A 15-year-old girl who had her tongue pierced suffered so much bleeding she had to be rushed to hospital for emergency surgery.
Reece-Marie Hall ruptured a vein in her tongue following a $25 procedure to insert a silver bar, UK newspaper Daily Mail reports.
The teen had the piercing at a parlour in Hull, northeast England, after lying about her age and claiming to be 16.
"At first my tongue didn't bleed but after I left the shop, the tongue started pouring with blood," she was quoted as saying.
When Reece-Marie arrived home her mother called an ambulance and she was taken to hospital, where doctors put her under general anaesthetic and stitched up her tongue.
Mother Leeanne said her still recuperating daughter now speaks with a lisp.
"I can't always understand what she's saying — I hope it isn't a permanent thing," she said.
The family is considering suing the piercing parlour but its owner claims the teenager must have "interfered" with the piercing after she left the shop.
There is no minimum legal age for body piercing in the UK, but local authorities in Hull urge parental consent for under-16s.
In Australian states like NSW and Victoria, the minimum age for body piercing (without parental consent) is 16 and parlours require photo ID.
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