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I had wanted to get my tongue pierced for a long time, and finally, someone recommended a nice piercing place in Faribault, MN. So I went with my friends Diana and Steph. At first i was really nervous, but the piercist was really nice. she led me into a back room and had me sit on a big dentist chair while i swished around some listerine. Then, to figure out where to pierce my tongue, she had me put my index finger below my bottom lip and stick my tongue out and down over it. right where my finger and lip met was where she put the dot on my tongue. Then she pulled my tongue out with some forceps, put a cork in my tongue, and pushed the needle through. the needle was hollow, so that the barbell fit in it and she didn't have to push it through the hole after the needle went through. It didn't hurt much, just a little sting. It was kind of gross feeling the needle go through the layers of my tongue though. It took her a couple of tries to get the end of the barbell back on, but once she did, I started shaking a little bit. My piercing went a lot better than Diana's, she had a really tiny tongue, and the piercist nicked a vein. She bled a bit, but that was also because she'd taked some asprin before had. so don't do that. It was nice though. it didn't really hurt or swell for about a half an hour. The worst day wasn't that day, or the next day, but the 3rd day. My tongue was pretty swollen, but i could get my mouth closed, and it wasn't too hard to drink. My tongue just ached like a pulled muscle, basically. I'm now on day number four, and i absolutely love my tongue ring. I'm trying not to play with it too much right now, but it's hard ;-)
Pretty much all you need is to stock up on lots of advil and ice to keep the swelling down, and although it hurts in the morning, once you drink a little water it feels better. I think it's a good idea to get at least one recommendation from someone about the piercing place before hand. I know that a lot of piercing places botch the job and you end up with a crooked piercing, so try to find someone who says that the place does good work. also, make sure that they use and autoclave to clean the instruments, because a lot of places don't.
All in all, it was a really fun experience, and I say if you have any desire at all to do it, go for it because it might sound scary and painful, but it's actually not that bad.

Submitted by: Kristie
Experience Added 02/03/2001