Body Piercing .......... Phew.

Body Piercing - is a procedure in which a sharp instrument is passed through a fold of skin or part of the body.
Call me old fashioned I really don't mind because I can never be a fan of body piercing.
These days increasing number of people are piercing their bodies in strange places _------- > the navel, tongue , nipple, genitals etc.
I've tried without bias to see how body piercing adds to ones beauty but I'm always grossed out by the thought. (shrugs).
I've always sensed that there is something wrong about body piercing and was proved right when I read about a young girl (19 years) who was wheeled into Salt Lake City hospital who had stopped breathing from an overdose of a “date-rape drug” .

Doctors at LDS Hospital tried to put a breathing tube down her throat, but their path was blocked by three 1-inch-long metal stud barbells running along the length of her tongue.

“One doctor got to the point where he said, ‘If you have to rip her tongue, just do it, says Dr. Shari Welch, one of the doctors on the case.

“Eventually we got the tongue out of the way, but her body piercing could have cost her  life,” Welch says.

 

Some people claim that body piercing is a form of self expression, it's an art but from the above story it's clear that it can be dangerous to health.

 From my little research these are some of the health risk of body piercing .

Body piercings may cause staph infections and contact dermatitis which is picked up from the nickel composition of the piercing jewelry. Dermatitis is an allergic reaction which does not allow the pierced area to heal properly causing the skin to fester, swell, and become sore. Pull through injuries are also common with body piercings and may require surgery, i.e., eyebrow pull-through injury.

 A piercing in a location such as the tongue involves additional health issues including hygiene. Teeth may be easily cracked, chipped or knocked out with the added weight of a spike or stud.

 People do not realize that constantly touching and playing with a new piercing may cause bacteria to develop which can lead to infection

Dr. William Mallon, director of the emergency residency program at Los Angeles County/University of Southern California Hospital, says his doctors see an adverse reaction to piercing at least once a week. These include allergic reactions to the metals used and infections, especially in hairy areas. Oozing pus from bellybutton piercings is quite common, Mallon says. Infections also occur due to bacteria in the saliva of partners licking or biting a piercing that is healing. “People who pierce nipples or genitalia can be anxious to have their partner start sucking or biting it without waiting for the skin to heal as the piercers will recommend,” says Mallon.

“What happens with these patients is that they will come into the ER with an infection in these areas and we give them an antibiotic to usually stop the streptococcus or staphylococcus bacteria [on skin.] But the antibiotics won’t help because they needed an antibiotic that could fight the [gram negative] bacteria found in the mouth.”

At that point, they usually need to be hospitalized, he says.

 

Whenever you want to pierce any part of your body think of the health risk involved.

 

Chixy