I was browsing on BME as you do late at night, and I came across the off centred tongue piercing section. I was in love! I had no idea they existed - I just presumed that due to the huge veins that run down each side of your tongue it would be impossible to pierce the side of the tongue - oh how wrong I was! I fell more and more in love with the piercing with every photo I saw, until I was desperate to get it done. I spent the next few days trying to position the balls from bar bells on my tongue and getting them to ballance so I could get an idea of what it would look like when it was done.
At A Glance Author Jen Contact princess_til_midnight@hotmail.com When A week ago Studio Eclipse Location Camden - London Finally i got a chance to go to Camden, which is where my favourite piercing studio is located. Okay it was only three days after I first set my heart on the piercing, but it felt like forever! Anyway, me and three of my friends headed straight for Eclipse, they were pretty busy in there, as usual, so I just browsed through the jewlery cases, and played with the tattoo artists baby (who is 18 months and adorable - already and ears and nose pierced, has a mohekan hair cut and wears hotter clothes then most the boys I know!), until the piercer was ready to see me.
I explained that I wanted the right side of my tongue pierced. She looked at me as if I was speaking a different language - great I thought, I guess this is a piercing only available in the USA or something. But i tried again, knowing how experienced my piercer is I was sure she would understand soon enough, or atleast I hoped. So i worded it as, "I want venoms, but just one." this seemed to confuse her even more, although atleast she did understand what I was talking about. She told me it would be fine but couldn't seem to understand why i would only want one done. And it seemed to interest everyone else in the shop, random people kept asking me if I was really only getting one venom piercing, and made me want it done etc. Which paniced me a little, but I loved the pictures on here so much, I knew it was what i wanted.
The piercer checked my tongue about four times before taking me through to the private studio. She asked me if I would mind an apprentice being present, of course I didn't (I hope to be one someday, and we all have to stick together!). She dried my tongue and marked the top, then the bottom, then the top, then the bottom and finally the top for the final time, making sure she got the position right. She asked me if I wanted to see, which I didn't, I trust her completely (she has now pierced me over 20 times) and I new i would end up putting my tongue back in my mouth pretty soon, ruining the whole drying process, so i shook my head and signalled for her to continue.
She positioned the clamp and tightened it, I had previsously read on BME that this was the most painful part of the entire piercing, so when it didn't even feel uncomfortable i was totally calm and looking forward to the needle. My piercer asked me to close my eyes and take a deep breath in. She changes whether she pokes on the in or out breath randomly, this time it was the in. I barely felt the needle prick me, and the next thing I felt was it coming through the top of my tongue. Painless! There wasn't even any discomfort!
I opened my eyes to see a huge needle sticking through the right edge of my tongue. So cool! The aprentice had been asked to prepare the jewlery, which she hadn't quite managed so my piercer had to leave me to assist her, it wasn't actually that uncomfortable to have my tongue hanging out my mouth with the needle through it for a couple of minutes - I didn't even dribble! So proud of myself!
She pushed the jewlery through which pinched a little. But barely. The ball was screwed on and I was all finished! Yay!
Putting my tongue back into my mouth was so strange, it felt really small, and the bar felt so huge. I was given all the advice on the aftercare and given a slip to take back after a couple of weeks to get the bar changed to a smaller one for free.
I went to get ice straight away, not because it hurt - I still couldn't feel a thing, but because the gang at Eclipse suggested it to keep down swelling. It was weird having ice in my mouth - I couldn't tell which was ice and which was the ball on the top of my piercing. which caused a few scares as i swallowed ice.
Within a few hours it started to swell, and throb, but I was expecting that. I couldn't talk properly and my tongue fely really tired. I didnt eat anything that night and had an early night after carefully brushing my teeth and using some mouth wash.
the next morning my tongue was tripple the size it was the morning before, I had forgotten about my new piercing and was so confused. The and then I remembered!
I spoke with a lisp for a week, and couldn't say "s" or "x" at all for about 10 days. Its now been 2 weeks and my tongue is fine. I can talk and eat normally. No problems with any other oral activity either!
My advice to people who have just got tongue piercings would be, do not eat spicey foods, foods or drinks high in salt or sugar, do not add salt to any food, do not have ketchup or any other kind of sauce on your food, do chew lots of ice, do drink tunns of water, do brush your teeth after every meal and use mouthwash very reguarly, do avoid smoking for the first few days and don't kiss anyone or anything else along those lines for atleast a week and a half.
I also found that by moving my tongue inside my mouth as much as possible, bending it, swiveling it, rippling it etc really helped it to heal, by stregnthening the muscle and getting the movement back to it and stopping it being stiff. I love my tongue piercing, I may eventually get the other venom done, but for now, Im happy being the quirky girl with just one.