On a pretty regular basis we get the request for the Snake Eyes/Horizontal Tongue piercing here at Stigma. Inevitably my inside Mom groans and steels myself for the explanation I will have to lay forth at what might have been a client. It's about high-time I lay out the raison de etre for my refusal to do this oh-so-popular fad piercing.....
The Tongue....what a complex and high utilitarian piece of our bodies. We talk, we eat and now we pierce it in every which way we can, lol. It is comprised of two major muscles that can work both dependently and independently. Not only does it have a massive amount of oral responsibility, it is also located in an area of our body that is an open gateway for bacteria, viruses and infection. While the vertical traditional tongue piercing tends to be one of the quickest healing piercings on the body mod scale, a mouth piercing that has become infected can be one of the most dangerous infection complications on the scale as well.
In a traditional vertical tongue piercing is place in between the left and right tongue muscles, thereby allowing their free movement and a clean entry between muscle tissue. While there is swelling for up to a week, an improper placement(whereby which a bar clips or piercing one side rather than the middle) can lead to extended muscle swelling, scarring and pain far past the usual swelling period.
Reversely a horizontal tongue piercing pierces the tongue horizontally, thereby tethering the two independent muscles to each other. Even more dangerously is the potential for an incorrectly sized bar to be used to tether said muscles together.
What could this mean? Well....it means that every time your tongue makes a movement or changes shape it will pull against and around the jewelry. If the muscles extend against the jewelry for prolong periods of time the jewelry will, over time, grow into your tongue and the tongue will swell around the jewelry. Keloids, scarring and scar-ration bumps may form.
I get that Pinterest is all about Snake Eyes, but is it worth it? I say no, lol.
