--- title: A deadly tongue-piercing description: Infections following a tongue-piercing led to fatal brain abscesses in the case of one 22-year-old, according to a report published in the October issue of... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7145080/a-deadly-tongue-piercing/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2009-10-16T20:59:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-19T02:16:05.495Z article:section: Health og:title: A deadly tongue-piercing og:description: Infections following a tongue-piercing led to fatal brain abscesses in the case of one 22-year-old, according to a report published in the October issue of... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7145080/a-deadly-tongue-piercing/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A deadly tongue-piercing twitter:description: Infections following a tongue-piercing led to fatal brain abscesses in the case of one 22-year-old, according to a report published in the October issue of... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Health](/section/health/) # A deadly tongue-piercing > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Oct 16, 2009 8:59 PM UTC by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Oct 16, 2009 8:59 PM UTC  Infections following a tongue-piercing led to fatal brain abscesses in the case of one 22-year-old, according to a report published in the October issue of the journal _Archives of Neurology_. Just two weeks after getting his tongue pierced, a young man developed 13 dangerous lesions on the brain, which ultimately led to his demise two months after his initial admission into the hospital. [Brain abscesses](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000783.htm), which consist of bunched immune cells, pus and other brain cells, are generally caused by bacterial or fungal infections. Of course, the risk of death by tongue piercing remains very, very low—and making sure to keep the site of a piercing clean is an essential first step in reducing risk of complications. Still, while popular, oral piercings aren’t without their risks. In the _Archives of Neurology_ report, the authors refer to several reported episodes of [endocarditis](http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/endocarditis/DS00409), or infection of the heart’s inner lining, related to tongue piercings, and one other instance of abscesses in the brain. More frequently tongue piercings lead to problems including chipped teeth, bleeding, and infections of the mouth. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7145080/a-deadly-tongue-piercing/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7145080/a-deadly-tongue-piercing/"},"headline":"A deadly tongue-piercing","datePublished":"2009-10-16T20:59:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-19T02:16:05.495Z","description":"Infections following a tongue-piercing led to fatal brain abscesses in the case of one 22-year-old, according to a report published in the October issue of...","url":"https://time.com/archive/7145080/a-deadly-tongue-piercing/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7145080/a-deadly-tongue-piercing/","name":"A deadly tongue-piercing"}}]}] ```