hi i had my tongue pierced 4 days ago and this morning when i awoke my mouth was covered in blood, i rinsed my mouth out fully and noticed it was bleeding from my piercing.
i went to the place i got it done and he told me it would be ok and it would clot up and heal. its clotted up now the balls are somewhat bloody but im confused on if i keep on rinsing my mouth with a diluted listerine?
thanks for any help
We do not know where you were pierced and there are some people who take medications that affect the clotting factor of the blood. You may also be a vegetarian who does not eat red meat. There are a lot of different factors as to why you are having bleeding problems but the listerine is not one of them.
We do recommend you following our aftercare for the tongue and the first 10 days you need to rinse with full strength Original Listerine about once every 2 1 2 hours, not everytime you eat or drink something. The frequency could be part of the problem but you need to look at your dietary habits, and medications.
Please write back with more information.
no its not stuck to the barbell, it seems to be attached to the skin around the piercing hole. the tip of it is whitish and the rest of it is redish. also its quite hard. i cant really feel it. however it does begin to hurt abit if i play with it too much.
i have had the chance to look at it properly. i unscrewed the ball and it seems to look like there is skin forming around the bar and "growing".
Thanks for the picture but it was not that clear. What we did see is that the original location of the piercing has moved and its like the ball is moving forward and creating a pile of skin in front of it.
Because you seem to be playing with your piercing, you are causing the damage to the tissues. Please stop playing with it. You may want to look into getting a 12g barbell to reduce the friction.
Now that we see the piercing, the bleeding could have been caused by the barbell moving forward from what you wrote about in your previous posts.
whats a 12g barbell? and how do i remove the skin?
You were probably pierced with a 14 gauge barbell and 2 balls. We do not use 14 gauge barbells but 12 gauge barbells because they are thicker and therefore do not cut the tongue like the 14g does.
You cannot remove the skin as its just moved in front of the ball from the pressure of the barbell. You need to relieve the pressure and this is why we are recommending changing the barbell to 12g.
If you can stop playing with the current barbell or even insert a fitted shaft, this may help reduce the problem of the skin.
hi thanks for the reply.
im not taking medication, my routine is to rinse with mint listerine in the morning after major meals and before bed.
i didnt eat properly for the first 2 to 3 days as the swelling made it a bit difficult to swallow anything that wasnt liquidized.
my tongue is whitish with a bit of yellow. and im not a vegetarian. the swelling has gone down, however its still there its been 6 days since i have it done.
the clotted balls have gone after i gave it a good mouthwash however it does bleed slightly sometimes but stops after a few rinses and it doesnt bleed as much as it did before.
What we do not understand is 'what is still there?' do you mean the bleeding still occurs and the balls become coated with blood?
Since you have been using the mint flavour and its almost 10 days into your piercing, it is of no use to change at this point. The colour of your tongue is normal from all the rinsing. You now eat healthy and regularly and your tongue swelling has reduced. All this is good, but we also believe that you may be playing with the piercing more than you should.
So be aware of yourself during the daytime and see just how much you play with your piercing. This playing could be enough to keep damaging the healing tissues in your tongue and will product some blood. Please try and not play with the piercing and let the body heal itself.
theres nothing there, no clots anymore, the piercing looks fine untill it bleeds (looks like its coming out of the hole).
i do inadvertily play with it, the bar is quite long and it does get pushed up and down through the piercing, this is not something i can avoid as it happens as i talk and eat.
Since the piercing is over 3 weeks old and this long barbell is giving you some problems, we do strongly recommend to get a shorter shaft. This may help reduce the friction therefore eliminating the bleeding.
There is no reason why the piercing should be bleeding at this point. You may want to increase your intake of B vitamins especially B12 which may be helpful to reduce this blood problem.
Otherwise, we recommend going to a medical doctor if this problem continues.
i have a shorter bar fitted now and the bleeding has totally stopped! i can eat normal now drink etc... normally now. one question though
on the bottom of my tongue i have noticed to what appears to be some skin that has formed around the hole. is this normal?
Yes, this is quite normal. You may have had it some time ago but with the bleeding, it was hard to tell. Now that you have it under control, you will notice this stuff coming from the bottom of your tongue.
This is something that the tongue does after it has been pierced. Some say its lining that is being shed now that there is a hole in it. Others say its lymph. What is important is that you are doing this important process and it should stop in a couple of days, just leave it alone and do not pick at it... let it come off on its own.
hi, just one more question. how long is this lymph meant to stay there? its been a while now and its still there.
This lymph or shedding of the lining is only to last a couple of days. If you have something white underneath you need to describe to us what it looks like and the texture so that we can better assist.
Is it thick and sticky? Is it stuck on the barbell?
Please remember that we cannot see this and need your input to help you.
