I remember when I first discovered BME. I was around 12 years old, and became obsessed with learning everything I could about piercings. I had fallen in love with venoms, and knew that one day I would have them.
At A Glance Author Teresa Contact Teresa@bme.anon IAM dressxupxdollie When A month ago Artist Didn't catch his name Studio Mark of the Vampire Location Kent, WA By the time I was 13, I started piercing myself, as I felt I knew enough about piercings to do so safely. I suppose I was correct, since nothing ever went wrong, or maybe I was just lucky.
I never did my venoms. I felt I didn't have enough knowledge, and my dad is very anti-piercing. So, I let it go. Years later, my new boyfriend had an off center tongue piercing, and said it just bled a little more than normal a center one. I questioned as to how he would know since that was the only one he had, but I didn't ask. By that time I was 17 and decided just to wait the 365 day that awaited me.
Around January I realized just how close my 18th birthday was. I was going to get my venoms done no matter if my dad liked it or not. I keep my current center tongue hidden, so why not 2 more? And with that, I started e-mailing and calling shops seeing how much it would cost me. I decided I was going to go with 12g because they are said to heal faster.
I had found the shop I wanted to go to, Mark of the Vampire. There are 2 shops within 15 minutes of my house, and that was the cleanest of them.
I really did plan this out at this point. I knew my dad would probably like to go out to dinner with me on my birthday, Wednesday. So I decided I would get the piercings done on Thursday after school. My original tongue piercing had only minor swelling, and didn't affect my speech at all. I hoped this was the case.
With that thought, I also realized that I would/should have to take out my center tongue to allow for swelling. This was fine with me. My 6g piercing is almost 6 years old. If I really needed to, I could stick the barbell in every once in awhile, just to keep the hole opened at 6g. As the days grew closer, I started to become nervous, but knew that this would be my first professional piercing, and my friend had recommended the place.
I went down there on Tuesday to talk to the piercer about what I wanted. He said it would cost me $100, and he couldn't do them at 12g since he didn't have the jewelry, but he'd do them at a 14g. I figured I could taper them after they healed.
On my b-day after school I got my money and headed down there. I was greeted by the tattoo artist who stopped his work to see what I wanted. Apparently it was the piercer's day off. It really pissed me off since he said he would do them on Wednesday. But I decided I could stand waiting one more day.
On Thursday right after school I worked my way down there for the third time.
I was greeted by the piercer who remembered what I wanted. He told me to come back in about an hour and everything would be ready. With that I happily left and went to waste some time at Starbucks. I'm fairly good friends with all of them and they told me how much of a rebel I was. Maybe so.
I came back to the shop 5 minutes early and decided to look through the portfolios. I noticed that the piercer had a picture of Tommy Lee. Appearly he had done 4 piercings on him back in Ohio. That's pretty cool.
After filling out the form, and giving him $100, plus a $10 tip, I hopped up into the chair. I was so surprised that I wasn't nervous at all. I watched him set everything out onto the little table and he had me swish with Listerine. (yuck). We went over the plan and I told him that I'd like them as far back as possible, but not in a row with my center piercing.
Since my veins are really close together, it was possible. He made the marks and had me check them off in the mirror. Perfect. With that he put the clamp on my left side and lined it up. He told me to take a deep breath and then exhale as the needle slid through my skin.
To be honest, it didn't hurt at all. It was a slight pinch, and it was done. I was allowed to stick my tongue back in my mouth while he got ready to do the other side. It felt very awkward. The bar was about 1" long. It didn't bother me at all, but it did feel like there was crowding on the bottom with my other piercing, and I knew there was one more to come.
On the right side he went through the same procedure. This side hurt a bit. Probably because my tongue was starting to swell from the first one. It was very bearable though.
After that I was done. There was only a little spot of blood on my lip which was surprising since I didn't taste any. Instead of him telling me aftercare, I just confirmed what I already knew. He seemed pretty surprised. I was told I could change the barbell out in about 2 weeks, instead of 4 like I assumed. I was recommend to get ½" barbells instead of 5/8". He took pictures and sent me on my way.
It hasn't even been an hour yet, so I can't really say how healing is going or anything. I seem to have a little bit of extra salvia in my mouth, which is kind of annoying. I'm having a harder time talking since the bars are so long. I quickly learned to hold my tongue differently, so it sounds close to normal. They don't feel awkward or anything at all. They actually feel fairly comfortable...ignoring the crowding feeling on the bottom side.
I have no problems drinking anything, and I haven't tried to eat. I took some Ibuprofen to help with the swelling and what not. It looks a little uneven right now, but I know it's because my tongue isn't swelling evenly. (If that makes any sense).
All and all this was a great experience, and I will most likely be going back to Mark of the Vampire to get some more piercings done.
edit: My piercings are now about 4 weeks old. I only commiting to seriously cleaning them for about a week, but everything is just fine. The frist few days really sucked. It'd really hurt in the morning, so I would just drink a ton of water, and it would stop hurting. Eatting was really hard, and talking was no easy task. I have a feeling my dad figured it out, but we have a don't ask, don't tell policy in the house. My tongue is now fully healed, with 1/2" barbells, and I'm still very happy with the birthday present to myself.