Subject: rec.arts.bodyart: Piercing FAQ 7--Healed Piercings Date: 7 Dec 1995 23:15:42 GMT Expires: Mon, 01 January 1996 07:00:00 GMT Archive-name: bodyart/piercing-faq/healed-piercings Posting-frequency: Monthly Summary: This posting contains information about body piercing. Anyone interested in the subject and/or wishes to read/post to rec.arts.bodyart should read the Piercing FAQ first. The rec.arts.bodyart Piercing FAQ is broken up into 18 parts: 1--Introduction 2A--Jewelry Materials 2B--Jewelry Sizes & Designs 2C--Unisex Piercings & Their Suggested Jewelry 2D--Genital Piercings & Their Suggested Jewelry 3--Getting A New Piercing 4A--Professional Organizations, Instruction, Misc. Suppliers 4B--Professional Piercers & Jewelry Manufacturers - United States - A-F 4C--Professional Piercers & Jewelry Manufacturers - United States - G-M 4D--Professional Piercers & Jewelry Manufacturers - United States - N-Z 4E--Professional Piercers & Jewelry Manufacturers - beyond the United States 5--Care Of New Piercings 6--Problems And Hazards 7--Healed Piercings 8--Misc. Info 9--Resource List 10A -- Personal Experiences - Facial & Unisex Piercings 10B -- Personal Experiences - Genital Piercings 10C -- Personal Experiences - Genital Piercings Cont'd What's in this section: 7--Healed Piercings 7.1 Changing Jewelry 7.2 Stretching Piercings 7.2a Knitting Needle Chart 7.3 Piercing Adornments 7.4 BDSM Play, And Chastity 7.5 Play Piercing 7.6 Hiding And Retaining Piercings 7.7 Piercings And Surgery 7.8 Piercings and Common Medical Procedures 7.8a Dentistry 7.8b Surgical Procedures / In-Patient Treatment 7.9c Ultrasound / X-Ray / MRI / CT Scan All texts written and (c) 1995 by Anne Greenblatt unless otherwise noted. Please see Part 1 of the FAQ for information regarding copyright and dissemination of the FAQ. DISCLAIMER! The Piercing FAQ contains material of a sexually explicit nature. 7.1 CHANGING JEWELRY Once a piercing is healed, jewelry must be changed as desired. It is important to wear jewelry of the same gauge as the original piercing - too small a gauge and the piercing may shrink around the smaller jewelry; too big and the piercing may stretch uncomfortably. With some piercings the jewelry must be of a certain design. Please see Part 1 of the FAQ for reference. Changing jewelry is most easily achieved by lubricating the piercing and the new piece of jewelry using anti-bacterial ointment or a water-based lubricant. The ointment clings to the jewelry and will provide medicating benefits if there is any damage to the piercing. Place a small amout of ointment onto the existing jewelry, using a cotton swab. Rotate the jewelry, thoroughly lubricating the piercing. In the case of captive bead rings and seamless rings, this can be done after opening the ring, which can be challenging if the ring is slippery. The new jewelry should be soaked in disinfectant solution. If you are worried that the piercing may shrink when the jewelry is removed, use the new piece of jewelry to push out the existing jewery, maintaining contact/tension between the two pieces of jewelry within the piercing. Remove excess ointment with a cotton swab before closing the jewelry. In the case of barbells, tighten the ball(s) with a tissue wrapped around your fingers. Never use pliers to tighten barbells as this will unduly stress the threads - finger strength should be enough to tighten the balls securely. If pliers are used to close or open rings, wrap the jaws with surgical tape to prevent scratching and marring the jewelry. In the case of captive bead rings in small diameters or thicker gauges, ring expanding pliers are sometimes required to release the bead. If the gap in the ring is too great, ring closing, or bowing, pliers are required. Both types of pliers are available through larger piercing jewelry retailers. Expanding pliers, or snap ring pliers, can sometimes be found at hardware stores. Seamless and attached bead rings should be torqued to maintain ring tension. Captive bead rings can be opened this way as well, if the gap in the ring is too small to comfortably insert the jewelry. Once again, how much effort is required depends on the diameter and gauge and metal of the ring. Frequent bending may warp the ring and eventually weaken the metal to the point of breakage. In the case of barbells with external threads, cover the threads with orthodontal wax or dip the threads in hot candle wax to prevent the threads from tearing the inside of the piercing. The wax can be removed with rubbing alcohol. 