I was going through one of those dark nights of the soul than in my case last about six weeks, and I decided to get a new piercing. I was in the middle of my winter term exams and didn't want to get anything for which the aftercare would be too messy, or which could interfere with daily activities. Ideally, I wanted a second tongue piercing, but with most of my exams being oral, it wasn't really the best pick. I settled for getting my tongue-web poked instead -fast and easy, it provided all the fun of oral piercings without most of the problems. And so I went along with it.
At A Glance Author strawberry Contact strawberry@bme.anon IAM strawberry When Six months ago Artist Manu Studio Il Negozino Location Siena, Italy I was still working at my local piercing studio but picked up my day off to get pierced. I wouldn't have to worry about customers coming in as there was someone else to help them, and I could have my piercer/boss all to myself, and to date I'm glad I chose that day. The piercing turned out to be slightly more time-consuming than I planned, and at the end of the day piercings got in hurry, between other customers turning up and being served, are never a good idea.
I came into the shop, spoke to Manu about my latest plan and she wasn't too happy about it at first. I have a small mouth and even if she has tiny, daft fingers, working under my tongue is always a problem. We'd tried this piercing before and it took her about one hour of fiddling to get the needle and jewelry in, and this time she didn't fancy much trouble. After a bit of persuading speeches, I convinced her.
I picked up a small, 6 mm, 18 ga surgical steel CBR and sterilized it. When Manu saw it she went all, "hey, who do you think I am? Some nanotechnology engineer or what?" and got a larger, 16 ga 10 mm titanium CBR. It looked really big, but I can imagine that the one I'd chose would have been quite difficult to work with. Besides, since she was my boss and piercing me for free, I didn't push things much. Big mistake, as it will turn out later.
After the second CBR was sterilized and ready, I was made to sit on the piercing chair and placement marking started. It was clear at that stage that Manu didn't want to pierce me -she's a great artist when she's in the right mood for it, but when she isn't it really shows, and the quality of the work is affected. She marked two small dots right under the scar that the first tongue-web piercing had left (luckily I used to have a fairly large tongue-web, not enormous, but enough to get it re-pierced), gave me a mirror to look at it and I liked it.
It was now time to get it started. Looking back I'd been given all the "wrong" signs -jewelry I didn't like, piercer not in the mood etc- but my desire to get a new piercing made me go ahead. I rinsed my mouth with antiseptic mouthwash and tried to relax. Manu wore gloves, clamped the area and it stung badly, but I tried not to move too much. I, in the meanwhile, concentrated on keeping my mouth as widely open as I could, which was a bit of a problem, but not too uncomfortable after all. The needle went in without me really noticing: the clamp was too tight and it'd begun to hurt, and the pain involved isn't too much to begin with. I tasted a bit of blood afterwards, but no real piercing pain.
Because the CBR was quite big, getting it in place wasn't difficult, and Manu's a fast piercer. The ball was in, too, in a matter of seconds. I was happy and high. I stood up from the chair and looked at my freshly pierced tongue-web with an anticipated excitement. I should have known better.
The CBR was big -this I knew- but I hadn't realized how big until I were to feel it in my mouth. The first time I had my tongue-web pierced I'd had a banana, so I really had no idea. I could feel this huge thing under my tongue, messing with my tongue stud and with the soft tissue that's under it and it was uncomfortable already. When I lifted my tongue to see what it looked like, it was crooked (as far as tongue-web piercings can be crooked, or straight, of course) and, again, too big. It didn't look like the neat, cute thing I'd expected it to be. Together with that, my whole "under-tongue area" (for lack of a better term) was sore and swollen, because of the extra pressure from the clamp. However, I thanked Manu and left.
The day went on as usual, I went to classes, then to lunch with my boyfriend. Eating wasn't too bad and I wolfed down a three-course Chinese meal. After eating I was careful to wash my teeth and rinse my mouth throughly and keep the area clean. The soreness was still there, but I heal oral piercing pretty fast and didn't really worry.
As days went by, the swelling and soreness went down and I didn't have big problems with the new piercing. As usual, I didn't smoke or drink alcohol after and avoided spicy foods which could irritate it. However, two weeks on, it was clear the jewerly wasn't right for my anatomy, as it was rubbing against the bottom of my mouth too much, and that was irritating no matter how much care I'd put into it. Together with this, plaque was beginning to build up on the ring and that didn't help.
I had two options: downsizing the jewerly or retiring it, because it had really start to annoy me. An unhappy piercing is almost surely an unhealthy one and I'm sure that if I hadn't taken action this would have caused some problems. Because it was clear that Manu either wasn't capable or didn't want to fix the jewelry and get in a smaller CBR, I retired the piercing after about two weeks or so, maybe a bit longer. The plaque was a problem and the huge ring was really annoying -also the piercing was showing some first, mild signs of migration, so it was probably the best decision I could take.
I don't like retiring my piercing, but this time it was necessary. Some time later I got my tongue-web cut by my dentist, so there won't be a third attempt at this. It is a shame, but it was probably not meant to be. However, I do recommend this piercing to everybody who wants a simple, generally non-hassle mod that doesn't show and doesn't cause too much trouble when it's well done and well placed, and with the right jewelry. Plaque and migrations are its two major problems once it's healed and well looked after.
It's a simple piercing, but no piercing is simple for an unexperienced piercer, or for someone who's not in the mood -piercers are artists, and artists (sometimes) get moody. Find a practitioner you enjoy being worked on by and who listens to your desires and tries to give you a mod that matches your requests. Never settle for a second best option, as it is the recipe for unhappiness. Placement and jewelry have to be well-chosen to make the most of your anatomy.
Other than that, happy piercing and have fun modifying yourself!