Piercing

What is this about? Piercing. Everyone knows what that is. It's modifying the body by making holes... or stretching ones. Whatever you want to do. Yes, it can be painful, yes it can be a hassle, but it's all about aesthetics. Some people think them to be beautiful and some people just like the way that the jewelry looks. For some it is also a spiritual experience. Maybe you just like the pain. Maybe you got one because you thought it looked cool and then you became addicted to getting them. You don't have to have piercings to join, but you do have to be a fan of them.


Body piercing and tattooing are unregulated in most U.S. states and are even illegal in some. Since body piercing has become popular, shops have sprung up everywhere - with little or no regulation and very little incentive to take precautions against infections or other health hazards.

So Just How Bad Is the Piercing Scene?
Well, the American Dental Association opposes oral (tongue, lip, or cheek) piercing and calls it a public health hazard. The American Academy of Dermatology has taken a position against all forms of body piercing with one exception: the ear lobe (they also don't object as strenuously to belly button piercing, but we'll get to that later). And both the U.S. and Canadian Red Cross won't accept blood donations from anyone who has had a body piercing or tattoo within a year because both procedures can transmit dangerous blood-borne diseases.

If you choose to have a body part pierced, you run the risk of the following:

Chronic infection



Prolonged bleeding



Scarring



Hepatitis B and C (which can be fatal)



Tetanus



HIV (although there are no documented cases of this)



Skin allergies to the jewelry that's used



Abscesses or boils (infected cysts that form under your skin at the site of the piercing, which you may have to have drained with needles)



Permanent holes


oles in your nostril or eyebrow


Chipped or broken teeth


Choking from mouth jewelry


A speech impediment



Think about your mouth - warm, dark, and moist - the perfect haven for bacteria to form, which is exactly what can happen when you have your tongue pierced. Or your eyebrow - the skin there is extremely thin and can be sensitive. And the end of your nose is made of cartilage which, if it gets infected or has a blood collection, can wither away because blood can't get to it properly.



And of course, part of the appeal of piercing is the pain and suffering factor. Which is good, because most shops don't use anesthesia.

Where They Go
The ingenuity of piercers seems to know no bounds. Here is a fairly extensive list of body parts that can and have been succesfully pierced, with some of the quaint traditional names for the more exotic piercings. A fast healing piercing should take a matter of weeks, a slow healing one 3 months or more.

Ear
As well as the socially-respectable earlobe piercings, there are many other possibilities in the ear, all of which heal moderately slowly. See diagram



Female Genitals
Male Genitals
Mouth
Labret Just below the middle of the lower lip.



Lip Anywhere else around the mouth opening.



Madonna Either side of the upper lip.



Tongue Through the tongue, usually just behind the tip. Heals fast, though will interfere with speech for several days afterwards.


Neck

Madison Front of neck between collar bones.



Nuchae Back of neck, usually low down just above the shoulders. Can work itself out.


Nose

Earl Through the bridge of the nose; can be a tricky healer.



Nostril Most popular site is low down on the side of the nose so a ring can hang from the nostril. Heals moderately slowly.



Septum Through the fleshy ridge just below the cartilage between the nostrils. Popular because it can be kept open by a discreet stud or keeper. Heals moderately slowly.

Torso
Navel Usually pierced through a pinch of skin either at the top or the bottom, often with a bar.


Nipples These popular and attractive piercings can be among the most bothersome to heal, and will close up very quickly if removed.

Eyebrow
popular and very attractive nowadays.

How It's Done

Medicut needles (above) and traditional piercing needles (below)



Piercings are normally made with a hollow cylindrical needle, such as a traditional piercing needle or, more commonly, a 'medicut' canula needle. These types of needles have a very sharp cutting edge rather than a point, so the skin is not stretched apart as the needle goes through. Typically, a new piercing is made with a 2-2.6mm diameter needle for the insertion of 1.6-2mm gauge jewellery.




There are also spring-loaded piercing guns that shoot a stud through the skin which are widely used for piercing earlobes cheaply in high street shops. These are just about adequate for earlobes, though they are difficult to place with any accuracy and make a thinner hole that is much more difficult to stretch later. They are certainly not to be recommended for any other site.



