Last year I got my tongue pierced. It was my second piercing, as I had gotten my eyebrow done a few months earlier. I loved the way my eyebrow looked, and decided I needed another piercing. Two of my friends decided this was a good idea so we planned a weekend when they would come visit me in Albany and go together.
At A Glance Author kat Contact kat@bme.anon Artist Ken Studio Ink City Location Albany, NY USA I called a number of places in Albany that did piercings beforehand. I talked to friends who have gotten pierced here, and I chose the place that most of them recommended. Ink City charges $75 for tongues, which is a lot more than I would have had to pay in NYC or many other places, but I live in Albany and wanted to make my choice regardless of price.
I was very very nervous beforehand, but I drove us all to Ink City, which was a really cool place. The guy who was there was named Ken and we didn't have appointments, but he told us he would be ready in about 10 minutes, as he had to put the clamps in the autoclave first. He told us we could choose small, medium, or large balls for our barbells and my friends chose small and I chose medium. Ken told us that we would all get 3/4" barbells to compensate for swelling.
We kind of waited around the studio and looked at pictures of tattoos on the wall while we waited for the clamps to be ready. Finally Ken announced that they were and asked who wanted to be first. I said yes immediately because I didn't want to lose my nerve.
I sat down in the chair in back. Ken gave me mouthwash to rise with first, then he marked my tongue with this weird pen. He told me the piercing would actually be slightly in front of the mark.
He got out the package with the needle and set in on the little tray. It was like being at the dentist's office in a way, because of the rubber gloves and whatnot. Ken put the clamps on my tongue, and it was somewhat uncomfortable but not bad. He told me he was going to count to three and pierce through. He pulled my tongue out and pushed the needle through. He pierced it from the top down. I kept my eyes closed and it was over very fast. truly, it did hurt going through, but not nearly as much as I imagined. Ken kept my tongue pulled out and inserted the barbell into the hole. When I could finally put my tongue back in my mouth it felt very odd.
I rinsed again with mouthwash and waited for my friends to go. I was very glad I had gone first! Sometimes when I moved my tongue on that first night I felt very paranoid that the balls had come unscrewed, but I was just imagining things. It does take getting used to having a steel bar in your mouth 24/7.
Ken gave us all aftercare instructions and was very thorough about explaining how to care for our piercings. It was nice to be with my friends because we all planned to just ice our tongues that whole weekend and chill out together.
Healing was a bitch. My tongue was very sore and swollen. It did not, however, affect my speech. I ate mostly soft foods for about a week, and used ice a lot. Advil also helped with the swelling, and I was religious about washing my mouth with the mouthwash after everything I ate and drank.
I have now had my tongue pierced for almost two years and I still love it. People are usually surprised when they find out I have my tongue pierced. I hate when people say stuff to me like, "You know if they do it wrong your tongue can be paralyzed!" because a lot of idiots truly believe this. Also many people have told me I am going to chip my teeth and they will all fall out. Needless to say this hasn't happened. I have been to the dentist with my jewelry and he did not make me remove it, and I saw that it really doesn't affect the x-rays they take at all.
My advice is to talk to people who actually have had their tongues pierced, because tons of morons believe all those urban legends about tongue paralysis and crap. I'm very happy that I got over my fears and got it done. Make sure you go to a place that is reliable by asking around. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions at all about the experience, because I know the anxiety you can experience beforehand.
(When my mother first saw it she shuddered but I think now she is over it.)