7.2 STRETCHING PIERCINGS Only well-healed piercings should be stretched. Stretching is not recommended if there is any scar tissue present around the piercing. Piercings should only be stretched a maximum of two gauge sizes (for example, from 14 gauge to 12 gauge) to prevent tearing and irritation. Expect the piercing to be sore for a day or so after stretching. If the piercing does tear or if there are any secretions or dried discharge around the piercing after stretching, treat the piercing with the aftercare products used when the piercing was originally healing. Piercings can be stretched using insertion tapers, available from most jewelry suppliers, or knitting needles, which are manufactured in the same Brown and Sharpe gauge system used for piercing jewelry. The instrument used to stretch the piercing should be thoroughly cleaned, sterilized if possible. Lubricate the piercing with anti-bacterial ointment with the existing jewelry. Lubricate the tip of the taper with ointment. Insert the taper into the piercing with a twisting motion. You may feel or hear the piercing "pop" as it stretches. Push the taper through until the thickest end is flush with the surface of the skin. Insert the new jewelry following the instructions above for changing jewelry. Most insertion tapers have a concave end to receive the ring end. Tapers with pin-couplings are available for easier insertion of internally-threaded barbells (a few companies manufacture threaded tapers fitted to their jewelry). If you are stretching more than two gauges up and do not wish to purchase intermediate jewelry, you can wear the tapers or insert nylon cord of the same thickness into the piercing, wrapping tape around the ends to prevent it from falling out. Fima clay has been used successfully as intermediate jewelry as well. Piercings can be stretched using weighted jewelry. Be careful of tearing - too much weight on too thin a gauge can easily tear a piercing. The thinner the gauge, the easier the piercing will tear. Weighted piercings also tend to stretch vertically rather than evenly, as with a taper. To accomodate eyelets, piercings need to be stretched two gauges larger than the eyelet guage, in order to accomodate the flanges of the eyelet. Please see Julian Hurt's posting on eyelets in the Unisex Piercing Experiences section for more details. A few companies now manufacture eyelets which are flanged at one end and fitted with a rubber o-ring at the other, thereby avoiding the necessity of having to stretch beyond the gauge of the eyelet. Cartilage piercings stretch very slowly. Attempting to stretch a reluctant cartilage piercing may contribute to keloiding. To acquire a large-gauged cartilage piercing, some piercers recommend making the initial piercing large using a dermal punch to core out the cartilage. 7.2a Knitting Needle Chart provided by M.A. Olds UK Metric USA # 000 10 mm # 15 # 00 9 mm # 13 # 0 8 mm # 11 # 1 7.5 mm - # 2 7 mm - # 3 6.5 mm # 10.5 # 4 6 mm # 10 # 5 5.5 mm # 9 # 6 5 mm # 8 # 7 4.5 mm # 7 # 8 4 mm # 6 # 9 3.75 mm # 5 - 3.5 mm # 4 # 10 3.25 mm # 3 # 11 3 mm - # 12 2.75 mm # 2 # 13 2.25 mm # 1 # 14 2 mm # 0 # 15 1.75 mm - Please note that the sizes of actual needles may not be right on the spec (based on my experience), so anyone who want precision needs to measure to be sure. 7.3 PIERCING ADORNMENTS The bead of captive bead rings can be replaced with sterling skulls, hearts, and other ornaments which have been specially drilled, available through most jewelry suppliers. Decorative beads from craft stores and other sources can be worn in the captive bead ring as well. With thinner gauges, it may be difficult to find beads which are not drilled to large and will not slip all the way around the ring. Also, keep in mind that Malachite, Lapis and Tree Agate are ot suitable for new, unhealed and genital piercings, as fluids, cleaning solutions and urine break down, releasing harmful minerals. Hematite can also break down with frequent exposure to urine. Decorative beads can also be worn between the balls of circular barbells. This also prevents the jewelry from getting caught on clothing or in other rings. When decorating your piercings, be careful to avoid anything too heavy to avoid unwanted stretching or possible tearing. 7.4 BDSM PLAY, AND CHASTITY Heavy bondage play - chains, restraints, and weights - should only be practiced on heavy-gauged jewelry, at least 12 gauge. If any pain is experienced, play should be stopped immediately. Nipple clamps may be used on pierced nipples, with the jewelry in place, though the clamps should be placed vertically rather than horizontally. Only use nipple clamps on well healed piercings. Creative chastity restraints can be made using lightweight chain and clasps. For example, labia piercings can be locked together using lightweight padlocks (note that padlocks of non-surgical stainless steel should not be exposed to urine, or worn _through_ the piercings themselves, as the metal is not safe for such applications; a few manufacturers have padlock-style body jewelry available). Be creative but let common sense guide you. With genital piercings, do not wear anything subject to corrosion by urine and other body fluids other than temporarily. 