As there is not a whole lot of information about the actual experience of getting one's tongue split out there and even less on the healing process, I thought I would post mine which was done yesterday.  I'll post another update tomorrow and will continue to post updates until I get the stitches out, approximately a week from now.

My split was done bright and early at 9 am on Saturday morning. Yes, getting up that early sucked but it was for a good cause. Once I arrived at the place I was getting it done, I was asked to swish around some mouthwash for half a minute. After that it was onto drying my tongue with gauze and then making the marks, both on top of my tongue and below.

Once the marks were made, that's where the discomfort really started, although everything was actually pretty fast. Clamps were put on, with my artist's assistant holding the clamps. The actual time it took for the scalpel to go through the tongue was very short, probably somewhere around half a minute to a minute. Once the cut was made both sides were stitched up, I believe it was 4 stitches per side. That was the portion that was both the most uncomfortable and took the longest.

So far there has been a lot of swelling, both yesterday and today. My tongue is probably at least double the size that it normally is. There was a fair bit of pain all of yesterday as well, though a lot of that has gone away this morning and I'm mostly just left with a whole lot of swelling. I've been taking ibuprofen whenever the pain and swelling warrant it and drinking a lot of chamomile tea and water. Chamomile tea has anti-inflammatory properties so its a very good thing to drink.

I have been making sure to separate the two sides of my tongue every few hours in order to hopefully avoid them growing back together. When I woke up in the morning the tips had stuck together and I had to pry them apart, which was a bit uncomfortable to say the least.

I have been eating solid foods right from the beginning, although rather slowly and tenderly. I have been sticking to soft things that are easy to chew and taking very small bites. In some ways I think its easier to eat than it was when I got my venoms pierced many years ago due to the fact that I don't have to navigate around bars. After eating I've been rinsing with non-alcoholic mouth wash.

On the first day my salivary glands were working on complete overdrive and I found that to be almost more annoying than either the initial swelling or the pain.  They still seem to be more active than usual today, though it is dramatically reduced from yesterday.

If anyone has any questions feel free to ask. I'll post an update within the next couple of days about its continued progress.

As promised, here is my update for day three of my tongue split.  While still very swollen, swelling does appear to have gone down slightly at this point.  Hopefully it shall continue to go down as the days progress.  I am starting to be able to have some independent movement of both sides of the split.  Every 2-3 hours I have been pulling the two sides apart in order to avoid regrowth.  I have also done this at night, setting my alarm to wake me up every couple of hours to do so.  After the first pull apart last night I did get a little bit of blood, presumably because the two sides had begun to grow back together at the base and I pulled them apart to prevent that.  

Aside from that, not much new to report.  I'll have another short update tomorrow.

awsome keep the updates coming cant wait to see the pics

Here's my update for day number 5.  The swelling has gone down significantly by this point, at least 3/4 gone.  There really isn't a whole lot new to report here.  Speech continues to improve and my tongue continues to become more mobile again.  Still very little regrowth, no more than a millimeter and possibly not even that (I'm a little paranoid so I might just be making stuff up in my head).  I continued to wake myself up every few hours at night to make sure I could pull the two sides apart, but it didn't seem like I had any regrowth at night at all.  Aside from that, I can't wait to get the stitches out which will hopefully be this weekend.

Temporary discomofort for something that will be very much worth it in the long run is my philosophy.  I went through the pain of getting it split and then the severe discomfort of the swelling and difficulties eating so I'm certainly not going to let a little thing like uninterupted sleep for a week or two hold me back.  I really don't want to have to resplit so I'm doing what I can to avoid having to.  As much as I'm willing to go through pain for the end result, its not exactly something I Consider so pleasant that I want to go through more than once :P

I am, unfortunately, up in Canada.  My artist is Russ Foxx, if you do a Google search his site will pop right up.  I know he does a lot of traveling around Canada so if you take a look at his schedule and you live anywhere near the border, he might be close enough at some point.  Otherwise I’m not sure that I know of any American artists to recommend, though I’m sure there are others around that might have a better idea of who might be in your area.

Tongue is doing pretty great now.  As soon as the stitches were removed, talking returned completely to normal.  I did end up with a bit of regrowth, which is unfortunate but not unexpected.  Next year, when my vacation days renew, I plan to get it split further back and probably get my webbing cut as well.