At A Glance
Author	anonymous
Contact	anonymous@bme.anon
When	A year ago
Artist	Garci
Studio	Tattoo Garci
Location	León, Spain

I'd been wanting a tongue piercing for so long... for years.

I totally loved (and love) them and I was eager to get one. So finally I decided to go get my tongue pierced already, and between all the studios in the city of León, Spain where I live, I chose Tattoo Garci. I don't really know why I chose this studio over all the others in my city, since it's nothing special, I did probably because two of my friends have perfect looking piercings that I love and they got them done there.

So I went to get my tongue pierced on a November Friday afternoon all by myself, without an appointment. When I got inside of the studio, it was kind of small and its decoration was very wooden-like, in a kind of exotic way, and in a way that completely resembled the owner of the studio and tattoo artist and piercer Garci's tattooing style. Personally, not a decoration that I liked.

There was only the counter lady there, who I approached and told about wanting my tongue piercing done. She told me that Garci, the only piercer and tattoo artist who works in the studio, was busy tattooing someone in that moment, but that it wouldn't take very long until he was finished, so I decided to wait and I sat in a wooden bench inside of the store for about longer than 30 minutes, after choosing my jewelry and after taking a look at the small amount of jewelry available that was displayed at the counter. And honestly, I wasn't nervous or concerned about the pain at all.

After waiting for awhile, I was told by the counter lady that Garci, the piercer, was ready, and to get into the piercing room.

The piercing room was extremely tiny, probably the smallest piercing room I've ever seen in my life.

The piercer gave me a cup of Oraldine (something similar to Listerine we use over here in Spain) to rinse my mouth, while he started to chitty chat with me. I sat there on the "doctor's" chair and he sprayed my tongue with some numbing, banana spray, but I don't think it numbed my tongue very much really. After a very little while (I can't remember if it was minutes or only seconds) he drew something on my tongue with a black fine point marker (Pilot), I can't remember and I have no idea if he lined it or if he only drew a spot on it.

He then told me to stick my tongue out as much as I could but leaving it relaxed (how's that possible haha!?, I thought and still think), while he started clamping it, so I did the best I could following his indications, but however it wasn't enough. I have a tiny tongue and I was sticking it out as much as possible, but he told me that wasn't enough, and that if I didn't stick my tongue out myself it was gonna be worse, because he would have to stick it out himself and pull with the clamps. And no, I couldn't stick my tongue out any more, especially trying to leave it relaxed at the same time, so yes, he pulled with the clamps and that didn't feel good. The clamps were kinda tight too, to the point they hurt a little (and by "a little" I mean what I'm sure many would consider "kinda" or "a lot", everyone reading this should know that I have a pretty good pain tolerance). He then told me if it was ok and I attempted to say "yes" haha, and I closed my eyes. He then pierced my tongue, and I felt how he screwed the barbell after a few seconds. Does it hurt you ask? I think it does, but it's so fast that you can't even say it's a big pain or quite realize it, it feels like a pinch, but a huge and quite painful one, and only for a few seconds. The piercer though, was really slow, which was horrible. It took awhile from the time he pierced my tongue to the time he was done screwing the barbell, and while I'm aware this took only a few seconds, the seconds become agonizing minutes in that situation and the only thing you want is the piercer to finish now!

I then got up off the chair and rinsed my mouth with Oraldine again in the sink. My tongue was bleeding a little, and I looked at my new piercing in the mirror and I was a little shocked, it didn't look right, like not placed the right way. The huge barbell was stuck there a little twisted and not looking like tongue piercings usually look, usually you see the barbell looking straight and it moves up and down, in this case it was twisted and stuck there without movement, like static, more like some other body piercing would look rather than the tongue one. I thought that was weird and funny, but then I thought it probably was looking like that because the piercing had just gotten done, and that it always happened, and that my piercing would look right and perfect afterwards.

The piercer told me to take ibuprofen and that my tongue might or might not get very swollen and that it might or might not hurt afterwards, that it depended on each person, as well as telling me to come back to the studio in two weeks so he could replace the current quite long barbell for a shorter, more comfortable one, giving me as well aftercare indications and the like.

I then went to the counter and paid, I think it cost about 30€ or 35€, which is the equivalent of around US $39-45, then I left.

