Infected tongue piercing. Tongue piercing healing. Questions and Answers
Q: I got my tongue pierced. Though it didn’t hurt, and the swelling has subsided greatly, i still seem to be having a few problems. I’ve been rinsing upon waking up, after eating, and before bed with alcohol free mouthwash, but i still have some issues.
1) My tongue is white.
2) There’s a small, vertical tear on the top of my piercing
3) It’s not as swollen as it used to be, but is still soar.
What should i do?? Is it infected tongue piercing?
A: White ‘fur’ on your tongue is quite common with a fresh piercing. It can usually be removed by brushing it very gently with a clean toothbrush. The small tear could just be a result of all the swelling.
The split could be because of movement and the long bar. You might have chewed it in your sleep, pulling and tearing the tongue.
The white fur could be because of your diet, if you smoke etc. You need to brush your tongue, as you should as part of your dental regime anyways.
Lymph is normal with all piercings and will clear up once you are fully healed.
Soreness is common until the tongue piercing healing is fully complete also.
Hope it clears up soon. Don’t forget to have you jewellery changed and resized.
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Q: Hi.. I got my tongue pierced 3 1/2 weeks ago and everything went great. But I noticed today that my tongue started hurting a little underneath. I’ve noticed that on the bottom ball, towards the right next to my webbing is something that almost looks like an ulcer? Its its not real white but has white ish color on it..and there is a thick white substance coming out of the hole around the top of the bottom bar. The area is not inflammed or real red besides the lump. I have not downsized yet bc I have no problems eating or talking w/ the long bar. Is this normal or should I be worried about an infected tongue piercing,… as a side note- over the past few days I have been eating alot of acidic foods- fruit, oj, vinigrette dressing, sauce, etc… could that be contributing to it?
A:The white substance with be lymph (white blood cells etc) just remove it with a cotton bud or similar.
Try slowing down on the acidic food and see if it helps. I doubt it is infected tongue piercing and even if it is it should clear very quickly. Saliva is the bodys own healer so its in the best place for tongue piercing healing.
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Q: I got my tongue pierced 9 days ago. no pain when i did it … super quick and easy. i’m getting used to eating with it in and it being in there in general, but i’m not too sure if it’s getting infected tongue piercing or already is … there’s a greeny yellowish film (for lack of a better word) over my tongue. the hole underneath my tongue constantly has what looks possibly like puss around it that doesn’t wipe away. The hole on top has a raised edge around it sort of like the top of a volcano and at the front seems to have a bit of the pussy stuff there as well. And then there’s the pain that comes and goes a bit … thanks ibuprofen! though if i put pressure on it it hurts a bit anytime.
does this sound like there’s a problem and a doctors visit is in order or is it normal? thanks for your help everyone!
A: The white ring is quite possibly scar tissue, which you don’t need to worry about at such an early stage. I think the best idea would be to visit the piercer which performed this - or another if you do not feel they are professional enough anymore and ask them to look at it. It’s very important that you do not remove the bar because IF it is infected tongue piercing then you do not want to trap that infection inside your tongue.
The film on your tongue is very normal it occurs usually when the bar in the tongue is too long. Your mouth cant create a vacume when you swallow this is how the film gathers. Best way to get rid is use a dry cotten bud… it will come back though. After the bar is sized down and the tongue piercing healing starts then the film goes away.
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Q: I got my tongue pierced on saturday and I’ve been following the care instructions. I recently developed a light yellowish ring around my piercing. My tongue isn’t swolled and theres no foul odor from it. every once in a while there a yellow secretion about the same color. its pretty thin, but it doesnt smell bad either. is it infected tongue piercing or is it a normal part of healing i’ve heard both. If it is an infection is there anything I can do so I dont have to take it out?
A: It sounds like its just lymphing to me. Don’t worry, it’s normal. The yellow ring around the hole just sounds like a build up of lymph or the listerine can cause your tongue to go slightly yellow/white. Unless it goes green and smells really horrible, I wouldn’t worry. It DOES taste gross, doesn’t it? Haha. I hated it. It stopped for me in about a week. I used Listerine for mine, but I later found out it’s much better to get a mouthwash with no alcohol in it. So go buy some non-alcoholic mouthwash and use that or just use sea salt soaks.
I try to wash the lymph crap down with a bit of water occasionally that gets rid of the weird taste. I also get a wee bit of colour in the ring round my peircing (the ring dent caused by the ball). It’s orange if I’ve been eating curry lol. I used diluted mouthwash at first (I used savacol - it has a small amount of alcohol in it so I was careful to dilute it to about 25%). It was a tiny bottle though so since that finished I’ve been using H2Ocean Mouthwash which has NO alcohol in it. I do however still dilute it to 50% as mouthwash can be pretty strong stuff even without alcohol.
You’ll probably find that it starts lymphing less and less as it heals. Mine didn’t really at all for the first couple of weeks of my tongue piercing healing and my tongue was still reasonably swollen (I think that sort of ‘held the lymph in’ or something). But since then it has been doing it less and less - more frequently if I drink through straws or something unusual like that.