Member Advice on Body Piercing

Bodypiercing, where to begin.

This thrill of a new piercing is overwhelming as a teenager. After one, you want another and another.. until you run out of places to get pierced. Once you hav gotten this far, or have grown up, the cheap thrill seems to evaorate, forcing you to move onto bigger and better things to acheive your thrills, such as tattoos and going to overage clubs etc.

----MY PIERCINGS----

I was an avid piercer a couple of years ago. Mostly just for the thrill of having a new piercing. I liked having more done than anyone else. I even did my own piercings on my ears (about 4 on each side).

I pestered my mum for weeks at the age of 14, and eventually persuaded her to take me to get my belly button pierced. I was exstatic and was the first in my year to have it done. This however, did not satisfy me and instead pushed me to bigger and better things.

Just after my 15th birthday I sneaked out with my friends and got my tongue pierced in a rather down market place to say the least (not worth it) and due to this got into severe trouble with my parents (when they found out a week or 2 later) and I also received a disgusting infection. My tongue was green and yellow and HUGE. I was forced to remove it.

Once I turned 16 I ofcourse went to get my tongu pierced once again. Which is easy peasy when you are 16 as you don't need permission, and so this time I went to a clean and well known establishment to get it done. Therefore I did not get an infection and I was prepared to look after it well.

I give this a rating of Satisfactory, because for me it did satisfy me temporarily but only drove me to a larger thrill. I guess you could say it becomes very addictive.

----MY ADVICE---AND EXTRA TIPS----

Do not just get it because you think it is pleasurable for men.. this is the biggest myth ever! It is completely untrue!

Go somewhere trustworthy to get it done. If it looks dodgy/dirty then don't be afraid to walk out there and then!!

Make sure the barbell (tongue bar) they put in is the longest one possible (so when your tongue swells, it won't be inbedded in the tongue).

It does hurt, it is very uncomfortable at first and it is about a week without eating.

It is usual for you to bite the tongue bar for the first while (eg. first couple of weeks/months) which can really hurt and can even chip your teeth! The same applies to while you are eating so be careful and chew slowly.

After your piercing is complete, you will recieve a 2nd date for you to go back to that piercing studio in order to get a shorter barbell (tongue bar) put in, as the swelling decreases the larger barbell gets in the way of eating and can be bitten easier etc.

When you sleep during the first week (while your tongue is swollen), sleep on a couple of pillows so that your head is higher up than your heart. This shall stop your tongue from excessively swelling which would cause blockage to your airways (it could happen).

DONT fidget with the tongue bar in your mouth! Don't play with piercings or fidget with them. This could also prolong healing! It could also (most indeffinetly) cause a lot of scar tissue, I have this due to playing with it too much and its not very pretty!

With tongue piercings YOU ALL think you will be able to EAT SOLIDS. I did. I mean, its your mouth and throat and teeth you need to eat right? Well you can try.... but you'll just end up spitting it out and realising its going to be a longgg soup filled week or 2, trust me, I know.

Do NOT go swimming when you have your belly button pierced. I went swimming on holiday about 5 weeks after I had my belly button done and it got infected from the water. It did seem like a nice, clean pool aswell. It got puss, and it was NOT pretty!

----CLEANING YOUR NEW PIERCING------

TONGUE

Use non-alcoholic products to clean your mouth (mouthwashes without alcohol in them) as alcohol prolongs the healing process. As does smoking.
- Do not use mouth wash more than 2 times a day (at the max) or else you will be overcleaning and your tongue will turn a strange shade of brown.
- You could use luke warm salty water if you would prefer to clean your tongue, once rinsing your mouth spit it out into the sink.
- Plaque would begin to build up on the bar balls so a gentle brush on the ball wouldn't go a miss... just be careful of the pierced skin.

BELLY
Use any cleansing liquid bought from your piercing studio, if you did not do this then you can use luke warm salty water to clean your belly button. Clean around the wound and on the bar.

Do not remove it for 6-8 weeks after the piercing is done or else it could quickly close up! Turts me if you do it this early it is very difficult and painful to try and put it back into the hole.

------------AFTERTHOUGHTS

To be honest, now when I think about it I'm not sure about my tongue piercing and if I should have it anymore or not. Theres something in my head stopping me from removing it, as if it would make me a lesser person without it. I was the first person in my school to have it done, I just wanted to be different and stand out. Now I think maybe I don't need that to stand out. I think about how luck I was that I didn't catch an even worse infection from the first piercing. The horror stories about tongue piercings scare me now and I wonder is it really worth the pain, and deaths caused by tongue piercings, just to look cool? Or different? Or to impress people? I don't think I'm ready to remove it just yet. Most people probably dont have these feelings attached to it, but it does signify a lot to me.

-------SOMETHING FOR YOU TO THINK ABOUT

If when getting it pierced and a vein was hit (no matter how big that vein was) it wouldn't stop bleeding. You would need help at a hospital and even then you don't know what would happen.

Blood clotts can be caused. As that area tried to heal, blood clotts are made, one may break off into your bloodstream, it could flow into your brain (causing a stroke) or to your heart (causing a heart-attack) this has happened before to many people believe it or not!

Dirty needles can cause HIV. Is it worth catching HIV just to look cool?

Try getting a new outfit or hair-cut instead maybe? I was just as stuborn at my age so I doubt this should change anyones minds.