When at university 13 years ago body piercing was taking hold in my university city. I met one guy who enjoyed body modification. I heard he was interested in getting his tongue pierced but was worried about swelling. He did not get his tongue pierced while I knew him but the idea stuck with me. I only saw one person with a pierced tongue at that time, a girl who was close to the university computer lab. I was in awe that she had actually gone through with it.
At A Glance Author kindacurious Contact kindacurious@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Pat Studio Geronimo Tattoos and Piercing Location Burnaby I had to satisfy myself with a navel piercing and a nostril piercing which were both retired in 1997 when I had landed a professional job contracting for the government. Still, my interest in having my tongue pierced remained. I actually walked into a piercing shop in Vancouver in 1997 to get the price of having my tongue pierced, but alas I did not go through with it.
I have not seen many men with a tongue piercing, mostly girls, maybe men are more discreet about their pierced tongues. I have no idea really, I just know that I got mine pierced for myself, because I was curious about how it would feel, not for others to see.
Every year or so when I took vacation from work I got tempted to have my tongue pierced, but for some reason did not go through with it.
Finally, five weeks ago I could take it no more. The urge to get my tongue pierced came up again. I tried to resist as I'm not in my 30s but resisting the urge to do something I wanted to get done for so long was too hard to resist. In fact, the more I resisted the worse my mood became. I became depressed and agitated that it looked like I would still not go through with it.
I was walking to the mall when I decided to enquire about the position that my tongue could be pierced. Pat checked my tongue and said that my tongue is wider than it is long and it would have to be pierced relatively far forward. I was pretty disappointed because I wanted the piercing to be discreet. I left the store quickly before I could make a decision for or against.
The next day I was walking past the store again and decided that I was serious about doing this. I told Pat that I had some concerns about the position and would appreciate it if he could prep for the piercing and see what he could do for me, but warned him that I would probably not go through with it if the position was too far forward.
Pat carefully examined my tongue and decided to pierce my tongue slightly slanted so that it was in a position that I liked. Pat was very careful when marking my tongue, making sure he could pierce it in a position I would be happy with.
I rinsed my mouth with listerene as is pretty standard, I was one step closer to actually doing it.
Pat told me the marking was done and asked me to take a look in the mirror. I liked the position and decided to go through with it. My thirteen year journey was coming to a climax.
I have read a lot of tongue piercing experiences here and had a pretty good idea of what to expect. Il told Pat just to get on with piercing my tongue, no need for counting or for keeping me informed about what was happening.
The clamps were an interesting experience, having my tongue so far out of my mouth was a little strange. Next thing I knew I felt pressure on my tongue. That was all, Pat next said that he was putting the jewelry in.
The jewelry insertion was the most uncomfortable part of the process, but nothing to worry about.
I have to admit I was elated that I had actually gone through with it. I was not sure how long I would keep it for, I just wanted to go through with something that I obviously badly wanted to experience. I looked in the mirror and could not believe that I had a pierced tongue.
I paid Pat and gave him a nice tip. He joked that this was probably the last thing I would say normally for a few days.
That evening I was meeting a friend for dinner. Before that I had a nice cold drink and cold water that I carried around with me and sipped frequently. I also took advil. Next up was eating dinner...
I was worried about eating, especially as I did not want to let my friend know about my pierced tongue. As I said this is completely for me, not for anyone else.
To my surprise I was able to eat normally, just a little slower than usual.
When I got home I rinsed my mouth, took some advil and went to bed. Having read experiences I decided to make sure my head was elevated to lessen the swelling. The next morning my tongue was extremely dry and swollen. Fortunately, I could speak perfectly well. The strangest experience I had was when I sneezed! I can't really describe the sensation but it felt really strange.
I also had a worrying moment when somehow the bottom ball went in front of my bottom teeth and I could not get my tongue back in my mouth. I had to resort to popping my tongue back in using my fingers.
Over the next few days I kept up the routine of rinsing regularly and taking advil. As I drink water most of the time I actually had to do very little to take care of the piercing.
After two weeks I was able to downsize which felt different but not necessarily better as I never really had much of a problem with the longer barbell with the exception of having a little soreness at times at the top and bottom of my mouth.
Later I decided to change the barbell. I was hesitant as I had heard that this was a little problematical at first. Again, I was very lucky and had no problems at all. I just inserted the barbell from the bottom of my tongue and was able to easily put the bead onto the top.
After five weeks my tongue is doing really well. I really enjoy the feeling of the beads in my mouth and am extremely happy that I finally went through with this. I'm still not sure how long I will keep the piercing for. At the moment I have some discreet jewelry in so the piercing is not really noticeable, in fact nobody has commented on my tongue so far.
My girlfriend is not a fan of pierced tongues. She finds it interesting when kissing and some other activities but still hopes I will take it out eventually, but does not pressure me at all. She is just concerned that if people find out about this it could affect my career as I work in a professional environment.
I think I will slowly stretch my tongue to 10 gauge or 8 gauge just because I am curious about how it will feel.
My advice to anyone considering this is if you really want it go for it no matter what age you are or what occupation you work in. Even if you can only keep it for a little while at least for me the experience is well worth it. The feeling of having jewelry in my tongue is really fantastic. My mouth feels alive, a whole new range of sensations are experienced in my mouth every day.
I am most proud that I did this for myself and nobody else. I am pleased that even if I eventually retire this piercing I will know what it feels like. I can live life without looking back and regretting that I did not go through with it.
Remember that while there will always be some indication that part of your body is pierced, the jewelry is easily removed in the future and a person can go ahead with life as normal afterwards.
I cannot stress enough that if you think you want this piercing you really have nothing to lose. The healing process for me was relatively uneventful, I even took some pleasure experiencing a tired tongue the day after my tongue was piercing.
Don't live with regrets, I think this is a relatively minor change to a persons body. It is certainly not worth thirteen years of yearning but backing out frequently.