bite your tongue than it does to get it pierced. I'm sure you all know what they do...you rinse, they mark your tongue, clamp it, put the needle through, and then the bar comes after that. Overall time spent in the place?...15 mins. Yeah, its true. My initial thoughts on having it done? I said to Joel, "Wow, its cold!" The first few seconds the bar was through my tongue, it felt like ice, but it felt really cool. I paid, $63!, and we were on the way to the grocery store to buy antiseptic and food that I would be able to handle.

So I get home, talking is difficult, but really, it just feels awkward, little pain. SUCK ON ICE. It makes a difference, believe me. I ate a little ice cream, sucked on ice, took some tylenol, and went to bed. I was anxious for the next morning b/c Joel had told me that you can wake up with a tongue so swollen your teeth will leave imprints *ack!*

I woke up with a swollen tongue, a little pain, but surprisingly not much (no imprints at least!), got ready, and was off to school. I made it wonderfully through the day, very little pain. Day one...easy.

Next day went about the same, the only thing that bothered me was the fact that I couldn't say L, D, or T without trouble. But Wednesday I made a mistake. That night my boyfriend came over and I hadn't seen him in 4 days, and although I knew it wasn't supposed to happen, we ended up making out. Now, it wasn't painful when it happened, but after he left, the piercing bled a little, and was more swollen than earlier. This pissed me off, but it was worth it...ha. So thats one thing you want to steer clear of, just wait til it feels ALL better, ok?

So Thursday was a little rough, since I had fun the night before, but I survived. By this day, my tongue was a yellow color, but thats normal, from rinsing so much with the antiseptic. Another thing that happened was that the bottom of my tongue kinda bruised, but all it is is blood in my tongue. It doesn't hurt, looks a little unattractive for now, but it'll clear up. Also had a dentist appt today, that was fun...shocked them!

A little note, even if it hurts like hell to eat, get diet shakes or something. I neglected to eat for days, and I got really tired and really pissy. It hurts a lot to eat, and you might bite on the bar a few times, but after awhile, you adapt and some food in your stomach makes you a happier person for all to deal with!

So yesterday was Friday, tongue looked rough but felt great and the day went easily.

Today, its almost 100% painless, and the swelling is totally gone. the bar sticks out a lot, theres a white ridge of skin around the opening, which means its healing up well, and overall, I'm pleased. Once the NORMAL coloring of my tongue returns and the skin falls off, I'm sure it will be wonderful. If you're thinking about it, do it! Just be ready to sacrifice a little food! Read up on BME and nothing will come as a surprise, you'll be ready then!!! GOOD LUCK!