At A Glance Author mollymadison Contact mollymadison@hotmail.com IAM mollymadison When Three months ago Artist Lysa Studio Ritualistics Location Edmonton, Alberta I have honestly not been that interested in tongue or tongue-related piercings until recently. But whenever I get this... feeling, this sort of "itch" that something is missing, it is my indication that something must be done. In other words, it's time to make something a little less naked and get it pierced. In this case, it was my tongue.
I started out wanting a fairly normal piercing; large-gauge but central placement. I talked to my piercer (at the time) about getting pierced at 6ga, but he advised against it, suggesting that I get pierced at either 10 or 8ga and stretch to 6ga later. It would also depend on my anatomy, so he couldn't tell exactly without having a look at my tongue. The reason I wanted the initial piercing to be so large is that I am admittedly a bit nervous about stretching anything except my ear lobes.
However, although I planned to have that piercing done at the end of that month - I believe it was May -certain things started happening (I can't even remember what) and the piercing had to be delayed. So, I had some extra time to do a bit more research. I read plenty of experiences on central tongue piercings, but when I started to check out the galleries, I became more drawn to the appearance of double-tongue piercings (both central and off-center placements). I would run my tongue along the roof of my mouth and realize I wanted to feel two barbells there, not just one.
I would also look in the mirror and stick out my tongue, trying to see if venoms would be possible. I'd heard about there being major veins that couldn't be pierced, but to be honest, everything looked the same to me (as in, kind of disgusting) so I figured I'd let a piercer tell me. I did notice that if I wanted my tongue pierced in the center (or rather, if I wanted my tongue pierced at all), it would have to be pretty close to the tip as the frenulum seemed to take up quite a bit of the length of my tongue. I didn't actually notice that my tongue was small until I actually met my piercer - I just thought all the other people I'd seen on BME and IAM had really long tongues.
Anyway, I debated for awhile on whether I should get one or two piercings. I had never gotten more than one piercing in a single sitting. I think that's one of the things that appealed to me - it would be something new to try. So about a month later, I called Ritualistics and made an appointment for venoms. I was told to come in a day before the piercing so they could have a look at my tongue.
So... I arrived at the shop a day before my appointment. My piercer was to be Lysa, but she wasn't there at the moment so Sarai looked at my tongue first. She told me to stick my tongue out, and I did so - completely unaware that the next day I would be sticking my tongue out so much it would soon become an involuntary motion. The first thing she said was something like, "Hmmm.. you have a small tongue!" I was asked if I'd had my tongue pierced before (actually, I believe I was asked that by everyone in the shop at the time) and I said no.
Lysa arrived then and brought me to the back room, where there was a chair (yes, the "dentist-chair" thing) and a table. She had me sit on the chair and stick out my tongue, which she dried off by wrapping it in a paper towel. She looked at the top and bottom of my tongue, commented that it was small... now that I think about it, it did feel kind of weird because I don't think she could get a very good hold on my tongue, since I couldn't stick it out that far. Anyway, I guess there weren't any problems (other than the small tongue bit) so she asked me what gauge I wanted to be pierced at (14 or 12ga) and I chose 12ga. I left the shop, and for the rest of the day I kept playing with my tongue, wondering what it would feel like to actually have something (two somethings) going right through it.
The next day, I woke up early, and ate breakfast - all the while thinking that it was the last solid meal I would have in awhile. I got to the shop a bit early, and as I waited I was given an aftercare sheet and a waiver to sign (my ID was checked as well). I read the bit about oral piercings on the aftercare sheet, but it was for single-pierced tongues. I supposed most of it could apply - the cleaning methods (sea salt water and/or alcohol-free Oral-B mouthwash) and the fact that there might be some whitish secretions from the piercings. However, it said that swelling should last about a week (I was told having two piercings would cause the swelling to last up to three weeks).
During all this, I can't say I was overly nervous - Lysa and all the other people in the shop seemed really friendly, and plus, I really wanted this piercing so how could I be more nervous than excited?
When Lysa was ready she took me into the back room. My fiance was allowed to come with me and watch. I sat on the "table" thing and waited as Lysa sprayed and cleaned down a little table thing (where the tools were placed), washed her hands, put on gloves, and get everything ready. She told me that the piercing itself did not actually take that long; it was mostly marking the placement that took the longest. She also repeated the aftercare to me - rinse after eating or drinking anything with Oral-B alcohol-free mouthwash, or sea salt water - three times a day at least, for a couple weeks; drink a lot of water, and suck on ice (and Slurpees, although sucking on a straw could be awkward), to help with swelling. Swelling, she added, could last up to three weeks, because the piercings are going through the muscle rather than "between" it - I didn't know there was a "between" to my tongue, but I'll take her word for it. Finally, she said that the beads she would be usin g were smaller ones, since my tongue (and mouth, I guess) are so small. I could change the beads in the future, but for now, the smaller ones were to prevent my feeling like I had marbles in my mouth.
