My best friend took me to Heritage Tattoo and Piercing in Bay City, Michigan to get my belated birthday gift... I have been wanting my tongue pierced for a long time but just never got up the nerve to do it. I had my nose pierced a few months back but it got a bump on the inside and was tender and just decided to take it out (got that done somewhere else). I want to get that done again but decided it was time to try something new and I finally got the confidence to just go and do it...I wanted to go to Gary (aka Buddha) because I have known him for quite a while and he is a really great guy and I have total confidence that he would do a great job. He has been doing piercings at Heritage Tattoo for a few years now and he did my husbands eyebrow about 3 or 4 years back and did an awesome job. So off to Gary we went...
At A Glance Author anonymous When A week ago Artist Buddha (Gary) Studio Heritage Location Bay City, Michigan I was terrified that the tongue would hurt SO badly, but he assured me that it really isn't that bad and promised that he would make it quick and as painless as possible. I guess I thought it would hurt so much because of how badly it hurts to bite your tongue, but like Gary said, when you bite your tongue it is usually the SIDE of it and the piercing is going in the middle... guess that is true, never thought about that. I was worried that it might bleed and he said in almost all cases it doesn't even bleed. He showed me the size (14 gauge) that he would be putting in. He then went in his room to prepare while I filled out some paperwork and my friend paid the guys at the counter. Then Gary came out and said we could come back to his room (cool room by the way, with tons of cool posters, toys, etc)... while he preped me, he talked about aftercare, etc. He was VERY thourough about everything...He was SO nice that I just totally relaxed. He had me rinse my mouth with Listerin e a few times to sanitize it, then he put the clamp on, I closed my eyes and before I knew it I felt a little pressure and he said "you now have a pierced tongue". He had my friend help hold the clamp so he could get the jewelry and push it through. She is totally straight-laced and was freaking out. I thought it was quite funny that she had to get that close and watch it happen to me (esp. considering that I was with her when she had her c-section for her baby and seen her gut get cut open.. thats only fair, right???) I kept my eyes closed the entire time. It was all over SO quick and didn't even bring a tear to my eye, it was so painless. He told me that the next day it would swell quite a bit but that would be the most it would swell... said it would take a good 3 weeks to heal enough that then I could switch it if I wanted to. He also told me that the bottom of my mouth where the bottom "ball" rests would probably get a little sore right away too (he was right about tha t!). He told me that sometimes after a couple weeks that it will start to ooze a little, like all piercings tend to do and that when that starts to rinse with salt water. Also, no alcohol (esp. beer.. no problem there, I HATE the stuff!) and no oral sex or wet kissing for 6-8 weeks (blah!!!). He gave me a sheet with information on it and said if I had ANY problems or questions to stop by anytime and he would be glad to help.
Anyways, it's been a couple days and it has swollen a bit and is tender, but not too bad really. I have been sticking to jello, Slurpees, soup (NOT hot soup though!) and lots of water and making sure to rinse after everything I eat. (great diet plan, huh?!)
I don't know if I will go back and get a shorter bar or not, I know this one is long to allow for the swelling but Gary said a lot of people end up getting used to the longer one and just decide to keep it... so we will see.
I am glad I didn't chicken out and went... I hope to go back to Gary in the future for more piercings. He is really great at making you feel at ease, joking and keeping things light and is very clean and sterile with everything and knows what he is doing! He is the best around!
I love my tongue piercing!