Tongue piercings have been popular among young and old for years.
Some thinking it thoroughly through for years before getting it others get it in a spontaneous moment.
Tongue piercings are one of the few where you can see a huge variation in perception, healing and experience.
The tongue piercing is for everyone different, with this piercing you may notice difference in healing, reaction, even lengths in barbell can be variable
Because your tongue is a muscle and not skin, means it can have a pretty swell the first few days. That's why we put in an extra longer barbell so that the tongue has room to swell, after about two weeks, you can switch the barbell for a shorter one.
To give you an idea about the different experiences I interviewed six customers with the same questions.
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| Anouk Lorier |
Anouk Lorier
Has her tongue piercing now for five weeks
Did you thought about it long before getting a tongue piercing?
No not really. I thought to myself that I wanted one, when I called the studio I could come in the next day.
How was your experience in getting the piercing?
I was a bit nervous. It did hurt! She was very friendly explained the procedure so there were no surprises. It went fine
What was your experience after the procedure?
After the tongue piercing it was fine, but the days after I had to work and talk much. My tongue was so thick that it was even bleeding and the barbell basically got too small. I was really in much pain. I could barely eat and speak. It was no party.
Fortunately, after a week it was all much less. In between I did lots of rinsing and chilled with ice. This helped alot, happy though. If I didn't do this, it would have swollen more.
How was it after the downsize?
The barbell that I got after the downsize hurt a lot. I think the wound wasn't quite yet closed, and pushed the barbell on the wound. I think the barbell was too small so I've bought a bigger one, and the pain was gone.
Do you have fun moments with your tongue piercing?
If you eat cheese or spaghetti it remains behind. But above all I could not say the R so you heard it very well that my pronunciation was different. people found this especially funny.
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| Denise Simons |
Denise Simons
Has her tongue piercing since June 2016
Did you thought about it long before getting a tongue piercing?
I've actually always wanted one, only I never had the nerve to take the step, also because my teeth was skewed. I start to restore my teeth in 2015. When I saw the give away to win a free piercing I respond and I won! Then, I was just in shock haha. Now it's really happening! (if I can convince my husband haha).
How was your experience in getting the piercing?
I was excited despite the nerves, my friend went along and even filmed. It did absolutely not hurt at all and was done before I knew it.
What was your experience after the procedure?
On the day of the piercing I had to get used to eating, and was not yet really bothered by the swelling. water ice creams they helped though. The day after it was pretty swollen and I went a bit partially. Also I suffered from a kind of muscle pain in my tongue what I found quite annoying, especially together with food and talking. After a day or three I could eat easier. I eat everything except biscuits and chips because that was really awkward.
How was it after the downsize?
After the first downsize, it turned out the barbell was too small so I exchanged it again for a slightly larger. Never had problems after, if you can call this a problem.
Now, almost a year I am still very happy with it!!
Do you have fun moments with your tongue piercing?
When I just got my piercing, my youngest daughter told everyone to who (not) wanted to hear that mom has an earring in her tongue haha. Fortunately that fase quickly passed ...
Furthermore, actually no weird/funny things experienced yet. A toffee sticks alot.
what I like about it?
Just that I have one, after all these years never thought it would happen
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Michella Hakhof
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| Michella Hakhof |
Got her first Tongue piercing 13 years ago, second one 4 months ago
Did you thought about it long before getting a tongue piercing?
No I was16 years old when I got my first tongue piercing, my friends had one, so I wanted one too. Since then I like piercings. and when I saw someone with a second tongue piercing, (really loved that) , and wanted a second one too
How was your experience in getting the piercing?
For my second piercing, I was not nervous. I was well received and talked through the papers and while sitting in the chair she explained every step of the procedure and that was helpful everything went smoothly, hurt a little but my pain tolerance is pretty high.
What was your experience after the procedure?
after the procedure I had to stay put as a precaution to be sure I was at ease, before getting up. not that I would be woozy or such, she was very caring. My tongue was somewhat swollen and felt stiff especially the day after. I eaten delicious water ice creams and brushed my teeth and rinsed
I partially talked a bit different but had no lisp, it was gone after 3 days.
How was it after the downsize?
Got it downsized after 1 week and had no further problems, and I am still super happy with it.
Do you have fun moments with your tongue piercing?
My first fried noodles and spaghetti dinner with a tongue piercing was amusing they just kept sticking and hanging behind the piercing, also soft ice cream you see exactly the imprint in the ice cream from the swab.I love the piercings. Piercings are fun it is bodyart and I love it and have several piercings. It's part of my personality
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Christianne Westdorp
Has her tongue piercing since juli 2016, but took it out for a while to clean, and it closed. So I had it repierced in Januari 2017 so together I have one for 9 months now.
Did you thought about it long before getting a tongue piercing?
