After many piercings and tattoo, the only thing left for me was a tongue. After mentioning this to my not very pierced friend she decided (I think through drunken bravado) that we should get it done together.
At A Glance Author Dee Contact deezel79@hotmail.com Artist Morag Studio The tattoo gallery Location Adelaide, SA So, when she woke up from this drunkeness, she decided that first we had to get facts about it. I have many friends who have had it done, and after discussions with them, we deciced to go and see Morag.
When we first got to the studio, Morag wasn't there, so we talked to the girl at the counter. She said she had seen the procedure done heaps of times, and that it was a really easy piercing. I was hooked after that. (Easy, Yesssssss!)
So we went out and had lunch ( our last solid food for days, or so we thought) and came back and talked to Morag.
She was absolutely brilliant! She explained all that would happen, the pain factor and everthing. I couldn't have asked for more! She made sure that we were positive we wanted to get it done before taking us to the piercing area.
My friend made me go first, I think so she had the oppurtunity to chicken out! The procedure was really simple, hardly hurt at all. After making me rinse out my mouth with listerine she then marked my tongue. Then the clamps went on, I think these were just scary rather than painful!
The hardest part about the actual piercing was having to hold my tongue out whilst they were piercing it. My tongue really doesn't like being out of my mouth for that long!
I felt the needle pierce the skin on the underside of my tonugue but that was it.
My friend went through it all no dramas as well.
My flatmate had come with us as well, and was really surprised that I could still talk propely afterwards!
We were given great aftercare instructions, and Morag even gave us her mobile in case we had any emergencies, or questions.
My tongue swelled, but not too much. I was eating junk food 2 days after.
MY friend on the other hand had problems with hers. It seemed to swell a huge amount, which created a little "lip" around the ball.
When we went back for the downsizing Morag had a huge talk to my bud about the fact that she should have come in and seen her sooner, so she could have fixed the problem. I was really surprised at the care she had for us!
I think that the tongue was the easiest piercing I've had, and would recommend this to anyone.
Morag was fantastic as well. She is the head of the piercing association of SA (just to give her a plug) and is just brilliant!!
The questions that I had before the experience, and can answer in wisdom now are:
DOES IT HURT?
For me it didn't hurt at all! As I said before it was the easiest piercing that I have had done!
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FOR THE SWELLING TO GO DOWN?
For me it was about 3 days to be able to eat normally again. I actually had a bad experience with some Corona with lemon in it that made it swell again (it was the citric acid in the lemon) but that went down really quickly.
I did find that if I was talking alot it did start to swell again for about the next week after, but sucking on ice or drinking ice water helped it heaps.
The only thing is, I think my tongue was stilll a touch swollen when I got the barbell downsized, so the barbell I have now (1 year on) is a bit larger than it should be, so I have a lot to play with!
DOES IT GET INFECTED EASILY?
Mine didn't get infected but I think this was because of the precautions I took. After each time i ate or drank anything other than water I rinsed my mouth out with a very weak saline solution.
I also rinsed my mouth with difflam about every four hours. This stuff was great as it not only contained an antiseptic, but also an antiinflammitary ( make sure you get the pink stuff, not the green stuff!), so any swelling went down fairly fast!
DOES IT REALLY CHIP YOUR TEETH?
I'm still not sure about this one, I think that, because of the fact that I play with mine all the time, I am going to chip one of my teeth sooner or later, but I don't think it would happen if i had the right sized one in now.
Anyway I hope that I've answered any questions. If you have any more email me. I'm not an expert, but I can answer them from personal experience!