7.5 PLAY PIERCING Play piercing is popular among some S/M circles and is used to experience the heightened sensations of piercing without having to install jewelry. Play piercings should only be made through the surface skin and through the noted piercing locations. Play piercing needles are available, presterilized, through most jewelry and piercing suppliers. These needles are usually of thiner (22-18) gauge, designed the same as piercing needles. Hypodermic needles can also be used. Needles used in play piercing should only be used once and should be disposed of via medical Sharps container or placed in a sealed container containing chlorox. Sterilization methods for piercing should be followed. The area to be pierced should be disinfected with Betadine, Hibiclens or Triclosan-based antibacterial soap just prior to piercing. The piercer should wear latex gloves. In an established relationship where contact with body fluids is not a concern, the piercer may just wash his/her hands thoroughly with Hibiclens or anti- bacterial soap. After the needle is removed, the area should be treated with a recommended piercing aftercare product to prevent infection. Again, let common sense guide you. If you are unsure of an area of the body and what lies beneath the skin, do not pierce! 7.6 HIDING AND RETAINING PIERCINGS For some of us piercing enthusiasts, work, weddings, and visits with relatives may require us to hide our piercings, temporarily. There are several options, depending on the piercing. Nostril piercings can be disguised as facial blemishes by coating the ball of a nostril screw with any of a variety of colored nail polish - flesh tones are available to mix and match with your own coloring. Remove the jewelry before applying the nail po lish, and let it dry thoroughly. The jewelry may require more than one coat. The nail polish can easily be removed with nail polish remover. Labret studs may also be disguised in this manner. This method is _only_ advisable for healed piercings! Nylon ear studs are available from most department stores and earring kiosks. The stud usually has a flat disc and is held in place by a rubber barrel clasp. These studs are intended to replace normal earring studs when the wearer is allergic to metals. These studs can be used to disguise nose and ear piercings using nail polish as described above, and to retain ear and nose piercings during surgery. The only drawback is that the studs are only available in one thickness equivalant to 20-18 gauge. Nylon cord, such as fishing line and weed-trimmer line, can be matched fairly well to various gauges. Thicker fishing line works for 18 gauge. Weed- trimmer line, sold in small spools at the hardware store, will work for 16 through 10 gauge, depending on the manufacturer. You may have to do a lot of comparison shopping to find an equal thickness. The packages state the metric thickness of the cord, so you can compare measurements (please see Par 2A for a list of gauges and equivalents). File the ends smooth with a nail file and disinfect the cord prior to inserting. The ends can be flattened with a hot knife to prevent the cord from falling out, or the ends can be wrapped with tape. For piercing retention during surgery, tape the cord flat against the skin, if possible. In the case of well healed piercings, hypoallergenic false eyebrow glue can be used to hold the nylon cord in place. The glue can be removed with warm water or rubbing alcohol. A few manufacturers have made eyebrow piercing retainers available. These are short (5/16" or so) lengths of steel or niobium wire with a small hook at one end to "grapple" the top entrance of the piercing. They are not intended for use with new piercings. 7.7 PIERCINGS AND SURGERY (by S. Dorsey) At times, when going in for a hospital stay, you are asked to remove your jewelry. Some people have expressed some skepticism that this is really necessary. The problem begins when we talk a little bit about radio waves. RF (radio frequency) signals don't behave like conventional electricity, and can be radiated outward from an antenna into free space. If your body is energized with RF uniformly, it won't do you any harm until you take hold of a metal object, which will radiate that signal outward and tend to give you a burn on the area where you touched it. Frequently technicians will work on an energized AM broadcast antenna (where the whole tower is the antenna). So long as they jump onto the tower without touching both the tower and the ground, they are perfectly safe, but they have to be very careful about keeping tools insulated and staying away from sharp points on the structure. Working around high voltage RF fields, one is advised