Piercing requires some skill and experience and excellent hygiene practise to be done safely and we'd recommend in most cases that you go to a reputable specialist piercing studio, especially for piercings on delicate sites. Ensure the piercer has permanent premises and a phone number, so you can easily ring for advice or return should you have any trouble. Canvass friends' recommendations, and check the piercer has clean-looking premises and an autoclave to sterilise their gear: most will be pleased to let you look over their studio before you book a piercing. Make sure the piercer uses solid stainless steel or niobium jewellery, not plated jewellery, since platings can become detached and cause problems. With the expansion of the market, it is now worth shopping around on price too. Some reputable London area piercers are listed below; other websites have extensive listings.



Most piercings hurt momentarily (nipples are arguably the worst), and to avoid discomfort for the client most piercers offer some form of anaesthetic. We'd be wary of anything injectable: most piercers probably aren't qualified to give injections and the sensation of the injection needle can sometimes be as disturbing as the piercing. A numbing spray should be adequate. You may well find that if you can grin and bear it you won't even need that, since a confident and experienced piercer will be quick. And of course you may enjoy the experience.

Doing It Yourself
Though we'd generally recommend going to a professional, particularly for delicate jobs, it is possible to learn to carry out some piercings yourself, which gives you the advantage of incorporating them into a scene. The best way is to gain some experience with play piercing first: this will give you an idea of both the 'feel' and the hygiene practise. Then try things out on a more innocuous site like an earlobe or navel.



You will need a piece of 1.6-2mm surgical steel piercing jewellery, available from a piercing studio or supplier like Wildcat (see belo w), and, if you use one of the popular ball closure rings, a pair of circlip pliers, from the hardware shop, to open and close it. These are pliers with thin blades that push apart rather than together as you squeeze the handles. If you place the blades inside the ring and gently squeeze, the ring will open up enough to remove the ball. To close the ring again, once more open it gently with the pliers, insert the ring and let go. The ring should now grip the ball tightly once more. Practise this a few times: it requires a bit of a knack. And be very gentle with the pliers or the ring will lose its tension and be impossible to close again.



Before piercing, the ring should be sterilised. It should ideally be autoclaved, but if you don't have these facilities, you can use a pressure cooker. Open up the ring, remove the ball and keep to one side. Now wrap the ring securely in a sturdy paper packet sealed with masking tape, place in a wire basket that keeps the packet out of the water at the bottom of the cooker and, following the manufacturer's instructions, cook for 30 mins at 7kg/15lbs pressure. Then place the basket in a preheated oven for at least three hours at 110oC/225oF. As an absolute minimum precaution, boil the jewellery in water in a covered pan at a rolling boil for at least 45 mins. But in all cases make sure the ring and ball are separated before the ring is sterilised.



Use prepacked sterile gloves, or at least clean examination gloves, and clean the piercing site with alcohol as you would for temporary piercings. Now take a fresh, sealed Medicut canula needle, available from surgical stores or from Wildcat: use a 2mm gauge for a 1.6mm ring, and a 2.6mm gauge for a 2mm ring. Open up the sealed pack carefully, touching the needle as little as possible. This type of needle has an attached plastic sleeve intended for connecting to other equipment but ideal for piercing purposes. There is a usually a small syringe attached to the other end of the sleeve which is not required for piercing; remove it carefully before proceeding.



Now line up the needle and push it steadily through the piercing site, continuing all the way through until the needle itself has passed through completely and the plastic sleeve is threaded through the hole. Remove the needle from the sleeve and replace it with one end of the ring. Holding both ring and sleeve gently but firmly, feed the sleeve back through the piercing with the ring following on behind, using the sleeve as a guide to place the ring. Once the ring is through, remove the sleeve, and replace the ball with the circlip pliers. Discard the needle and sleeve carefully as you would for temporary piercing: they are intended for one use only and should not be used again even if sterilised.

Still Interested?
If you aren't sufficiently turned off and want to go for it anyway, there are some things you can do to make piercing safer. Make sure the shop where you get your piercing:


is clean



avoids the use of piercing guns, which aren't sterile



uses needles once and disposes of them in a special container



sterilizes everything that comes near the customer in an autoclave (this is a sterilizing machine that hospitals use on their instruments)



In addition, the piercer should wear disposable gloves and a mask - which he or she changes with each customer.



And if you do get pierced, make sure you take good care of the piercing afterward - don't pick or tug at it, keep the area clean with soap (not alcohol) and don't touch it without washing your hands first. If you have a mouth piercing, use antibacterial mouthwash after eating.



So think long and hard before you get anything other than your ears pierced. Most importantly - don't pierce yourself or have a friend do it - it doesn't get much less sterile.