Experts warn of potential problems with piercings

Columbia resident Shannon West, wearing a silver stud in her ear and a tiny rhinestone in her nose, is familiar with body piercings.

So when a recent ear piercing — one of five — began to swell and became painful she knew something was wrong. A pea-sized blood clot had developed and needed to be removed.

West, 21, managed to salvage the piercing, which goes through a fold of cartilage on her ear.

Many people don’t think about the dangers of getting piercings, said Daniel Hurwitz, University of Kansas Medical Center Dermatology Division director.

“I have seen hideous infections and injuries because people get piercings,” Hurwitz said. “I may be a little biased though because all I see are the piercings that go wrong,”

On March 17 a Newfoundland, Canada, coroner confirmed that a staph infection from a body piercing caused the death of a 17-year-old Canadian female.

Simon Avis, the chief medical examiner, said the primary infection site was a breast piercing done about a week before the woman died, according to news reports. The infection caused a buildup of toxins, and the teen died from toxic shock syndrome.

Body piercings have become more popular with each passing year, said Melvin Pierson, a spokesman for the Academy of General Dentistry. For the last six to 12 months he has seen an increase in injuries related to oral piercings.

“You would think it is only teenagers who have those piercings,” Pierson said. “But I am seeing people up to 35, 36 years old with tongue piercings.”

A report published in the January/February 2006 issue of General Dentistry indicated many people don’t realize the potential dangers of oral piercings.

Chipped teeth and gum damage can be caused by tongue and lip piercings, Pierson said.

Omar Garcia, of Alternative Art Ink in Columbia, said many piercings are difficult to heal. He has been doing body piercings for six years. Surface piercings like the ones that go through the neck or clavicle tend to get infected, he said.

“I don’t do stuff that won’t heal,” Garcia said. “Sometimes I tell customers I won’t do that piercing. They see the piercing in a magazine, and they think it looks cool. But they don’t realize how often that piercing gets infected.”

Pierson said the best way to avoid a piercing injury is to not get pierced in the first place.

“Just don’t even do it,” he said. “A person is taking a great risk by getting an oral piercing.”

West said she’s outgrown many of her piercings. She has a small scar on her nose left over from one.

She offers advice to those seeking one: “Trust your piercer 100 percent, or don’t get the piercing. Ask yourself, are you OK with that scar when you are 60, or with having that piercing?”