So it was July of 2001 or so and I had begun to think about getting another piercing, but wasn't sure of what to get. After thinking for a long time, and speaking with many people who had different piercings, I decided to do some research on it myself, via the web as there's only a couple of piercing places (well, reputable ones anyways) here in St. John's. So after visiting multiple sites on the web, I finally decided that it was my tongue that I wanted pierced - just a simple barbell, nothing very fancy.
At A Glance Author Dano Contact Dano@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Lori O'Brien Studio Abstract Hair & Piercing Location St. John's, NF, Canada I spoke to my friends Rhonda and Kimberly who both had theirs done (both at different studios), and decided that I would go down and check the places out. Unfortunately after calling the one I had originally intended to go to, I found out that the place had closed, the piercer had moved to Calgary, and the tattoo artist was working at another place. So I put the whole idea on the backburner for awhile and decided to think about it and research for a little while longer.
About mid-October, I again concluded that I wanted to have my tongue pierced, and happened to mention to my friend Andrea about it, and she said she wanted to come along so that she could get hers done, or her navel, she couldn't quite decide, but that was okay. So a week or so later I call her, and tell her that we're going to get pierced on the next day, and she gets all excited about it, and I can feel the butterflies starting in my stomach as well.
So the day of the piercing arrives, and we're at a friend's house watching movies, I leave a little abruptly and head across town to pick Andrea up so we could go visit Lori at Abstract. We're both kinda nervous on the drive down, but soon after meeting Lori both of us became very comfortable. Lori was absolutely great with us, she sat us down and explained everything to us; the procedure, aftercare, jewelry, what to expect/etc.
After about 45 minutes of chatting away, and looking through her photo album/portfolio book, we decide that it is time to face the needle! Andrea insists that she go first otherwise she'll chicken out, so I'm okay with that, although almost chickened out afterwards! (lol!) After picking out and autoclaving the jewelry, we go into the piercing room where there's a chair that resembles a dentist's chair, and a place for lying down for piercings (I'm not sure what it's called, just a table I assume?)... I sit in the chair and Lori tells me to stick out my tongue, and makes a dot on it with a marker, telling me that it's about the only place she can pierce because I have a short tongue, I'm like "okay".
Next come the forceps. They're rather intimidating at first glance and aren't very comfortable to have squeezing your tongue, and the needle was a little painful, but overall it was a very interesting experience, and has opened up my mind to the world of piercing - within about two weeks I downsized my jewelry to a 5/8" 14ga straight barbell with acrylic balls on both ends (orange and glow-in-the-dark green).
My biggest worry about getting this piercing was the question of healing - I am a Type I (insulin-dependent) diabetic, and was very concerned about infection, as I prevously had an earlobe piercing done that absolutely refused to heal, no matter what I did with it (it was done with a piercing gun, which was in the time before I knew better, never again will anybody pierce me with a gun) - within a few weeks the piercing had healed very well and the swelling was next to nothing for me, but that's rather uncommon I've been told as many people cannot eat or speak properly for quite awhile.
(my original jewelry was a 3/4" straight barbell with stainless steel balls, and began to drive me insane after about a week or so, once the little bit of swelling I had, had gone down).The aftercare instructions (which I followed to a tee) were well written and easy to understand - this is a piercing I would recommend to anybody! The piercing was done on October 26/2001, and now I'm beginning to think about getting something else pierced, but have yet to decide, it may be eyebrow, navel or nipple - will be going back to Lori again, even though she is not at the same studio anymore, but I think that it is the piercer, not the name of the studio is what makes all the difference. I will be posting my next experience very soon - it will take place within the next week or two!
Cheers!