I was given a small cup of mouthwash to rinse with. Then Lysa had me stick out my tongue and she dried it off with a paper towel, and checked the top and bottom several times. I had told her I wanted the two piercings fairly close to each other, so she took a toothpick and marked dots on my tongue with purple ink. She handed me a mirror and asked how I liked it, and I said I wanted them a bit closer. So, to erase the dots, she took out a bottle of alcohol and rubbed them off using a cotton swab.
Then the process began again. She marked two dots, closer together this time, and checked the top and bottom of my tongue over and over. She even had to measure them, to make sure they were straight. Through this whole process, I drooled a lot, which was kind of embarrassing... eventually another piercer came in to check the placement as well, and it was a little weird sitting there with my tongue sticking out while people stared at it and grabbed it and stuff. But it's something I could laugh about later. =)
After at least forty minutes (or maybe just a bit more than half an hour) of sticking my tongue in and out and drooling (Sarai even had me lie down so I wouldn't drool so much), Lysa was finally satisfied. She told me the piercing was done while I was sitting up. I watched as she unwrapped clamps and needles, and she also opened a packet of some clear gel-like stuff. I was told it's a lubricant for the needle. I was wondering if I should be nervous at this point, but after so much waiting, I was actually looking forward to this.
Lysa had me stick out my tongue again (almost the last time!) and she told me that the clamps would probably be most uncomfortable. She told me to close my eyes, and I felt something cold on both sides of my tongue... and then a lot of pressure. I could have sworn I was getting pierced right then and there, that's how much the clamps hurt! But since I knew it was just the clamps... I think this is when I was beginning to get nervous. I'm always nervous the second before the needle touches me.
Lysa told me to breathe in and out slowly... in through my nose, and out through my mouth. She was talking a lot softer which kept me calm... then I felt a prick on the left side of my tongue, and as the needle slid through there was a bright, hot pain which shot down the entire length of my tongue and into my throat. It didn't last that long, though... before I knew it, Lysa was telling me she was just putting the beads onto the barbell. The pain subsided to a sort of, erm, "freshly pierced" feeling, and I was allowed to open my eyes and slowly put my tongue back into my mouth. The barbell was so long I had to lift my tongue to get it over my teeth.
I was afraid to move my tongue too much, but wow - I was excited (running on lots of adrenaline at this point, probably). I never knew what it'd feel like to having something actually in my tongue, and now I knew... well.. half of it, anyway. We took a bit of a breather, and Lysa asked if I wanted to do the next one right away, or have a drink of water first. I felt ready for the next one but figured I probably shouldn't move too fast, so I asked for some water. I was given a cup of cold water, and I gingerly took a sip, but it actually felt good to have cold water running down my tongue. I expected to taste blood, but I didn't.
After I finished the water, I was ready for the second one. I closed my eyes and stuck out my tongue, and felt the clamp again... then I felt the prick of the needle, and when it went through, I felt the same hot pain that shot down my throat and made my blood race. I think it was worse than the second one, but only for a split second. After the beads were screwed onto the barbell, I opened my eyes, and awkwardly "lifted" my tongue into my mouth, and it was done!
I was given a mirror, and I stuck my tongue out again very slowly (last time, finally). It looked perfect, like my tongue was meant to have those piercings all along. I was afraid to talk, though, as I've heard talking too much can cause the swelling to be worse (I believe that was written in the aftercare sheet as well). As Lysa cleaned everything up, she went over the aftercare again, stressing that I should drink lots and lots of water.
When she was done, we went out to the front counter to pay. I felt surprisingly steady on my feet - usually after I get pierced, I'm light-headed and have to sit still for awhile (when I had my lip pierced, I even had to go back to lying down). I think it's because I was pierced sitting up, so there was none of that blood rushing to my head as I got up. I was given a bag of non-iodized sea salt, and told it was one teaspoon of salt to a litre of water. Then Lysa told me the total of the piercing, and as I opened my wallet I realized I couldn't count and had to get my fiance to do it for me. I guess I was light-headed after all!
