I went to Montreal with some friends from school for a weekend this past spring. While we were wandering up and down a side street, we came across a really lovely basement tattoo and piercing parlor. We chatted briefly with the piercing artist and began to discuss what we would like to get done. One friend wanted her rook, another wanted her tragus, and another friend and I wanted our tongue webs. Before getting our piercings, we went to eat dinner. We were worried because we had been out drinking the night before, which can cause a lot of bleeding when you get a piercing. When we went back to the shop, our artist was ready for us.
At A Glance Author liz When A month ago Artist Charlotte Studio Studio Tentation Location Montreal My friend who wanted the rook piercing went first. She finished quickly and went outside for a cigarette. Then my other friend (the one who wanted the web piercing) and I went into the piercing room. The artist was extremely professional. She opened her tools in front of us and sterilized the jewelry (I chose a curved barbell, my friend chose a horseshoe) before preparing for the piercing. She had me sit down in a chair and swish my mouth out with some sort of cleansing solution. Then she put on her gloves and told me to open my mouth. As I took deep, steadying breaths, the artist pushed the needle through the web of my tongue. I grabbed onto my friend's hand, feeling immense pain shooting through my mouth. The artist slipped the jewelry into the hole, but struggled a bit to screw the ball on the end. I'm pretty sure that fastening the jewelry is always an issue because of how slippery saliva-coated metal is. Once the artist's fingers were out of my mouth, I slumped over onto my friend's shoulder, feeling like I was going to faint.
I spent the next hour feeling lightheaded. First I laid on the couch in the piercing parlor, and then I rested my head on my friend's shoulder on the subway on the way back to our hotel. I was so miserable. My tongue itself did not swell, but the web did. I definitely talked with a lisp all night, as did my friend. We were instructed not to drink beer for a month and to rinse our mouths with Listerine every time we ate or drank anything. I was also told not to give my boyfriend oral sex for a few days. The artist told us the swelling and pain should be gone in about three days. My tongue hurt enormously that night, but I comforted myself by thinking that the pain would be gone soon.
My three friends and I got back to school the next day. I loved my piercing so much, and I couldn't stop showing it to people.
I did everything the artist told me to do to keep the piercing clean, but after a week, the pain had not lessened, the swelling had gotten worse, and the skin was beginning to grow over the balls on my jewelry. This was incredibly frustrating, and I tried to remove the new skin every day with my toothbrush, but it would just grow back in less than an hour.
Then, I went to Colorado with my family. Skin doesn't heal as well at high altitudes, and I found the pain around my piercing getting worse. The skin was growing over the jewelry thicker and more quickly, and I began to get worried. When the pain spread from my tongue to my jaw, I decided I had to do something. I looked all around the town I was in for a piercing parlor so I could ask someone what to do, but I couldn't find one. So one night, when the pain got especially terrible, I just decided to take the jewelry out. I went to sleep that night with a sore mouth, but woke up the next morning feeling entirely better. The swelling was gone in a few days, and now, a month later, you can't see any sign of the piercing at all.
I was frustrated to lose my piercing because I really liked it, so I might get it done again someday. My friend (who got a horseshoe) still has hers, and it has healed just fine. I think it's key to get a longer piece of jewelry when you first get it done, because I think the skin might have tried to grow over my jewelry because of how swollen my tongue was and how much pressure the jewelry was putting on the skin as a result of the swelling. So basically, be careful and keep it clean. But don't be scared of getting this piercing. It's a really neat-looking one, and it's really cool to play with.