I got my tongue pierced last tuesday, so it's been 6 days, and everything has been going fine so far. My next day pain did occur, which occurs with most people, but the swelling has gone down ALOT, you can barely notice the swelling anymore now, so everything is going good.
I just had a question about the hole in my tongue, if I stick my tongue out, you'll notice there is a hole in the tongue, and I was just wondering if at any chance will that close up tighter, or will it always be that big.
I DO have a picture of it, which is shown below in my next post.
Also, what is a good time to change the barbell to a new tongue ring?
Thanks in advance.
I don't know if you can notice it, but there's a little space behind the tongue ring.
From the picture which is not very clear, the swelling is not coming down. You have not told us what your aftercare is.
If you are not using the original listerine, rinsing either too much or not enough, not eating properly, then this is probably the cause of your problem.
Why do we know that the swelling has not dissipated, because your ball is in a crater and this tells us that there is still lots of swelling.
If your tongue was returning to its normal thickness, you would see more of the barbell and you would find the barbell moving around easier and getting in the way (even biting it).
You need to exercise the tongue in order to assist in dissipating the swelling. Keeping it cold (eating freezees, ice cream) and chewing food is great exercise. Playing too much with it on the other hand increases the swelling so try not to play with it. We know that this is difficult but do your best.
The gauge could be another problem as 14g is thinner than 12g (which we use for our tongue piercings). The thinner the barbell, the sharper it is and can cut into the tongue and leave damage.
After all the swelling has dissipated, about 3 weeks is a good time to change to a shorter shaft. Since you are experiencing difficulties, we recommend waiting until these problems are resolved and then changing to a shorter shaft.
Keep in touch.
Sorry about the quality of the photo..Here's a better one.
The swelling on the tongue has gone down unbelievably from the beginning of the process.
It's a 14g barbell. I was just worried if that space behind the tongue, as shown in the first picture, would ever go away or close tighter, and when would it be a good idea to change the barbell safely.
Thanks in advance.
It has been our experience that with the 14g there is a good chance that the indent may not go away. Each person is different but we saw so much of it in the past that 4-5 years ago, we started piercing with 12g and this problem has been greatly reduced. There is the indent during the first week because of the swelling, but by the end of the 3 weeks, the indent has disappeared and the shaft is almost half exposed. This is when we recommend changing the shaft to a fitted one.
It also looks like the piercing is a little slanted, the top is more forward that the bottom. This puts additional stress and can make the indent remain. Getting a fitted shaft in 12g may be a solution for you to think about.
Keep in touch with your progress.
The only reason why it looks like it's up more is because i pushed the bottom ball forward with my teeth to show you the indent in my tongue. It's a straight piercing, though.
I'll be changing my barbell to a 12g probably within the next week and a half, since it will be my 3 week mark, and having a 14 gauge in right now is becoming EXTREMELY annoying to the point I want to take it out, but a more fitted tongue ring will probably fix that problem.
Glad the read that you are getting a 12g barbell soon. Yes, it will fix most of the problems you are experiencing.
Glad the piercing is straight because it did look off in the pictures.
Take care
