I'd always toyed with the idea of getting my Tongue pierced, but never gone through with it, due to the reaction I knew that my parents would have! So after a couple of tattoos I started getting a bit braver with what I could get away with. Fortunately for me, my parents were going on holiday for a week and I was house-sitting, so I had the perfect oppurtunity to have my tongue pierced.
At A Glance Author Emma Contact Emma@bme.anon When A month ago Artist JP Studio Access All Areas Location Nottingham I booked my appointment at Access All Areas, as I had had piercings done there before, and I was very impressed at the cleanliness of the studio and at the quality of my previous piercings.
Before the appointment I made sure that I had a decent breakfast and lots of lucozade. I was worried about the piercing anyway, as its slightly different from having a needle through some part of your ear, and I didn't fancy the thought of feeling faint afterwards either.
When I arrived at the studio, I was given the option of a PTFE or Titanium barbell, I chose PTFE as I've had good results with piercings with PTFE jewellery in before, and I think my body prefers it to the Titanium. I filled in the form and was taken upstairs to the piercing studio. I had come with a couple of friends, but neither of them were overly keen on watching a needle being pushed through my tongue, so they stayed downstairs.
I was asked to rinse my mouth out with mouthwash and then take a seat. My tongue was then numbed using two pads covered in freezing solution, one on the top of my tongue and one on the bottom. I was then given an aftercare sheet to read through and the piercer talked through it with me to make sure I was completely clear. The two freezing pads were then replaced with two new freezing pads. By this time my tongue was getting very numb and it was hard to respond to the guy when he was telling me about aftercare as I could only mumble! The pads were then taken off and my tongue was marked up, the piercer took a lot of time doing this, which was reassuring. Finally I was ready, my tongue was gently held with clamps, so it was more me holding my tongue out than it being held by the clamps. The piercing itself was so quick, it wasn't painful because of my numb tongue, but I was aware of the needle, I just shut my eyes really tightly! The piercing took around 20-30 seconds at most, it was over so quickly and that made it a lot better, the jewellery was a little uncomfortable, but it was all very much worth it. There was no bleeding, which was nice, but it was so difficult to rinse my mouth with the mouthwash as the bar felt enormous!
I mumbled my thanks and paid my £35, I then spent the day mumbling lots more and eating soup. There was a bit of swelling, but by day 2 I was eating normally, with only minor difficulties and the tendency to tip my head to one side to get food away from the centre of my mouth! The swelling lasted about 4 days, I had a lisp for the first couple of days, but that went away too, I spoke to my mum on the phone on the day I'd had it pierced and she didn't notice any difference when I talked. As a person who talks a lot, it was difficult not to talk as much, but it made my tongue feel really tired so I tried to be a bit quieter. I rinsed with mouthwash after I ate anything, and stuck to softer foods to keep my tongue from feeling tired. Two weeks later and it felt like I'd always had the piercing, and it felt even better when I went back and had the bar shortened, it made eating a lot easier and I wasn't so worried about biting the balls. The only problem I'd had was that the metal ball on the underside of my tongue kept hitting the back of my front teeth and making them sore, so I had this one changed for a plastic one and it eliminated the problem. A month on its completely settled and I changed the bar for a titanium one now that it's healed, its also easier to get the balls on and off, as PTFE was a bit difficult for that.
I'd always had problems with keloids and scarring on piercings before, but I can say that this piercing was completely problem free and I really would recommend it, it looks really good and feels very cool :) Access All Areas is a great place to go if you're in the Nottingham area as their piercings are always good, my piercing is completely central and set back just enough so you don't notice it when I talk, which is also very useful in hiding it from the parents!
In short, tongue piercings are great if you want a piercing that heals quickly, looks great and is easy to look after. Mine is definitely my new favourite piercing!