At A Glance Author Skip Contact Skip@bme.anon IAM Skip3s When Six months ago Artist Brian Studio Brian's Location Maryland As most do, I decided on tongue venoms after seeing the pictures here on BME. A bit less common and very intriguing to me, I promptly called up Brian to ask if he had the supplies and set up an appointment for that Saturday after the usual meet and during the after party.
The meet goes according to plan, the party is started up, and Brian prepares by gloving up and getting together the pre-sterilized supplies in their bags as I sat back and enjoyed the usual laid back atmosphere. Four glove changes later, he had a few issues with getting the tools all together and opening the packages, Brian was ready and Jim (good friend and fellow club member) was filming the procedure and party for later viewing, not to mention half of us would not remember what happened and would possibly like to know.
I took out the then current center tongue piercing to make it easier for my tongue to be inspected and marked. After drawing centering crosshairs on my tongue with his purple marking pen, Brian inspected the underside of my tongue to make sure the veins were spaced enough to evenly place the piercings. Luckily everything appeared fine, and the next thing I knew was the familiar feeling of the clamps as they took my tongue in a vice grip. On came the loud music, as per piercing tradition; a familiar feature of being pierced by Brian, there was always good music playing. Relaxed and comfortable, just how a piercing procedure environment should be.
"Deep breathe in", only one deep breathe, no counting here, and then the normal "deep breathe out" and the needle goes through as the air exits. The needle went through my left side of my tongue easily and with out feeling except the initial meeting between tongue and needle tip. No blood shed so far either, a sign of good placement. The release of the clamps and usual burning as the needle sat in my tongue while the jewelry was retrieved was followed by the strange feeling of having steel slipped through a fresh wound. There was no bloodshed as the transfer between bar and needle was seamless, another great sign of a good piercer. The balls were tightened and I was halfway there. That particular side of my tongue began to swell a bit, and Brian started to pick up the pace so as to get the other side pierced before the swelling edged its way over.
Again the pressure of clamps, which are not so uncomfortable the second time around; deep breathe in and then deep breathe out along with the pressing of the needle's tip, which had been sitting against the surface of my tongue, through the left side. This time it was with a bit more force, but still no real pain, just the burning as the needle sat there in my tongue and the release of the pressure caused by the clamps. Again the feeling of the metal through the fresh wound as the needle was pushed out. Only a bit of blood leaked from this hole as the swelling quickly started to spread over to this side and it took a bit more to push the barbell through. By the time the balls on the second barbell were tightened properly my tongue had swollen nearly twice its normal size.
My tongue was cleaned up, the bit of blood swabbed away and the pen marks wiped off. I was given diluted Listerine to rinse with, and some water to rid my mouth of the taste. Aftercare instructions were gone over quickly as I already knew about them from my center tongue piercing. Ready to get back into the party, I downed an Icee to try to take down some swelling, and take care of some very minor bleeding. I partook of a few vodka and tonics after the bleeding had stopped, some ice cube before calling it a night and heading home took care of it pretty well, and I was able to talk without a lisp. A few more ice cubes to try and subdue the swelling and it was not much of a bother the rest of the night.
After the fact there was no cottonmouth, no soreness. It was a bit difficult to have to relearn how to eat again, something I never really thought about till breakfast the morning after. The swelling completely disappeared after about four days, and I have not had any problems.
While said many times, I don't think it can be stressed enough, please be sure to go to a piercer you trust and know, or have at the very least researched thoroughly before having work done by him or her. Having such a piercer is a priceless asset to those of us not in the profession.