I had decided I wanted my tongue pierced when I was 13. My parents were against it and they still are. But after 5 years I finally decided I was ready for my tongue piercing and no one could talk me out of my decision. This was my first piercing and I read as many BME experiences as I could, good and bad. I was finally ready to get it done. I decided I would go to the same place where a friend had gotten hers done. This place only charged 25 dollars to get it done. I was afraid it might not be the cleanest place to be so cheap but since I was pretty broke it would have to do. Besides my friend's tongue was healing with no problems so I thought mine should be fine too...of course I was very wrong.
At A Glance Author evilfaery66 When N/A Artist Lucky Studio no sure of the name Location Alabaster, AL The day of the piercing I didn't really do much to prepare. I brushed my teeth and ate a nice large meal since I expected it to be the last solid thing I'd be eating for awhile. Finally my 3 friends arrived, including the one who just had her tongue done and we were ready to leave. After reading so many experiences saying that it didn't hurt very much I wasn't really afraid until I walked into the store. But as I filled out all the forms saying I was 18 and all I realized there might be a problem. One of the questions was asking if I had mitral valve prolapse which I do. I asked if this was a problem but they just shook their heads and walked away. I learned later that I should have taken antibiotics because people with this condition can get infections very easily, but* the piercer didn't mention this to me. So I sat down and waited. The wait seemed to take forever and my nervousness was getting worse by the minute. When they finally called me into the piercing ro om I was shaking but I managed to calm myself somehow. While Lucky, the piercer, prepared to pierce me I realized that I should have gone somewhere else. First he did not get me to rinse with Listerene before the piercing which I had read that they always do. Second he didn't check for any major veins in the way. He also didn't mark where he was going to pierce. I knew I was at the wrong place for this but I was too nervous to back down now. So I prayed for the best and closed my eyes. Next thing I knew he said "Done." And he began telling me about the aftercare. It really didn't hurt. It just felt like a small pinch. My tongue bled very little and it didn't seem to swell at all. I realized that he didn't make me rinse with Listerene after it was done either and he didn't offer to change it in 2 weeks like most places would have done. I was so excited that it was finally over with that I didn't care at the time.
After we left the tattoo place we went to the nearest restaurant so I could get some ice water. I sucked on ice for awhile even though I didn't really think I needed ice since my tongue didn't even swell. After this I went home and went to bed. I woke up with a little bit of swelling and pain so I crushed up some ice to chew on. The ice definitely helped. The same thing happened every morning for about a week. I had no trouble eating except I kept biting the barbell and I eventually managed to tear it a little. I thought everything was fine until it started to hurt a lot more and it developed a white spot around the piercing. I went to Needlez and Ink which was the nearest CLEAN tattoo place and asked if my tongue was infected. The piercer there was very friendly and he took me into the piercing room to look at my tongue up close. He told me that I had probably developed a keloid from eating too many dairy products and that I needed to avoid these and keep rinsing with Listerene after everything I ate and drank. The white spot went away that same night but left a red bump in its place. About a week after the piercing I decided I was going to change the barbell myself to a shorter one because I didn't think it would ever heal since I kept biting it and making it worse. Changing a tongue barbell is VERY hard the first time you do it and I wouldn't recommend changing it yourself so early since you can cause it to swell up again. However I was lucky. There was no swelling and even though I changed it too soon it finally did begin healing. I could finally play with my barbell without it hurting. Later I looked at my friends barbell and realized my original was much larger than hers had been and I knew it had been a mistake to go where i went.
It's been over 2 weeks since I had it done and it seems to be almost completely healed. The red bump went away and the tear has mostly healed. So all in all it wasn't a fun experience but I am glad I did it since everything worked out okay for me. I learned after this experience to be smart and go to a CLEAN place for any body modifications even if I do have to pay more. Its definitely worth it in the end.