A 20 Year old woman dies after having her tongue pierced

That is scary. If it is common, you would think, that they would either make it illegal or at least make it well known at the time of piercing, so that people were more aware of the dangers of doing those things to their body.

yes very trgic so young but I dont know why they want to peirce tounge as all kind of germs are in the mouth. Hope this gets kids attention so they dont do it any more!

That is sad news. Piercings can be incredibly dangerous. I got meningitis when I was 13 years old. I was in Spain following an exchange trip to France, and bang! It hit me...within hours I was lying in the back of my parents car with my eyes popping and glowing. I ended up spending several weeks in a Catholic hospital in the city of Everyone was so kind to me there; and I was nursed back to health. But it was a hard experience; especially the lumbar punctures. We are frail beings; and life is precious.

That is really scary. I have never wanted my tounge pierced. I wonder if the person who pierced her tounge had it or if someone that had it touched the earring. I had a friend of mine die from it from a misquto bite at the first of 1999. he was only 18 years old. I thought that was so sad.

I'm saving this for my niece to read. Soon as she moved out of her parent's house, she got her tongue pierced. Her parents forbade it and also tatoos so now she sports both and she looks goofy now. I told her she's not wearing that piercing in my house. Teenagers, they can be such idiots!!!!

I really wish that I would have been told the dangers when I got mine done 10 years ago! Their are also other bad things about getting your tongue pierced too. For example because your tongue has a hole in it that confuses your brain into thinking that your mouth needs to produce more saliva to heal the wound. Then once your mouth produces more saliva it eats away at the enamel of your teeth. Also your teeth can chip from the tongue ring if it's metal! This is the first I have ever heard of someone dying from it though! Wow, that is scary! PurpleTeddyBear.

Oh my! I know this is a old discussion but that doesn't make it that less serious atleast for me. My 16 year old niece recently pierced her tongue,lip,eyebrow,ears,and nose. She recently got married and so being her own boss she did all the things her mother said no to while she was at home. And she and a friend done the peircing theirselves. She has been complaining of nausea and headaches and other things. I think I will be calling her tomorrow and telling her go see a doctor and I will be forwarding this discussion to her. Kids they never think twice about the dangers they put their selves in by doing these things. Shame this girl had to die but maybe it will make it to where others are more careful in the future and what they pierce. Thanks for this discussion the information is appreciated and I will be sure to pass it forward.

Never thought about that, but it makes sense, its a possiblility to get a huge infection, specially in humid parts of the body and even worse neer the brain, all is connected. I dont have a piercing and dont intend too, call me old or weack, but i wont do it.

I hate those tongue piercings...not only are they dangerous, but the tongue-ring(?) will chip and cause damage to the teeth. She must have let it the meningitis go to long before seeking medical attention or maybe she contracted viral meningitis from the piercing. My son wanted a pierced ear since he was about 4 or 5, he got it pierced, but no longer wears an earring (he is in the Navy) but he did go and get a bunch of tattoos. Ick, as he ages and his skin wrinkles..they will look even uglier then they do now. I don't understand people with tattoos, why cause pain for yourself?

What a terrible thing to have happened. :( I'm not into body piercings other than my ears, and I only have one in each ear. I couldn't imagine having more than this. I've never heard that spinal meningitis isn't contagious. In fact I gave a cousin of mine this when we were both babies. Though she didn't have it anywhere as severe as I did, thank goodness. I didn't even know I gave it to her until I spoke to her a few years ago.

That's really sad, and scaring. I don't know, but I still find tongue-piercing gross and unnecessary...and of course, not to mention the loss of a precious life simply for tongue-piercing. I don't know what drives people to do it, but I guess it's more of fashion, or a need to be different or catch other people's attention, or a need to belong. But the bottom-line is: it may not be safe...just like what happened to this 20-year old lady...tragic indeed.

thats scary indeed...i mean toungue piercing is so much in vouge these days, and one wouldn't even give a thought before getting pierced....although my mom keeps on saying that these things are crap and harmful in the long run...i guess she's right!

That's really scary. I think we should always avoid things that may actually cause something bad like piercing the tounge, though it's not really danger to do this. We should always practice safety precaution when trying to do something odd.:-)

yes i have heared about things like this happeneing. If your not carefull on where you go to get piereced you can get a very serious infection or worse. If you plan of getting anything piereced its best to go to somewhere that if highly trained and know what there doing and a place thats clean. And once you get it done you need to take extreem care of it.

Whilst that is a tragic story, I find it hard to believe what possesses people to want to have their tongues pierced in the first place? What is the fascination? Why? I have only got to bite my tongue by accident to know just how painful that can be, but to actually put a hole in your tongue, makes me feel sick thinking about it. It certainly looks horrid and I can't bare to look at a person if they have their tongue pierced and that includes my cousin's wife! I hope and pray that she doesn't influence him to get it done too.

I can't understand the popularity of a tongue piercing. I think it very dangerous. This is sad and it is scary.

Wow! That is odd. I have never had the desire to have my tongue pierced. Wonder why they did not give her stronger antibodics? Meningitis is serious disease.

I can never understand why one would get their tongue pierced. It would make it hard to eat, food getting stuck in between, and getting it caught while sleeping. Not to mention, how can one talk without thinking of that ball in the middle of your tongue. They should make it illegal. It's not like ear piercing or nose piercing for those who come from the Middle East, but inside your mouth? Yuk!

The tongue has always been one of the dangerous piercings and when you get it done you must make sure you get it done by a very good piercer. People don't usually realize this but a piercer can really hurt you if they don't get the right spot. But at the same time all piercings should be done with precautions because if you don't take care of it or it isn't done right it can cause lots of infection which just isn't good at all.

Lose your life for a piercing. Its horrible. On a side note i never understood the practice of piercing, seems like some vacuous trend thing.