I had my first needle piercing in August of 2001. My Tongue. I had done some research previously as to the quality of the piercing studios in my area. However, I was fairly young at the time and was looking for a quick fix. Most of the studios required you to make an appointment, Which at the time was not an option for me as these places were normally booked up for weeks at a time. I was impatient with money to burn, and wanted the whole thing done as soon as I possibly could.
At A Glance Author Tenchi Contact Tenchi@bme.anon When Five years ago Studio Newcastle Jewellery Company Location Newcastle upon Tyne, UK I elected to use the piercing studio at the Newcastle Jewelery company as they did not require an appointment. I had heard some mixed opinions on the quality of the work done there, but I decided to go for it anyway. The piercing experience as a whole was friendly and professional enough and I was happy with the end result. I was advised that there might be a small amount of blood loss that day, which was fine by me at this point, and that this should stop within 24 hours.
I had a basic idea of the aftercare procedure, and stupidly didn't bother to read the aftercare instruction leaflet that was handed to me after the work was completed. I knew that it was recommended by the studio to use saline rinses as well as anti-bacterial mouthwash to keep the surrounding area clean, however, I neglected to note that if the mouthwash contained alcohol, that it should be diluted before use.
So, I blithely began using undiluted Listerine mouthwash to rinse my mouth and for the first 3 days, everything was fine. However, on the fourth day, I started to notice a metallic taste in my mouth. I thought that it might have been the bar interacting with the filling that I had in my tooth at the time and thought nothing further. This taste eventually went away, but seemed to come back every few hours.
When I began my rinsing for that evening, I happened to look in the mirror and see a small ring of blood around the bar on the top of my tongue. I was a little concerned at this point, but decided to leave it for the night and see how it was in the morning.
Everything seemed fine the next morning as I rinsed, so I'd arranged to meet up with friends that afternoon to hang out. That afternoon, I began noticing the taste of what I now knew was my blood, but stronger than before. My mouth had begun to fill with blood from my tongue, which I immediately spat to the ground. The people around me seemed rather shocked at this, however I was still fairly dismissive at this point, assuming everything would be fine.
The blood did stop after about a minute, and I thought that this would be the last of the problem occurring, and indeed all was fine until later that evening when the problem arose again, only this time the blood didn't stop.
It just continuously poured from my mouth for about 15 minutes. Luckily, my location at the time was near that of a hospital (an approx 2 minute walk). I was feeling light-headed at this point (presumably because I was in shock), so was essentially carried to the entrance of the hospital by my friends.
Once I was at the hospital, the blood flow lessened and stopped fairly quickly. I was advised that the reason for this happening was due to my using undiluted alcoholic mouthwash. This had widened the veins in my tongue, and also had a slight thinning effect on the blood, which made it easier to escape from the fistula. Needless to say, from that point on, I'd made a specific point of diluting the mouthwash before every use.
About a week after this had occurred, I revisited the studio to have a smaller bar fitted. When the old bar was removed, I experienced another bleed. Thankfully, this was nowhere near the extent of the previous one, and was over within 5 minutes.
Once the bar had been changed, the healing process was completely straightforward and no further bleeds occurred leaving me to finally enjoy my piercing without worrying about becoming a blood-fountain again.
I have since gone on to have many other piercings, all of which I've followed aftercare procedures very carefully. I can certainly say I don't ever want a repeat of what happened to me, and it would be a good lesson for others to know, Especially if you're young and just starting out on body-modding.
Look after your mods properly and follow any care instructions given to you as you could end up with some nasty complications down the line, and at the end of the day, nobody wants that.