For some time now, since July of 2003 to be exact, I have had my tongue pierced. It was pierced with a basically 14g barbell. Over the course of a year I slowly stretched it from 14g stainless steel barbell to a 4g purple acrylic barbell. For a while I was satisfied with this, that was until I got the thought of a second tongue piercing in my head. I was borderline obsessed with the idea. I asked my boyfriend whether or not he would be okay with it, and he happily agreed to it. He was already quite fond of my original piercing, so he figured why not double the pleasure. He felt it was worth foregoing kissing and oral pleasure for a while.
At A Glance Author Marie Contact beautifulsin9731@hotmail.com IAM darkness9731 When Six months ago Artist - Studio Professional Tattoo and Piercing Trailer at Ozzfest 2005 Location Pittsburgh, PA At this point in my life I was working for Wal-Mart, notorious for their distaste for pierced employees. Between working 40 hours a week and attending art school 20 hours a week, I didn't have the time to go get my piercing right away. My opportunity didn't show until July of 2005. My best friend Michelle had asked me to go to Ozzfest with her. I happily agreed when she offered to pay for my $75 pavilion ticket. She knew I was kind of hard up for money when the tickets went up for sale.
So the day of the concert came and we traveled the hour and a half to the venue. After getting some water, we walked around the huge venue for a while, and that when I noticed a trailer for professional tattoos and piercings. I was skeptical at first, but curious all the same. Not far away, I saw my friend (and ex) Justin and we talked about piercing at Ozzfest. He told me that he had his tongue pierced 4 years prior at another Ozzfest, and he never had any problems with it. I told him then that I was thinking about getting my tongue pierced a second time. He encouraged me to go through with it.
Thankfully, I had spent the previous night at Michelle's apartment so I had my toothbrush and toothpaste in my bag. So after we ate and drank we headed over to the pavilion's indoor bathroom. The bathrooms were filled with girls who were trying to escape the unrelenting sunshine. I brushed my teeth extra long, to make sure my mouth was as clean as possible, and I toke off my t-shirt (since it was hot and I had on a black tank top underneath) and put on some sunblock.
Michelle rushed me over to the tattoo and piercing trailer as Rob Zombie was scheduled to be performing an hour from then. After waiting patiently in the long line, one of the professionals asked me what I wanted, toke my ID to copy it, and I filled out the paperwork. I then waited again for 20 minutes before I was allowed into the trailer. To my pleasure the trailer was very professional and very clean inside. The piercer even cleaned the seat before I sat down.
While I waited as the piercer was setting everything up, I watched someone getting his back tattooed at the other end of the trailer. The piercer handed me a cup containing mouthwash to rinse my mouth out further. I watched him intently, making sure everything was sterile and that he did several glove changes. He did everything properly. He asked me to stick out my tongue so he could remove my other tongue piercing after marking my tongue for my new piercing.
After a change of gloves he removed the clamps from their sterile package. He clamped my tongue and stuck a rubber band around it to keep it tight and in place. Then I believe there was another change of gloves and he removed the needle and jewelry from their sterile packages. I wasn't nervous at all considering I had already gone through this process before. I barely felt the needle slide through my tongue, but I could feel him follow through with the barbell. He then put the old barbell back in my other piercing.
After removing his gloves he handed me an aftercare sheet and looked at me and said "I guess I don't have to explain it all to you do I?" I laughed and said "no". He just reminded me to take it easy with the piercing that day, since there was still several hours until the last band toke the stage. I paid him and stepped out of the trailer.
I was very pleased with my new piercing, and found Michelle so we could head over to see Rob Zombie. Over the course of the say, I was very gentle with my new piercing. I drank a lot of cold water and ate only some soft french fries. After eating I went and brushed my teeth again. As tempting as it was, I tried my hardest not to play with my new piercing, like grabbing it with my teeth.
