A while ago maybe 3 years ago, after seeing a friend I made Lena at Ground Zero in Ibiza (Spain) a Rock Bar who had her tongue, I wanted one and I got bitten by the piercing bug. My first piercing was my tongue, Yes even before my Lobe I got a Vertical Tongue done, then I got several others but I write about them another time.
At A Glance Author Cenobitez Contact steve@cenobitez.com Artist Ian The Staff Studio White Dragon Studio's Location Stockport, Manchester, England I saw someone with a horizontal tongue piercing at the Erotica Event, I was there a Press Photographer about 3 years ago, after chatting to the woman in question, I decided I want it done. I started to look for a piercer to carry this out, Since I had developed a friendship with Ian of Stockport I went to him and he said NO point blank, as it could be dodgey.
I phoned every piercing studio in about 100 miles of where I live and they all said NO so I gave up for a few months and got a few other piercing's done by Ian. Eventually I talked him into it and he checked my tongue out with a torch n measured it and all that sort of thing.
I started to get a lil nervous now as I realised I was really going to get it done and he found I needed a 24mm barbell as I had a wide tongue and he needed to order that length. A week later I went back and we talked about the size of that barbell and the problem with closing my mouth and we decided that a PTFE bar with metal balls on it would be the best option.
Ian told me to go and get some food and a can of Coke to get my blood sugar level up before he did the piercing. I was dreading the pain to come at this point as I had over and inch of flesh about to get assaulted.
It was time for me to go and get it done and I was almost shaking, the fact that Ian had never done this kind of piercing before and the fact that all the other studios said NO made me doubly nervous. I went in and sat on the Gurney type thing and he had all the stuff laid out on a trey. There was a few 14 gauge Braun Introcanula needles, a few sets of Oval clamps of different sizes in an autoclave, Calliper's, 2 bottles of sprays one was Xylocaine the other I don't know. A few types of cotton wool and pads and stuff, then there was about 12 inches of what looked like thick dental floss and a selection of balls.
Ian held a Medical Torch to my tongue before applying a set of clamps, the clamps was too small so he took another pair from the autoclave and dried them, then with the torch again he applied the clamps and closed them until they locked and god it hurt. He then checked again with the torch and then sprayed some Xylocaine onto my tongue and all of a sudden my Tongue when Freezing cold then about 3 seconds later my tongue felt like it was on fire and was getting hotter like chilli sort of hot.
Then he put some cotton wool in my mouth to dry the drool, then check my tongue one last time, then picked up a needle at this point I was almost shaking, with thoughts of chickening out. I saw the needle up close and told Ian to hold on a minute. Then I told him to just do it, then he started to push the needle through and it HURT like hell I was shaking as he pushed through, it felt like it took him about 5 minutes to push through and I had INTENSE pain the whole time. I felt my eyes water with thoughts of why the hell was I doing this, and then of the girl I saw with it done, then I heard Ian say, ok the needles done.
He got a mirror to show me, and my tongue looked like it has already swelled up, it looked like a Shish Kebab or a spit roast with a little blood, with the white sleeve of the needle stuck in my tongue. Then after I had rinsed my mouth out he told me that he was going to measure my tongue and then cut the dental floss stuff which he told me was PTFE.
After this he threaded a ball onto one side of the plastic, and threads it into one side of the sleeve. Then he started to move the sleeve out of my tongue and Oh My God it hurt like 10 times more than any other piecing I had ever had done, as he slowly moved the sleeve out of my tongue. I could taste my own blood and I felt sick as well as all the intense pain, my eyes were watering too.
Finally he clipped a little of the length of the PTFE and I had the flexible PTFE barbell with balls on the ends and a mouth full of drool and blood and I felt sick but I had a Horizontal Tongue piercing. I washed my mouth out with ice cold water and got a little relief then he looked at it and said it looked damned good.
I couldn't talk or anything, I just mumbled and left his room and he told me to come back in a few days. As I walked out a few of my friends was waiting and they was like oh god I cant believe you did that, and they was like your mad all the way to the pharmacy. I went and bought mouthwash and painkillers and some other stuff before heading to work.
I have now had it around 18 months to 2 years and its still there and i LOVE it, its moved a little because of how it fits in my mouth but its not migrating thank god :o) some times it's a little painful and swells but its all good.
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Steve