Tongue ring bottom ball I can pull almost through my tongue and I've
had it over a year what should I do do it heals back to the normal size
I got my tongue pierced in 1999; initially pierced at 10ga. Months
later, I couldn't *not* play with it constantly, and this is exactly the
same thing that I experienced. The bottom ball started going up inside
my tongue, and eventually it got so loose that it would just pop all the
way through, ball and all. I went back to my piercer and said, "Yo,
Scott. Check this out. What the hell should I do?" His answer? "Get a
bigger barbell, dude."
So, I jumped up to a 6ga. Months later, I still couldn't *not* play with
it, and I began to notice the same thing was happening with the bigger
piece of jewelry. I remembered what Scott said, so I jumped up to a 2ga.
Rinse and repeat.
Sometime in 2001, about a year and a half after getting my tongue
pierced, I'd reached the point where the 2ga barbell just pops all the
way through my tongue with no effort. I could fit a McDonald's drinking
straw through the hole -- you know, those *huge* wide straws... Fun
party trick.
However, it was also around this time that I noticed how months of
constantly playing with this hunk of stainless steel in my mouth had
started to noticeably wear down my front teeth. I didn't really feel
like putting a 00ga barbell in my damn tongue, and I sure as hell didn't
want to damage my teeth any further, so I abandoned the piercing. I took
the jewelry out, and the hole began to shrink almost immediately.
That was 17 years ago, but my tongue piercing has never completely
closed up, and I don't expect it will. I've never worn any jewelry in it
since, and the hole is considerably smaller than it was at its peak
diameter. But if I wanted to, I could still comfortably wear a 6ga
barbell in it very easily with no problem.
Even today, I can still fit one of those skinny "coffee stirrer" straws
through the hole... Still a fun party trick! :-P
-=B