At some point during the day, Michelle had disappeared. She wasn't feeling so well, so I figured she went to the first aid tent. She returned right before Mudvayne toke the stage to tell me that we were going to the hospital because the medics told her she probably had sun poisoning and that was why she was sick and in a lot of pain. She told them she had to go find me first because she was my ride home. She knew I had come primarily to see Mudvayne, because they were one of my favorite bands and I hadn't seen them since 5 years prior.
After they were done we were transported to the hospital via ambulance, where we stayed for several hours. While we waited I asked the nurses for some water with a lot of ice because my tongue was pretty swollen. My original tongue piercing was becoming tight. Michelle thankfully had a couple ibuprofens at the bottom of her bag, which in combination with the ice water toke the swelling down considerably.
The Next Few Days
By the third day most of the swelling had subsided, and only a small amount of lymph seeped from my new piercing. I lied to my supervisor at work about my lisp (caused by the swelling) and told her that I had a throat infection since I got those rather frequently. She bought it, and I continued to work.
Week Two
By the second week there was no swelling at all, but it continued to lymph a little. Since the swelling was down, I noticed my first complaint. The piercing was clearly crooked. I figured the piercer did it to maybe miss a vein, but I wasn't sure. Also, at the exit hole at the bottom of the piercing was a large white bump.
I freaked out. Now I couldn't go back to the piercer who had performed the procedure, since during the summer he was a piercer on wheels, so I posted on Shannon's Piercing forum on IAM. Most people said it was probably there because it was still healing, someone else told me to change the jewelry to titanium, and someone else suggested going to see my normal piercer. So what I did was I changed my jewelry as suggested and I called my piercer the next day.
The piercer said that he couldn't tell for sure without seeing it for himself, but it was probably like that because it was fresh. He told me to continue with the aftercare and if it didn't go away in a week to come down to the shop and he would have a look at it.
Week Three
I did what my piercer told me to and kept up with the aftercare. After brushing and flossing I would rinse my mouth with alcohol free mouthwash from Crest, and once a day I placed a cotton ball soaked in a sea salt mixture under my tongue for 15 minutes. Let me tell you, that stuff does not taste very pleasant. The sea salt soak wasn't on the aftercare sheet but I figured that it helped with other piercings, what harm would it do.
By the middle of the week, the white bump was reduced to a very small size. I figured I wouldn't bother my piercer again, since it seemed to be going away. At the end of the week the piercing was fine. There was absolutely no tenderness anymore, and the bump was almost gone.
At this point I decided it was healed enough for my boyfriend to enjoy. Afterwards he told me it was well worth the three week wait.
Eight Months Later
My piercing is still doing very well. I currently wear a 3/4" internally threaded stainless steel barbell in the piercing. I wear the longer barbell because the piercing is further back in my tongue where it is thicker. The 5/8" barbell was just too short.
The bump is still there, but not noticeable considering its small size and the fact that its on the bottom of my tongue. I feel no need to remove the piercing because of it since it causes me no discomfort. I think its just some minor scarring because it is crooked.
The only other problem I have with this piercing is that on occasion it is achy, like when I am sick or when my still incoming wisdom teeth are on the move. I've heard other people talk about this also happening with other piercings, but I had never experienced it myself until I got this piercing.
I am considering stretching the piercing to a 12g, but am hesitant because my other piercing is a 4g and I worry about it splitting into one larger piercing. The worry isn't that great though because I think the two piercings aren't close enough to split. I could probably stretch the second tongue piercing to an 8g without having problems.
Do I regret getting pierced at Ozzfest? No, not at all. It was a sterile and professional environment. Would I get pierced at Ozzfest again? I highly doubt it. It was a spur of the moment thing, and I just prefer my normal piercer. I would never discourage anyone from getting pierced by the professionals that Ozzfest hires. Ozzfest is a staple for the metal and rock community, and wouldn't risk tarnishing their reputation over something as simple as to hire someone who isn't of the highest quality to pierce and tattoo concert-goers.