Fort Simpson (Oct 01/04) - There's an old saying: "I need that like I need another hole in the head."

Yet another hole in the head is in vogue these days. Some teenagers are getting piercings in places other than the ears, such as the nose, lip and eyebrow.

Krista Okrainec, 18, decided to get a hole punched through her tongue. Seeing as there's no such service in Fort Simpson, she got it done in Grande Prairie, Alta. Yes, it hurt, but she said it wasn't as painful as getting her ears pierced.

Her tongue swelled up for three days, however, making it a challenge to talk and eat.

She's not necessarily done yet and is contemplating a lip ring and other body piercings.

It might take a little convincing to get her mom's approval. Rosa Wright said she had no problem with her daughter piercing a body part -- the tongue -- that isn't always visible. She's not particularly fond of other types. She's also conscious of the sanitary requirements of the fad and made sure Krista was too.

"She knew she had to take steps to ensure it didn't get infected," Wright said, acknowledging that such things weren't done when she was young. "But it's OK. It doesn't really bother me."

Vicky Williams, 16, has five piercings, including each nostril.

"I always wanted a spike through my nose," she said of her choice in jewelry, adding that nose rings are too common. Williams had her piercings done professionally while visiting Red Deer, Alta., in August.

Carl Gaule, 20, got his friends to give him the homemade version, including a nipple ring, possibly the most painful of all.

Initial agony

Unfortunately, after he endured the initial agony, he had to allow his punctures to heal for his firefighting duties. The nipple ring tended to get caught in his coveralls, he said. He was also warned that because he could be in close proximity to forest fires, the metallic rings in his face could heat up so much that they would burn him, so they were removed, too.

At the end of the summer, he got his lip and eyebrow redone.

"I always felt like something was missing," he said of his desire to have decorative metallic objects protruding from his face.

"After that I just felt happy, fulfilled."