About 6 months
How was your experience in getting the piercing?
I was very nervous, was gonna be my first piercing ever, didn't know what to expect and I am scared of needles.
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| Christianne Westdorp |
The pain was more then I expected, I
have read that Tongue piercings was the least painfull, but I found it very painfull. One of the reasons I skipped my plan to get my bellybutton pierced. If my tongue piercing was that painfull, I don't want to find out how painfull my bellybutton would be.
What was your experience after the procedure?
The first time the swelling started very fast after the procedure. And I could not eat normal the first two weeks. Took lots of water ice creams and the swelling decreased after a week but still could not eat normal. I cut my meat in extra small pieces and put it as far as possible in my mouth between my teeth . in those two weeks I also had a lisp. So much that I wanted to talk as little as possible.
The second time my tongue swelled again very much could not eat after two days. I eaten water ice and then after two weeks my tongue was back to normal shape.
How was it after the downsize? After the exchange of the first I could finally eat normally again, had no further problems until I wanted to get it out to clean it up when my hole closed within 2 days, so had to repierce it again. after the exchange of the 2nd, I haven't had any problems.
Do you have fun moments with your tongue piercing?
No I do not have experienced funny things with my tongue piercing.
Though I sometimes bite on it while eating. I find a tongue piercing really nice and the great thing is that it is not too noticeable. If you speak certain words or even sing Yes than you see it but otherwise not so much. Not enough to scare people away
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Dion Bukkens
almost a year a tongue piercing
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| Dion Bukkens |
Did you thought about it long before getting a tongue piercing?
Yes and no- on a random day actually decided I wanted one, but it still took some months before I really got one.
How was your experience in getting the piercing?
I was very nervous. Your tongue is of course a muscle and that is quite a bit different than the other piercings I got. Obviously it was not very tasty, all that had more to do with the fact that I have a very short tongue that I involuntarily pulled it back. little struggle with my tong getting the clamps secured, fortunately didn't took long and soon I was standing outside.
What was your experience after the procedure?Initially it went well, but my tongue swelled so bad that it was against my uvula and continuouslyI got sick for two, three days. I thought it would help by getting a longer barbell, and that was my biggest mistake. Because the longer barbell was too long, it moved all over the place. I could no longer talk, eat or swallow, everything hurt too much and I was seriously sick of it. In the end, I decided to switch the barbell back myself and see if I could get the shorter one back in, if not, then no more piercing. At the time, it felt so much better! I could almost immediately do everything again, and it was less painfull. I did had some lisp and it was sensitive, but after the first week it was gone. Find out too late that icecream do helps, I'd actually should started earlier with that.
How was it after the downsize?
I switched lengths of the barbell two times. I have a very short and thin tongue. Now I have a 12 mm bioplex barbell in. The shorter the barbell, the less burden I have, but also the less I play with it. I hardly notice it now. I have chosen for bioplex instead of titanium because sometimes it started to irritate and this helps for me.
Despite that first week, I is worth it. Have no regret.
Do you have fun moments with your tongue piercing?
It's not always practical with eating ice creams: specially with soft ice cream. Also Spaghetti can be very tricky, and when taking medication. And now I am really a magnet for hair in my mouth, keeps getting stuck around it.
I like it best when people talk about certain types of piercings finding them raunchy, at those moments I stick my tongue out. The faces that they make are brilliant. It also seems to have some extras when you kiss someone,but haven't noticed that. It gives me a kind of boost and I find beautiful!
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| Brodie Clayton |
Brodie Clayton
Tongue piercing since April 7th 2017
Did you thought about it long before getting a tongue piercing?
I had thought about it for 2 weeks before I got it done first I did research on what to expect.
How was your experience in getting the piercing? I was very nervous, the piercing itself hurt a lot but I think i had tensed my tongue up so it hurt more, I could laugh afterwards though with my funny speech.
What was your experience after the procedure?
I experienced pain mostly in the mornings for 5 days I would take tablets to stop the pain which worked great I could eat solid foods the day after I had my piercing, it still hurt but I was able to do it. Swelling wasn't really bad as I could still see the bar. All in the experience wasn't too bad for me personally.
How was it after the downsize?
I find it so much easier to eat and talk half the time i forget it's there! I feel better now it's smaller.
Do you have fun moments with your tongue piercing?
The benefits I have from it is that I feel my tongue looks very pretty it's fun to stick my tongue out and have a pretty piercing there! I had a little accident where I somehow managed to get my tongue bar caught on my lip ring which made me look really stupid until i could untangle it!
Angie
-Text and photo's :Angie
Special thanks to Anouk Lorier, Denise Simons, Michella Hakhof, Christianne Westdorp, Dion Bukkens and Brodie Clayton for their cooperation and time
-Published Tattoo Planet eMagazine 121/may2017
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