People Share Worst Piercing Experiences

From Redditoru/PickleYouKumquat_

I tried piercing my tongue with a nail. It seemed smart then, since my other DIY piercings worked. It did not. The nail ended jagged and got stuck. I had to let it tear to get it out.

From Redditoru/sunshinenorcas:

Loofahs and nipple piercings do not mix, I learned the hard way. They bleed a lot, and I curse. Usually, I shower late, so I am not fully awake and... ow.

I do archery. I drew across my chest initially and forgot to change my stance after getting pierced. Bowstring and barbells? That is not a good match.

From Redditoru/JadedShame:

For a week and a half, my rook healed fine, like my other piercings, with little swelling and no pain. Then it swelled five times its size. It hurt terribly, and the pain spread to my jaw, causing sharp headaches. It leaked pus and stayed crusty. Mum took me to the local hospital. My surgery was an emergency because a deformed ear or infection spreading to my brain was a risk. They removed and drained an abscess in my ear and the earring. They surgically cleaned my ear and stitched a drain where the rook bar was to let excess infection out. I stayed in the hospital four days on IV antibiotics.

From Redditoru/agent_of_entropy:

Years ago, I woke up on New Year's Day with leftover booze. I got drunk and thought, what better start the new year than a new [groin] piercing?! I was drunk, sitting on the toilet with a needle through my dick, bleeding like a stuck pig. Holy f*ck. I nearly passed out. But I pushed, twisted, and finally let it slide through without tearing (a risk I knew). Once the barbell was in, the bleeding stopped. I showered, wrapped the thing in gauze, and everything was fine. I left it for two years, but got tired of trimming the skin growing over it and pulled it out. I can't even tell I have it now.

From Redditoru/RoaringTwinkies:

I thought getting dermals in my wrists would be great. They rejected the procedure while I got them removed. I almost passed out; the piercer twisted scar tissue for ten minutes.

From Redditoru/iamnotintoyou:

I got surface piercings on my hips. A car seatbelt ripped one out.

From Redditoru/Pagan-za:

A girl I knew got her tongue pierced. A piece of meat somehow got into the hole and started to rot.

Her tongue swelled up big, and the hole looked gross. Luckily, she caught it early before too much damage occurred.

From Redditoru/MOS95B:

Does piercing my foot with a nail gun count?

From Redditoru/PorkedPork:

When I was young and naive, I liked putting random items in my stretched lobes. These items included glow sticks, pencils, cigarettes, and things friends gave me, asking if I thought the object would fit... Then, a friend approached me with a spring.

The spring got tangled. Nine hours later, the spring stayed in my ear. I accepted that we could not take it out. I had no insurance, so going to the emergency room was out.

We cut the spring in half. I wore it for about a month. People complimented my unique piece of "jewelry." I let everyone who could remove it from me own it.

After a month, I went on a first date with a crusty guy. He offered to try and free me. He successfully removed it and put it in one of his dreads. It might still be there now.

Redditor.u/no_objections_here:

I do not regret piercings. But do I regret buying a specific ring for my piercing? On a whim, I bought a vibrating tongue ring to surprise my ex-boyfriend. It was too big for my mouth, could not be turned off, and almost knocked out my teeth.

Redditor.u/DoNotSnapAtMe:

The first time I got my belly button pierced, everything seemed fine for about a year. I heard healing takes a long time.

Suddenly, my body rejected it. I saw less and less skin covering the barbell. By the time I took it out, the remaining skin split. It looked really gross, and now I have a nasty scar.

From a formerRedditor:

My nipple piercings bled for a full week. I ruined a bra and two T-shirts and used many Band-Aid pasties. They are healed now, but I was scared for a few days.

From a formerRedditor:

At seventeen, my parents finally let me get my first non-lobe piercing (tragus). They would not let me enter a scary piercing shop. They were happy when they learned our family doctor, your general practitioner, started doing piercings at his medical office after hours. He used dirty, stainless steel jewelry. Payment required cash only.

Years later, I learned more about piercing. I saw how sketchy this was. Taking advantage of worried parents to make quick money doing something your medical training did not cover is unethical.

Redditor.u/Ava_Alexis:

I got my belly button pierced a few months before starting Muay Thai. My dad had to remove it with pliers.

From Redditor.u/f*cking_passwords:

I got my lip pierced on impulse. I already had the lower left side done and decided on the right side, snake bites. While filling out papers, the piercer talked to the desk worker, looking nervous. I heard their chat: “Don’t worry, though, he already has one side pierced!”

The piercer looked nervous; his hands shook while he prepped me. I felt uncomfortable and asked if everything was okay. He shrugged and said, “Don’t worry.”

He pierced it crooked. It did not match the other side. I was unhappy.

Redditor shared this.u/KBCilantro: posted this.

My mom and dad got matching nipple piercings. Knowing that is a horror by itself.

Redditor shared this.u/RetroWillis: posted this.

I swallowed an ex-girlfriend's tongue ring.

From a formerRedditor:

I regret getting my ears pierced. I did not want them then.

I was six years old. My mother pressured me into getting them.

From a formerRedditor:

This. F*cking. Tongue ring. Do not get a tongue ring. It is not cool... What happens when you get one?

Days of pain. Your tongue swells to twice its normal size, and you speak with the most slurred speech. Eating solid food hurts, and talking hurts too. Moving your tongue causes pain. You eat soup and yogurt; this lasts at least five days.

After all that, it is just annoying. My mom hates it. My dentist hates it. I cannot stick my tongue out. I either cannot show enough, or I must awkwardly flop my lip over the ring to go past it. I cannot blow raspberries; I lost that ability.

What really sucks? Eating ice cream. I love ice cream, especially on cones. Now, eating ice cream is too hard. Do not lick straight on; the ring will catch and slide off the cone. Only lick with the sides of your tongue, which is awkward and slow.

I wondered why I kept it in, but it feels like part of me now. I will not let a piercing close up. The tongue ring wants that. I will keep it in and force it.