On the main drag in Adams Morgan, the storied neighborhood in the District of Columbia for things hip, Tattoo Paradise is appropriately snuggled between a West African cafe and a roofer’s union. On one side of the shop are floor-to-ceiling tattoos of butterflies, skulls and roses. On the other side sits a display case with brightly colored gems, along with mini silver crossbars and little balls of steel.
If body art is your thing, this is like being a kid in a candy store. And if you’ve come to get pierced, you’re in the right place. The shop has a regular stream of patrons for piercings — you name where: the nose, lip, tongue, belly button. Unlike your earlobes, which are just little balls of fat, these body parts — especially those in the face — contain cartilage and nerves, which complicate the healing process (and usually make the piercings more painful).
The lips and nose are also dirtier because of the bacteria on the skin, says Houtan Chaboki, an ear, nose and throat doctor and plastic surgeon in the District of Columbia. So these spots are more likely to get inflamed, infected and irritated, he adds.
The piercing disrupts the protective barrier that normally prevents bacteria from entering, Chaboki adds, and in the worst-case scenario, a staph infection on the skin or inside the nose develops.
People who have had major surgery, diabetes or HIV are at a higher risk of infection, he adds. And people who have undergone nose surgery should wait at least six months before considering a nose piercing, while those prone to sinus infections should probably not do it at all, Chaboki adds.
Treat Your Piercing Like a Wound
The body treats jewelry in the body like a foreign object, so a little bit of swelling, numbness, redness or tenderness is common. To stave off a potential infection, piercers recommend you clean the piercing site with warm salt water as well as an antimicrobial soap. You should also maintain a hygienic environment, so use paper products to pat dry your piercing as opposed to towels, which harbor bacteria. For the same reason, you should change your bedding regularly and wear clean clothes.
Also, keep yourself healthy. Even though your piercing might seem as harmless as a splinter, it’s a permanent fixture your body is taking in, so you should boost your immune system by eating a good diet and getting plenty of rest — especially during the first few months following your piercing.
If an infection does develop, you can most likely use a topical antibiotic to treat it, says Barry Ladizinski, a Baltimore-based physician who has studied piercing as both a cultural and medical act.
“In general, it’s fairly safe,” Ladizinski says, adding that people with metal allergies (mostly to nickel) should make sure the jewelry is titanium or some other metal to which they will not be allergic. Also, some people are more prone to developing keloids, or growth-like scars, so if this is you (they’re more common in African-Americans), be aware that a new piercing will increase your risk of these.
Be Prepared for Your Piercing
Ladizinski became interested in piercings as a medical question during his dermatology residency when a patient asked him about nose piercings. He recalled his own tongue piercing as a 15-year-old growing up in Brooklyn. “I barely actually felt it,” he says, adding that the procedure was also unregulated, meaning his parents weren’t with him, and he wasn’t given a lot of care information.
Today, piercers have their own professional association, called the Association of Professional Piercers, and state-by-state regulations govern how piercings are done. Some states, like New Hampshire, are trying to enforce a rule that would oblige piercers to only use disposable equipment such as piercing guns and needles.
Regardless of their state’s rules, people should ask their piercer if he or she is using disposable equipment, Ladizinski says, adding that folks should research their piercing shop to make sure it’s in line with regulations as well.
As for whether he recommends body piercings overall, Ladizinksi says, “It is a fairly safe procedure. If you think it looks good, I don’t see anything wrong with it.” He would like to get a nose piercing himself, but upholding a professional reputation may hold him back. “Everyone tells me it will be looked down upon in the clinical community,” he says, adding that studies have shown that patients and physicians both find visible piercings inappropriate, even associating them with less physician competency.
That’s not the case, however, in countries like India, where piercing has long been part of a tradition of using jewelry as adornment and even a type of healing art, he adds.
For Chaboki, who is Iranian by birth but grew up in the U.S., the various cultural and aesthetic reasons for piercings may be valid, but he cautions against the potential long-term consequences of piercings, particularly the risk of scarring. Any piercing will invariably leave a hole in the body where it was placed, so if you remove the piercing, you may need to undergo touch-up treatments such as laser surgery or chemical abrasions, he says.
And any piercing on the face, he adds, while usually designed to accentuate a certain feature, actually ends up detracting from what is traditionally the most important facial feature in us all — the eyes.
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How to Care for Body Piercings originally appeared on usnews.com
