It all started way back when I was just 7 years old. My big sister whom I looked up to with all my heart, came home with something interesting punctured through her tongue. It was a tongue ring. As a young girl living in a town so small it didn't even have a McDonald's, I was extremely amazed and interested. Piercings? What are these?
At A Glance Author Jen :) Contact novacat2003@hotmail.com When It just happened Artist Sarah Dixon Studio Divine Body Piercing Location Innisfil, Ontario, Can-uh-duh Now zoom forward 8 years. I've pierced myself up quite a bit. It all started with an innocent bellybutton ring at the age of 13. It was 'hot'. That led to a nose ring for my 14th birthday. Before I knew it, I'd punctured a bunch of safety pins through my ears. My parents weren't pleased, but still, refused to be judgemental and be 'open' to my new found 'style'. Soon after, came my grade 8 graduation. My parents asked me what I would like for my graduation present.
Seeing as my best friend had asked for a labret for hers, my first thought was TONGUE RING! They didn't like this idea but reluctantly agreed. Turns out my tongue isn't able to be pierced because my 'web was too long'. Well, give a year or so and a madonna, labret, lipring, double navel etc later, I've decided 'GOD DAMN IT. I WANT MY TONGUE PIERCED. SCREW THIS WEB!'
After looking through tons and tons of photos on BME and reading up on experience after experience, I decided venoms were what I wanted. Assuming since my parents would've allowed a central tongue ring, they wouldn't mind venoms. A few days later I went to my local piercer and asked her about venoms. She told me they'd be $100 and that she shouldn't have any problem piercing them. I felt much better, seeing as she had them herself as well.
Finally, after 2 or 3 weeks of waiting, the day of the appointment came. I'd asked one of my friends to come with me, since I was fairly scared. We arrived at the piercer, and my mum [being afraid of needles] ran in, jotted down her signature, and ran out to wait in the car. Sarah, the piercer, took me into her room, where another girl was with her [I assumed she was apprenticing as she later helped out with the procedure].
First, Sarah took a light to my mouth and looked all around my tongue and had a rather unhappy look on her face. I got very scared she was going to say there was something wrong with my web or my veins. She glanced once again and said 'Well, with your placement of veins..' My heart stopped. '...It would probably be better if I did them on the inside.' I was VERY relieved. I had liked the inner venoms better and wanted them. I quickly nodded and said I didn't want the outer ones anyways.
Next, she had me rinse with mouthwash and then put some sort of topical numbing cream on my tongue and let it sit. She then began to place the dots and I okayed them. She clamped the left side of my tongue first, and got her light back out. She said I had a small vein where we'd be piercing and it was almost unavoidable so there would be at least a little bit of blood. Reading about how many have bled on BME, I was fine with it.
And then came the dreaded part, 'breathe in, breathe out, breathe in...breathe ou-' *poke*. I was astonished. There was almost no pain at all, just a slight pinch reminiscent of my bellybutton piercing. It bled a little bit and I had to rinse my mouth before she clamped the second side. She got out her trusty light and looked over this side. Fortunately, there was no veins at all on this side, and after she pierced it [which was minimal pain like the first side] there was no blood.
Next came the extensive aftercare. A tongue piercing was a lot more care then any of the other piercings I'd ever had. To shorten up her speech, she told me to stay away from dairy products since dairy was a bacteria and to stay away from sugar because sugar attracted bacteria. Mouthwash was going to become my new best friend. She told me to stay in as healthy condition as possible to promote quick healing and to call her tomorrow.
I left and went straight to the grocery store with my mum and friend. I loved them, and they'd barely swelled yet. This is now day 2 of my venoms, and so far, I've taken Advil Migraine when I wake up to reduce swelling, and drank LOTS of cold water. I've taken normal Ibuprofen after dinner, and so far my tongue hasn't hurt at all. My piercer also warned that taking too much ibuprofen thins your blood which in turn will cause a longer healing period. I've eaten everything I normally would [even though I shouldn't], it's just taken longer to eat. I've also used Biotene [a good mouthwash that doesn't taste nasty and is alcohol free] for rinsing after food.
If anyone has any doubts of whether to get this, I'd say go for it. The pain was very minimal so far, though I did have some sort of numbing cream. If your piercer has that available, I'd ask for it, since I felt little to no pain at all. Since this is not my first oral piercing, I'm used to the mouthwash dealio, but make sure you always rinse. Bacteria builds up very quick, because, lets face it, your mouth is one dirty place. Also, I'd make sure your piercer checks your tongue over for veins before piercing, because mine haven't bled at all since and I doubt anybody wants to lose a pint of blood just for a piercing.
I can't wait till I get these barbells changed to smaller ones and I can finally speak normal again! Oh, and the improved making out might be a bit more fun too.