As the semester was drawing to an end, I decided I should reward myself for all my hard work. After coming up with a few ideas of what piercing I should get and talking to my boyfriend, Jason, about it, we decided that getting venoms would be the best. I soon started researching venom piercings to find what problems might arise. Finding nothing that really worried me, I decided my last day of class would be perfect.
At A Glance Author DarkSideVegan Contact DarkSideVegan@bme.anon IAM DarkSideVegan When A month ago Artist Miro Studio Dandyland Location San Antonio Finally the day had come, I was kind of nervous because I had read stories that said that venoms were the most painful piercing, but others said it wasn't too bad. After getting my side/ribs tattooed a month earlier, I figured I could handle the pain, but was still nervous.
That afternoon Jason and I had a good lunch of sushi and headed to Dandyland for the piercing. As soon as I parked my car I already felt less nervous. We entered and talked to Miro, my piercer, about what I was getting and what jewelry we'd use. After deciding on 12 g. 5/8" barbells, we headed back into the piercing room. Miro washed his hands and put gloves on and proceeded to set up all the supplies.
Next came marking my tongue. After changing his gloves again, he dried off my tongue with a paper towel and used a toothpick with gentian violet to make lines on my tongue. It was a bit uncomfortable to have my tongue dry and sticking out for a while, but it's worth it for the perfect placement. Once he had marked the top and bottom I checked the lines – they were perfect.
Miro dried off my tongue again and asked me to start breathing to get ready for the piercing. They were going to be freehand because I have some veins under my tongue and Miro usually does his tongue piercings this way. I started breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth and tried not to focus on the pain that was coming. He then got the needle ready and started piercing my left side. I'm not going to lie; it was painful, but not unbearable. It took a little longer than my other piercings to get the needle all the way through and I could feel it as it was going along. After it was all the way through, he put a cork on the end and followed through with the jewelry. This part was uncomfortable, but not as bad as the piercing itself.
After a quick picture and a little break I was ready for the other side. I started breathing again. It was the same as the other side, not really more or less painful. Soon the jewelry was inserted and I was done! After I talked to Miro a bit more, I bid him goodbye and we left.
That evening I didn't have too much swelling and was able to talk almost perfectly, but I still took some ibuprofen to keep the swelling down. I ate some banana pudding that evening and it was a bit sore and awkward. Before I went to bed I brushed my teeth and rinsed with mouthwash without alcohol.
The next day my tongue had swelled up some more and it was a bit more difficult to talk, but I was still understandable. I had a smoothie and some potato soup which wasn't too bad/ uncomfortable to eat. I kept taking the ibuprofen but the swelling didn't really minimize.
On day two my tongue was still swollen and it was difficult to talk. My tongue swelled to a point where the balls on the top were half covered and stayed that way for a few days. I was hoping the swelling would go down on it's own but eating only became more painful. By day four my tongue had not gotten better and I decided to make a trip back to Dandyland to get the barbells changed out with longer ones. By this time it had become very painful to eat and I had raw areas where the balls had been.
Miro changed out the barbells for 3/4" ones with bigger balls and the pain let up almost immediately. After a couple days of the longer barbells the raw areas on my tongue had healed up and I could eat normally again. I kept these barbells in as long as I could, but since the swelling had gone down, I had a hard time talking and eating with out biting the balls. First I switched the balls out on the barbells with the help of my boyfriend and it helped with the talking. After the piercing was a couple weeks old, and with my boyfriend's help again, I switched the barbells out with the original barbells I was pierced with.
Now it has been about 5 weeks since I got the piercings and they have healed up very well. I thoroughly enjoy my venoms and the only bad thing about them is that it's so hard for me not to play with the jewelry. I wouldn't recommend venoms to people who have a very low pain tolerance or are planning on getting them as their first piercing. I have read many stories that involved complications and it definitely was one of my more painful piercings to heal. Other than that, venoms are lots of fun!