Like every user in the BME Community, I adore piercing. I went to a body modification museum when I was 6 which showcased extreme body modifications such as neck stretching, corsets and feet binding. I was amazed and have been obsessed since. I have 10 piercings now, quite a lot considering my parents resent them. I have 8 in my ears including my lobes stretched to 1/2 inch which has been my project for 4 years, and my naval.
At A Glance Author Steffi Contact Steffi@bme.anon When A year ago Artist a student Studio the maple rigde school of esthetics Location maple ridge, BC, canada I had wanted my tongue pierced for a while, but by the time I was 16 I was completely obsessed by it. I love tongue piercings because of the beauty that it goes through a muscle, not just skin. Not a lot of people have it pierced around were I live and there's a huge mystery about it being the most painful piercing to experience. My parents both hate piercings and consider the tongue piercing to be "tacky", I thought otherwise.
Since where I live you have to be 17 before getting a piercing without parental consent, which meant I would have had to wait a whole year to get my tongue pierced. As I wanted it done so badly, I decided to go to the School of Esthetics where they don't care about your age.
Believe me, I know what excellent piercing studios are like and the School of Esthetics was not one. Obviously because it was a school with students doing the piercing it wouldn't be great; but also because of low hygiene, bad piercing techniques, lack of care and professionalism. The students doing the piercing and watching actually had a conversation while they struggled with doing my piercing. I knew what that my piercing was going to be a bad experience, but I wanted my tongue pierced so much!
My tongue piecing experience was one of the worst events in my life. The actual piercing only cost 25$ in total; in better piercing shops its 80$. When I got to the School of Esthetics, I went into the back room ready to get my tongue pierced. I rinsed my mouth with mouthwash and they insisted that I should not have oral sex for a couple of months after having my tongue pierced, which was pretty much the only caution they gave me.
I lay in a dentist type of chair while they got ready to pierce my tongue, in other studios I've just sat or lied on a bench. They did not show me that the needles were new or show me any other equipment they were about to use. The student doing the piercing put the clamp on my tongue and literally yanked my tongue out of my mouth. As she was about to pierce my tongue, the rubber band holding the clamp together snapped and so she had to re attach it again. Anyway, when she finally pierced my tongue, it didn't hurt one tiny bit; I enjoyed it more than anything. She was so unprepared with the equipment that she left the barbell across the room and left me with my tongue sticking out of my mouth with the needle still in it. The worst experience of the piercing was when put the barbell though my tongue; she lost the hole and she trying to shove it through for a full 7 minutes (I know because I was watching the clock across the room while being tortured.) There was blood poring out of my mouth and I swallowed it too, it was so gross. By the time she had finished, my tongue was raw, swollen and I had a thick lisp. It was painful constantly and hurt even more just to speak. How I kept it hidden from my parents is a mystery.
My tongue was swollen for a full week and I took pain killers constantly. I only had a lisp when I was singing in choir or at my singing lessons- which is weird because I was fine speaking. I couldn't eat at all for the first two days- I couldn't even eat soup. My tongue was just too painful and swollen to even swallow. Surprisingly, my tongue did not get infected.
A year later and my tongue piercing is going great. It is my favorite piecing yet. I love that I can feel it and play with it whenever I want. I like to show it to my grandma and freak her out.
I feel that my piercing wasn't worth the pain I went through to get it a year earlier. I am never going to go back to the School of Esthetics, and I've learned my lesson to go to a professional piercing studio, and that I'm 17 now so I can go where ever I want. I'm going to start a tattoo project on my arms and tummy when I am 18 and find an awesome tattooist.