to remove watches and wire-rimmed glasses, let alone labial piercings. Now, you ask what this has to do with the hospital stay. Well, the primary problem that we come to is that whenever you have an electrical pulse that is very short and abrupt, with a fast risetime, high frequency radio signals will be generated. This is why running the vacuum cleaner interferes with the TV reception, for instance, because the abrupt opening and closing of the curcuit by the motor brushes causes a large number of high frequency harmonics to be generated. Lightning is another excellent example of the phenomenon. (If you want a mathematical way of thinking about this, imagine trying to represent a discontinuous function as a Fourier series... it will require an infinite number of terms each of which represents higher and higher frequency products. If you don't know what this means, don't sweat it, though.) The heart defibrillator is probably the best example of this, however. It uses a very high voltage pulse with a very short risetime to stimulate the heart muscles when the heart has gone into convulsions. While it has saved the lives of many people, the side effects from having short risetime pulses going through your body can be pretty severe, especially if you have hidden jewelry somewhere. What is worse is that the patient who is receiving this is probably not in any state to inform the doctor that there is something wrong. So follow the man's instruction and remove the jewelry. It might not be a problem, but it might also save you from serious injury in an emergency. Short note: Diathermy equipment also has similar effects, though patients undergoing diathermy probably have a better grip on what is happening to them and the effect isn't so severe. Frankly, does anyone still use diathermy these days, anyway? I haven't heard about it for years.... 7.8 PIERCINGS AND COMMON MEDICAL PROCEDURES 7.8a Dentistry For bitewing dental x-rays, it may be necessary to remove tongue and lip jewelry, if the jewelry is in such a location as to interfere with the accuracy of the x-ray. For panoramic x-rays, removal of oral jewelry is required, and posibly removal of nasal jewelry, if it is in the way of viewing the jaw / roots of teeth. Routine cleaning and other routine procedures should not require the removal of oral jewelry, unless it is so large that the dentist cannot adequately work around it. Lani Teshima-Miller (lani@lava.net) reported extreme irritation and inflamation of the bottom entrance of her tongue piercing, apparently due to residual cleaning grit. After dental work, it may be advisable to thoroughly irrigate piercings using diluted Listerine and a plastic syringe (many dentists have these available for patients who need to irrigate suture sites). Denise Robinson (dextra@geeklove.jammys.net) contributes - "My partner/SO had to have his wisdom teeth removed. During the preliminary examination the dentist used a tongue depressor; he tapped the barbell a few times quizically, made comments about it being cool, and continued. The procedure was done without removal of the jewelry. Luckily the procedure was performed in a private practice." 7.8b Surgical Procedures / In-Patient Treatment Denise Robinson (dextra@geeklove.jammys.net) contributes - "Hospitals seem to have a blanket policy about removal of jewelry, but if one is insistent enough and can demonstrate that the jewelry is not easily removed, you may be able to get away with it. When going in for a D&C (abortion) I didn't have to remove either of my tongue piercings, navel ring or any of my labial or hood piercings. I was told to do so, but was quite vocal about how there was *no* way I'd take out my rings, since to do so would endanger their healing and would require two pairs of pliers. The nurse wasn't too impressed with me copping attitude, but the anesthetist thought my rings were great. * Of his hospital stay, Damin de Folo (folo@prairienet.org) offers - "When I checked into the hospital, I was more concerned about my nipple ring rather than the fact that I had just had a stroke. I was afraid that the doctors or nurses would cut it off, and six months of healing would go down the drain. As it turned out, I needn't have worried. "During the two weeks I stayed in the hospital, no one said much about the nipple ring, except one nurse who asked the inevitable question, "Did it hurt?" She had been thinking about a navel pierce, and I only wish I had felt more up to talking! "Trying to figure out what caused the stroke, I went through a battery of tests. The closest I came to removing the ring was during a CT Scan, when the staff was worried about it heating up. It was taped down, and I had no problem with it at all, but I did have to take out my earrings. "Because of stress-induced diabetes, my blood sugars were