Getting my tongue web pierced turned out to be the best piercing experience I've had so far, and out of the ten piercings I currently have it's also my favorite.
At A Glance Author jille Contact jill_apolloni@yahoo.com When A week ago Artist joe Studio royal oak tattoo Location royal oak, mi I decided to get my tongue web pierced a few months before I got it done. I've spent a lot of time researching piercings, and at first it never really appealed to me. I wasn't really into oral piercings, they just seemed too 'risky' to me back when I didn't know much about them. My cousin and I talk about piercings a lot, and she started mentioning how she wanted to get her frenulum pierced. I realized I didn't have much there at all to support jewelry, but looking around the rest of my mouth I saw a sufficient amount of tongue webbing and thought, "Hey, maybe I should get that done..", and the more I looked at pictures of other people's, and thought about it, I decided I definitely wanted it done.
A month or two went by, and I started getting restless. This is what usually happens with me and piercings, as other people can probably relate to. So one day I headed out to a nearby studio I had been to before with my boyfriend to get it done. I had some issues with this studio because the people working there weren't exactly the friendliest or most helpful, and that day was no exception. The piercer who does tongue webs wasn't in that day and they weren't being particularly nice, kind of acting like I should have known. While leaving, I decided to find a studio I felt more comfortable with.
Royal Oak Tattoo looked like one of my better options. They only had one piercer, but on their website he had a portfolio, and looking through photos of his work I was impressed. He could do all kinds of piercings (including tongue webs - hooray!), and so I called to see when his hours were to avoid any problems of that sort.
So that weekend my boyfriend and I headed out to Royal Oak. We got to the studio around 7:15 and Joe, the piercer, was supposed to be there until 8:00. But when I went in, he had just left, so they called to see if he would come back. Fortunately, he hadn't gone far and was willing to come back for me. That was a huge relief, considering I had driven 45 minutes just to get there, let alone waited how long to get this piercing.. and that long waiting period had let me convince myself I needed my lip re-pierced, so I was getting that done too actually.
I paid in advance and went to look at their giant python snakes while waiting for Joe to return, and also tried to get my boyfriend to decide if I should get my lip pierced in the center or the side like I had it previously. He was no help. I didn't have time to argue though, because Joe arrived, so we started picking out the right jewelry and balls for my piercings.
Then he led me back to the chair I was to sit in, and he pulled out a chair for my boyfriend, which I thought was nice. I sat down. I was calm. I was ready. This was definitely not like my first piercings, when I would get all nervous and excited. Joe decided to pierce my tongue web first, obviously, and began examining it. He went over the aftercare for both piercings, and for the tongue web it was simply to rinse with mouthwash twice a day, which is easy enough. He said I would barely feel the needle going in, and warned me about how tongue web piercings can be ripped out fairly easily, so I should be careful about it, especially if I considered getting my tongue pierced. I asked him about the chance of the piercing rejecting, and he said rejecting wasn't as much of an issue as it just getting ripped out. As for healing, he said it would feel healed within one day.
On with the piercing.. Joe had me hold my head a certain way, open my mouth wide and keep my tongue up at the top of my mouth. He marked where the piercing would go, and then took the needle he had bent and inserted it and told me to not shut my mouth. I barely felt the needle at all. Next he had to put in the cbr, which wasn't difficult, but getting the ball on and closing it proved to be a slight hassle. I blame myself partially, because I had to keep my tongue up for so long and that's not as easy as it should have been. Most of the time my tongue was going a little numb from keeping it up like that so I guess I was moving it without meaning to, and that made me feel a bit silly. Joe kept telling me, "Keep your tongue up, yes just like that, that's perfect.... No.. keep it up.. yes.. wait.. yes.. that's good, right there", etc. But it wasn't all my fault, it is a difficult area to get to, and I do have a small mouth anyways.. Eventually he got the ring all closed up and h e handed me a mirror to check it out. It looked so great.
After that, he pierced my lip, but that's a whole different story. He took a photo for his portfolio, I gave him a tip and then my boyfriend and I left. I'm really glad I found that studio because I was very pleased with everything there, Joe is a great guy and a talented piercer. I will definitely go to him for all my other piercings.
As for my tongue web, it felt a bit strange at first, having the ring under my tongue. Combined with the new lip ring though, it felt like a big jumble of new stuff in my mouth, and I had to eat really slowly that night, trying to get used to all of it. There really was no pain until after I ate, because that was pretty much right after I got it done, and eating made it get knocked around and pulled on. But it wasn't really pain, more like tingling. The next morning my tongue felt swelled up underneath and kind of uncomfortable, but I think some of that may have been because of the way I keep my mouth shut when I sleep. So I just took an Advil to reduce the swelling, and after that there really was no problem with it. The only thing I've noticed that I hadn't heard about before was that I can't move my tongue as much as I used to. I can't touch the back of my throat, and if I have food stuck around my teeth or something gross like that I can't get at it sometimes. This isn't because of pain, it's just that I can't get my tongue to reach as far. It's hardly an inconvenience at all though, just something I hadn't known about.
This is my favorite piercing though. First I like it because I love piercings, and this was one I had really wanted. But also it's a piercing that I can keep to myself, and not have people staring at it when they're talking to me rather than looking in my eyes. And of course it doesn't get all the standard questions, like "Does that hurt?" or "How do your parents feel about that?" I mean honestly, you'd think these people never saw a facial piercing before.. I can understand if they're curious, but still... This one I can just show to people I want to, and that's a nice option to have.
So I think this was definitely a worthwhile piercing, and for anyone who's thinking about getting their tongue web pierced, do it; you'll love it too.