After having several more 'common' piercings over a period of about two years I was looking for something a little more unusual, and of course turned straight to BME. The moment I spotted the gallery of horizontal tongue piercings I was pretty much sold. After gathering as much information as I could I decided to go through with it. I was told all manner of horror stories by friends and family involving badly pierced tongues, but everything I could find online told me the tongue was a pretty safe piercing although awkward to perform. I called my usual piercing studio, Access All Areas in Nottingham for an appointment and was lucky enough to be fitted in the next day.
At A Glance Author Infinite Monkeys Contact Infinite Monkeys@bme.anon IAM Infinite Monkeys When It just happened Artist John Studio Access All Areas Location Nottingham, England For the rest of the day I was filled with the normal nervous excitement I get every time I go for another piercing. Finally the time of my appointment came around and I headed nervously to meet my fate. After filling out all of the usual forms I was sent up into the piercing studio feeling more than a little nervous. John, my usual piercer, was already up there getting everything ready. As always everything was immaculately clean and tidy. We chatted about my upcoming fitting for an industrial piercing (just waiting for my two helix piercings to heal up!), then he talked me through what he was going to do while we waited for the autoclave to finish.
I was given a cup of antiseptic mouthwash and told to rinse and spit, then took a seat on the piercing chair. John put on some gloves, marked either side of my tongue and let me take a look at the position in the mirror. Everything looked fine, so he went ahead. By this stage I was feeling rather apprehensive, although after having all my other piercings performed by the same guy I now trust him completely, which certainly helped to calm me down a little. He sprayed a couple of sterile strips with anaesthetic and had me open my mouth for him to place one either side of my tongue... Probably the worst part of the whole procedure, I don't think words can ever describe just how bad that stuff tastes! He warned me that the piercing would feel 'pretty sharp', and could take a bit longer to perform than most piercings, as he had to make sure the needle went through my tongue as straight as is humanly possible. I was given a pretty comprehensive information sheet to skim over while we waited for the anaesthetic to take effect.
I was given a moment or two to relax, then told to stick out my tongue out, and to fight the urge to pull it back in! He held the tip of my tongue rather than using clamps, which is apparently the easiest way to perform a horizontal tongue piercing, told me to brace myself, then went ahead. I'll be honest, it did hurt a fair bit, although not anything like as much as I had imagined. The pain was certainly not unbearable, as the anaesthetic worked surprisingly well. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling, although it did feel pretty odd as the needle went through. It took just a few seconds for the needle to make it all the way through my tongue. John gave me a moments break, then slipped the Teflon bar into place and screwed the ball onto the end of the bar. I stood up and rinsed the blood out of my mouth, then took a look in the mirror. Right away I was in love with my new piercing, although speaking was way too difficult to say so! I lisped out a thank you and made my way back do wn to pay, very pleased with how things went.
All in all I'd recommend the piercing to anyone who's looking for something a little different. It does hurt although it's certainly not agonising, and the pain is over almost before you know it.
The first few days after the event were 'interesting' to say the least. The swelling was quite bad for a couple of days, which made eating very awkward, although happily there was no pain unless until I bit down on one end of the bar... Not fun! I had a pretty terrible lisp for the next week or so, although now, about two weeks after, I'm pretty much back to normal. Aftercare isn't too much of a problem, really just rinsing with mouthwash after every meal and drinking plenty of water.
Most people who've seen my new piercing like it, although some people think I'm crazy. The most common question, after the old favourite "Did that hurt?" is "That doesn't go right through your tongue, does it?". I've already got used to the feeling of the bar being in place and certainly couldn't imagine life without it.