Pierceit – Body Modification Journal

The local paper drops through my front door. . .
. . .The front page carrying a story on a body piercing disaster. A couple of days later there’s big media coverage of the woman who was apparently; “killed by her piercings”, more correctly, by septicaemia. So let’s have a look at the real stories…

Cowboys!
The first story involved an establishment where body piercing was carried out as a ‘sideline’ i.e. it was not their primary business. But it gets better; the “piercer” was not even present when the piercing was performed! A member of staff thought, “I can do this piercing stuff”. Needless to say that the ‘victim’ ended-up in the local accident & emergency. Moral of the story… Always go to a full time professional body-piercing studio! I have in fact passed the premises of this company, and having noticed they ‘do’ body piercing, thought to myself, you must be joking, I wouldn’t let them ‘pierce’ the lid on my microwave dinner!

My view is this problem is twofold, the ‘cowboys’ need to be shut down and the general public needs educating, in not only, how to find a professional, but on piercing aftercare, which is as important as getting the right piercer. Hmmm, perhaps if the general public become more aware of the implications of bad piercers then they may all cease trading, just a thought…

Case Two
The second case is not as easy to comment on, as the media (as usual) seem to have clouded the issue somewhat. All we know for sure is that the person in question died from blood poisoning (septicaemia). The press reported that the victim had not looked after the piercings (over one hundred of them), and refused to seek medical assistance. The family refutes this, and says that she did, in fact take proper care of the piercings. So until we get all the facts, I will reserve any comment…

So, after reading quite a few piercing horror stories I find a common thread running through them, and that is, insufficient knowledge, either on the side of the ‘piercer’ (as in the first case) or the ‘piercee’ in cases where the person has failed to care for their piercing.

It should also be noted that not everyone is suitable candidate for body piercing, people with particular medical conditions and/or users of certain drugs, should not even be thinking about having a piercing. Sorry to sound like a broken record, but this is where a professional piercer can advise you. You should also check with your doctor if you have any medical conditions or take any kind of drug, which could cause problems.

Your general state of health is an important factor to take in to consideration. It will in fact govern (or at least have some effect) on the healing time-scale.

Piercing and younger people is a contentious issue, as here in the UK there is no firm law governing body modifications (as yet). My view, for what it’s worth, is that those getting pierced should be mature enough to understand the implications and responsibilities of the piercing.

With more and more piercing studios appearing it’s tempting for people to just go in the nearest one, but the consequences of doing so may not be so ‘convenient’!

Most people are astonished when they discover that you have to clean your piercings, they normally say “well I didn’t have to do that when I had my ear pierced” my reply is normally “you should have!” but the simple fact is that, YOU MUST LOOK AFTER YOUR PIERCING(S). And even when some people do clean their piercings, they do more harm than good, like the person who thought that household bleach would make a good cleaning solution!

Another factor is, doing as you are told! If the piercer tells you not to kiss (open mouth) for a couple of weeks, after having your Tongue pierced, you should follow this command (it’s not a suggestion!). If you don’t comply with this, and then go back to the piercer saying, “I’ve got a problem!” there’s very little they can do for you!

Having spoken with several doctors I came to the conclusion that they are not all against body piercing, far from it, some even admitted to having piercings themselves! But what they did take exception to was exactly what I’ve been talking about here i.e. sub-standard piercers and poor (or no) aftercare. Admittedly it’s not easy to care for something unless you are given instructions and explicitly told to do so. But any studio ‘worth their salt’ will do exactly that!