I was looking around for something to get done, as I already had a double industrial and wanted a piercing that wouldn't be too obvious but nonetheless unusual and pretty cool. After browsing bmezine for a while I came across a picture of a venom and instantly fell in love with the piercing. It was a little bit of a problem as I had bought a friend a regular tongue piercing for his birthday and didn't want to seem to be competing with him...luckily he didn't mind and I was all set for getting it done.
At A Glance Author dr_Ronnieboy Contact dr_Ronnieboy@bme.anon When A month ago Studio Rawhide Location St. Albans, England I went to the studio after college, it's a bit far away from where I live, maybe an hours journey, (which is quite a lot seeing as I live in London) but I've got all my other piercings there and I trust the piercer. I told him that I wanted a venom, two studs on either side of my tongue, and would that be possible. He told me that he'd done it a couple of times before but it would be a very fiddly piercing. He actually asked me to think about it for a couple of days before getting it done but I assured him that it was what I wanted and I was cool with the consequences and so on.
We went into the back of the studio (where he pierces) and he sat me down on a chair and told me to relax. I got some anaesthetic spray on my tongue, which numbed it down and made me dribble everywhere like a baby. He got the needle out and did my left side first. It was relatively quick and painless, and done in one swift motion. After he fit the stud I spent a couple of minutes over a basin getting as much blood caught in my beard as possible, or so it seemed.
Then it came to the second piercing, which was more of a problem. Firstly by that time the anaesthetic had started to wear off, which would make the whole thing a lot more painful anyway. Secondly, he managed to hit a stronger area of the tongue then before (it went in at a slight angle by accident) and took two pushes to get it through. That hurt so much compared to the first one it took my breath away, and much more blood came out then the first one but was bearable.
That evening I was exhausted and I went to sleep really early, maybe about seven pm. I woke up the following morning and went off to college, my tongue had inflamed and was big, but it was bearable. For breakfast that day I drank a can of Nurishment (A British milkshake-energy drink) and again for lunch and dinner. It seemed to be my only food, and helped me through my hunger. One thing to mention here was the fact that for the following days I felt like absolute sh*t, like a really really bad cold that immobilises you. Not fun.
As I was showing off to everyone about my new piercing I tried to show them the underside of it, but caught the studs and a sharp pain ensued. I think the holes were slightly ripped but I thought nothing of it.
On the third morning afterwards I woke up to realise that the inflammation had gotten bigger and the big bars he'd pierced me with weren't big enough. The tongue had pushed against the balls so much they'd bled in the night. And to top it off, a white liquid was present in the under holes of the tongue.
That's right, they were both infected. I wasn't sure if it really was an infection, just the normal part of piercing or me being a hypochondriac, but I decided it was normal. I mean, I'd washed out with salt water after every meal (drink) and washed out with mouthwash 3-4 times a day, why would they be infected? I cleaned them out about five times a day with a cotton bud and washed with mouthwash and salt water many more times regularly.
After a week of this I decided enough was enough and went to see the doctor to get some antibiotics. She told me to take them out but after some wrangling I managed to get a course of antibiotics. It didn't have any immediate effect but after about a week no more pus wept and I took that as a good sign.
If I was expecting my tongue to go back to normal 2 weeks after getting it done then I was severely mistaken. It took a good month after getting it done for it to go completely back to normal and change my bars for smaller ones. It took a further 2 weeks for me to be able to play with them with no pain whatsoever.
My advice? Get vipers done one at a time, or if not, fit extra extra big bars. Most importantly, if you think that they're infected, go to your doctor immediately. If pus comes out from the holes it probably is an infection and the sooner you get it sorted out the better.