checked several times a day, and before I was released, I was given a home testing machine and a talk from a nurse who specialized in diabetes. When she was finished scaring me, I had two questions. One was whether I would be able to get a tattoo (by now I was wearing a shirt, so she didn't know I already had a couple), and I was given the old spiel about how unsanitary tattoo studios were and that I was at risk for infections. I then asked about bodypiercing, and she was confused. She thought I wanted to get more ear pierces. I flashed her the titring, and she stared for a good while before she laughed and resumed (I guess her patients hadn't had any bodmods). She said to clean the area thoroughly with Hibiclens or Betadine, but she didn't even advise me not to resume getting more holes. So as soon as I can get around better, my wife and I plan to run down to the local piercing parlor and have additional pierces done. Oh yes, my blood sugars have returned normal, but once a diabetic-- as the adviser said--always a diabetic. "During the stay in the hospital, use of blood thinners and a lack of cleaning the pierce combined to retard healing, but that's the only problem resulting from the stroke and hospital stay. I now take a couple aspirin a day but soak again, so the healing process continues unhindered. * Peter Kruse of Lucky Body Jewelry commented to me that it was necessary for him to remove all metal jewelry during his 6 months of radiation therapy for lymphosarcoma. * 7.9c Ultrasound / X-Ray / MRI / CT Scan All of the women who have responded reported that they were able to leave their navel and genital jewelry in place. Ms. Margo (margo@netcom.com) contributes - "An ultrasound uses sound waves to image things inside your body - like babies. :) A good sonographer should be able to work around the ring. You might tape it down for the procedure if it's unhappy. They do push quite a bit with the transducer. If you're having the ultrasound to check on a baby, you're going to be uncomfortable enough when they press on your full bladder." * Ms. Margo (margo@netcom.com) comments that during a conversation with a colleague who is a recognized expert in neuroradiology, the topic tured to surgical stainless steel body jewelry interfering or being affected by MRI machines. His feeling was that he would not scan someone with body jewelry because the stronger, newer magnets would effect [read: pull out] even SSS. N.J. Marsh ( njmarsh@chat.carleton.ca) contributes - "To clarify, MRI uses magnetism to obtain an image. While MRI is usually done within the Department of Radiology, it doesn't use x-rays, so the situation is different than with conventional radiology. "Certainly when I was working, jewellry of any sort would not have been allowed in an MRI. Even stuff like fillings would artefact images, and so all metal except for seriously permanent stuff would have had to come off. "Whether or not you should remove your jewelry hinges on departmental policy and your personal reasons for the procedure. For an elective procedure, I would definitely arrange for removal of metallic jewellry (with replacement by non-metallic if necessary) in order to obtain the best possible result, regardless of the departmental policy (good enough is not good enough). And in an emergency situation, I would rather come out fit and well, and I would not resent neccessary removal of jewellry." Scott Dorsey comments - "It is true that MRI is strong enough to pull out metal no matter how small, but this will ONLY affect items which are magnetic (ferrous; this includes hematite beads). Now, the good news is that your jewelry probably is not magnetic. The bad news is that it might be. The 3xx series that is recommended for jewelry should not be a problem, even in teragauss fields. However, the 4xx series is often used and many of those steels are slightly magnetic, and they WILL cause severe damage in an MRI. If you are not sure, get it all taken out and be safe. "Not only will ferrous metal be pulled out with enormous amounts of force, causing damage to your tender little body, but it will also distort the magnetic field and smear the image in the vicinity, causing you to have to go through the whole test again (and probably pay for it a second time)." Neil Forrester (naf@psy.ox.ac.uk) comments - "I recently went for an MRI scan for a friend's experiment, the nurse told me to remove ALL metal from my person before the scan. I pointed out that I had nipple rings and that I could not really remove them because reinsertion would be a real hassle. Luckily I had recently changed the jewelry to titanium which is not magnetically active, so I only had to remove the SSS beads. " -- * Ardvark * Anne Greenblatt Piercing FAQ Manager for rec.arts.bodyart Proprietor - Piercing Exquisite, Richmond, Va.