After that, I gingerly tried talking, and my voice came out all garbled and drunk-sounding. It was a combination of my tongue swelling and the length of the barbells - and also not being used to having something in my mouth while I spoke. My fiance and I went to see a movie, and the first thing I did was get a big cup of water which I drank almost non-stop. I was almost done, so he bought me a bottle of water. I ended up going to the washroom about a billion times (and once during the movie), but whenever my tongue started to feel uncomfortable, water made it feel better.
After the movie we got Slurpees (I had so much water in my stomach, it wasn't funny!) and I found I really couldn't suck on the straw at all. But the ice felt a lot nicer than plain water did.
At home, I sucked on ice cubes, constantly drank water (I kept a bottle of water by my bed, so I could drink it if I felt dry at night time), and I even ate baby food. It tasted disgusting, and it was weird swallowing food without chewing on it first, but it was the only thing I could do. For the next few days, my tongue really was swollen. It took up the entire length of the barbells, which were 3/4". I could kind of talk, but it sounded really... strange, like I had something really big in my mouth (well, I guess I did!). Only my fiance could understand me... which is why I didn't talk at all for at least three days.
My friends, who have central tongue piercings, told me the worst was over for them in about five days. I don't know if this was mind over matter, but it seemed that way for me, too. By the fourth or fifth day, I was eating solid foods again, but nothing too big... mostly rice, which I could chew with my back teeth and swallow without much effort. After about a week, I could eat dry cereal in the morning again. I had to chew carefully, because my tongue was still a bit swollen and I was completely unaccustomed to large barbells so I'd sometimes chomp down on them (which really hurt my teeth).
By the second or nearly-third week, I had already developed a bad habit where I'd run the bottom beads along my teeth or stick my tongue out and touch my lips with the barbells. I know... you should not do that! Playing with the jewelry doesn't make for the best healing. However, there was a show playing in town and I found myself in the mosh pit... before the show started, I had visions of my getting hit really hard while inadvertently playing with my venoms, and pictures myself chomping on my tongue or something else equally painful and grisly. That image made me very aware of how much I'd been playing with them, and I managed to keep my tongue in my mouth through the whole show. I also noticed that after that day, I stopped biting on the barbells while eating (I'd been doing that a lot).
At this point, I noticed my tongue was starting to turn a bit white... I was told that this was probably due to over-cleaning, and my mouthwash being too strong - it was killing off the good bacteria as well as the bad. So I started using sea salt rinses for the afternoon and night, but I continued using diluted Oral-B in the mornings. Eventually I quit using the mouthwash and used sea salt morning, afternoon, and night. My tongue does look a bit more normal now, although I'm beginning to think that maybe it was kind of pale all along, and I just wasn't used to seeing it like that. Because since I'd gotten it pierced, I was looking at it a lot more...
After a month, it was time to get the barbells downsized. Lysa removed both barbells from my tongue, and as I sat there with my tongue in my mouth, I realized how strange it felt. First of all, there were holes in my tongue... secondly, it was naked! The smaller barbells (1/2") were put in, and I immediately felt the difference. It was like I didn't have anything big and awkward in my mouth anymore (and to think I had actually gotten used to that!).
I was actually due back to the shop within a week, because at the aforementioned show, I had gotten kicked in the head and my tragus piercing had to be removed. I was returning to get my tragus pierced on the other side. By that time, I had noticed that the beads of my venoms were starting to "sink in" to my tongue... it got pretty bad a few days before my appointment, where it looked like the top bead on the right side could almost completely be pulled in.
Lysa had a look at my tongue, and asked if I'd been feeling any discomfort or pinching. I hadn't really, but I wasn't too sure. So she said she'd just change the top beads to larger ones, and if they still continued to sink in, she would order larger barbells for me. The beads were replaced, and that did feel kind of interesting... like I had perpetual candy in my mouth. I eventually came to like the feeling a lot better than the smaller beads, and figured that even if I did have to change to longer barbells, I would keep the large beads.
It has been a bit more than a week since I've had the larger beads put on, and so I think everything is all right. The beads don't sit completely on top of my tongue, but I was told by a friend that as long as it isn't being pulled into the actual piercing hole, it should be fine. I will wait and see if it gets worse... so cross your fingers. =)
All in all, I'd have to say the attainment of these piercings was the most interesting I'd ever experienced. So many things change - plus, you have to learn to talk and eat all over again. And after that is all over with, the feeling of having these piercings in my mouth is fantastic. I don't even have to play around with them to know they're there. And other than the "sinking in" bit, I haven't had any problems - there was actually no leakage or secretions, and while I was warned that bruising may show up on the bottom, that didn't happen either. Also, I later asked my fiance (who'd been watching the entire time) if I bled at all, and he said I hadn't. Now... if only my tongue wasn't so small, I would do it all over again... ;)