I then got home and the first thing I did was look at my new piercing, I couldn't stop looking at it. However, and unfortunately, my first impression was right, my new tongue piercing wasn't placed right, it was twisted and instead of looking straight and vertical like tongue piercings usually do (like this: |), it looked and was placed like a diagonal, which would be like this, from a profile view: \

That was horrible, I had gone through everything and finally gotten the tongue piercing I had been yearning for, and now that I got it, it wasn't right. I thought that I would have to take it out and that I would have to get my tongue pierced again, but that first I'd let my new out of place piercing heal.

And the pain and worst part of the tongue piercing starts here.

From the moment I got home (which took like about 40 minutes from the moment I left the studio) my tongue was quite swollen and in pain, and it kept getting more and more swollen and hurting more and more each minute that went by.

I drank very cold water because I heard many times that could help with the swelling, but it only made it even worse, so I personally don't recommend that at all.

I tried to eat an almost liquid yogurt before taking the ibuprofen so my stomach wouldn't be empty, but it was completely impossible. I couldn't move my tongue at all and it hurt like hell, never in my life had I felt such a physical pain. The only possible way for me to eat the yogurt was twisting my head and putting the spoon on one side of my mouth, and then putting my head almost upside down, looking up to the ceiling while the yogurt slid down my throat without touching my tongue haha (yeah, I laugh now, but in that moment it didn't feel funny at all).

It was completely impossible and extremely painful to eat or drink anything for about a whole week. I couldn't move my tongue at all in about a week too, trying to do it was incredibly painful and just not possible. I was in such a constant intense, agonizing pain for about a week, the biggest, most agonizing and most annoying physical pain I've ever felt.

My tongue was so swollen all week that the huge barbell wasn't long enough and it was starting to look buried in there and there was a barbell mark all the time, the mark that the barbell pushing too tight against my super swollen tongue left.

My tongue looked like if it was rotten, it looked nasty, it turned green and other weird colors and just like... rotten, it mutated each day. Plus the swelling, the incredibly huge agonizing pain and the fact that my new piercing was out of place and that I had to get it done again. And the days went by and it didn't look like it was getting better, and the pain didn't go away at all, and I wasn't able of moving my tongue.

I remember coming here to BME all worried and in pain to read other's tongue piercing stories, to see if what was happening to me was normal and to see if I could find some stories I could relate to, and that's one of the reasons why I decided to write this one;)

Also, I remember during the first week, especially the first night and anytime I tried to work out, I felt like I was choking with my own tongue and like my tongue didn't fit right and didn't feel comfortable at all in my mouth, it was completely horrible.

Everytime I tried to eat something, I rushed to the bathroom to brush my teeth and rinse my mouth with Oraldine (the product similar to Listerine we use here in Spain) right after. I was afraid that using Oraldine too many times would be bad for my tongue and the healing process, and I was afraid of my tongue getting infected, so I limited myself to only eating once or twice a day the most.

Piercers advise that you try to eat healthy during the healing process so your body is healthier and stronger, but I find it, at least in my case, not possible to do, for the reasons I just mentioned above.

I think this piercing is a total mental breakdown and you have to be strong to be able to pull it off. You may want to take it out and you may feel completely horrible like I did, but if you really want it, you have to hold there and suffer and go through the mental breakdown and torture for at least a whole week.

After more than 7 days of total torture and incredibly huge pain, my tongue started to get better. My piercing started to heal and the huge pain had almost faded away, my tongue looked almost right again, but it wasn't until after about 18 days or so that the pain completely disappeared and that my tongue was fine and normal and I could eat perfectly again.

However, it took a few months until my tongue was 100% healed.

And I let the out of place piercing that looked like this "\" there, I never went back to the studio were I got it done because I liked a long barbell and I didn't want a shorter one, and because in my opinion, I couldn't trust the piercer after screwing up my piercing the way he did and I would rather him to stay away from it.

I love it so much, even being twisted in that diagonal way, that I don't want to take it out, because I know when I do I will have to stay without any tongue piercing for awhile, until I can get my tongue pierced again, and I refuse. Plus, thinking about going through all the torture again makes me lazy about it haha.

I should mention that this piercing has screwed up my originally tiny and flawless looking tongue and it has made it mutate a little bit and look a little weird, maybe it has something to do with the piercing being twisted, in a diagonal, and not straight, and maybe if I take it out it will look fine again and the way it used to be, I don't know.

But I know I have to take this piercing out and to get my tongue pierced again, and I plan to do it very soon, writing this story makes me realize that in my inner self, even if I wasn't really aware of it, I know it's my time to take this piercing out and that its time is over, and now it's time for getting my new one (hopefully with better luck!), and maybe after I do you will see its story posted on here too;)