A common form of body modification is piercing. Piercing has also been around since the dawn of time.
Nose piercing was first recorded approximately 4,000 years ago. The Bible in Genesis 24:22 Abraham requested his oldest servant to find a wife for his son Isaac, the servant found Rebekah, and one of the gifts he gave her was a “golden earring” the original Hebrew word used was Shanf, which also translates as “nose-ring”.
This practice is still followed among the nomadic tribes of Africa, and the Bedouins of the Middle East. The size of the ring denotes the wealth of the family. It is given by the husband to his wife at the marriage, and is her security if she is divorced.
In India there are records dating back to the 16th Century. A stud or a ring is usually worn in the left nostril, It is sometimes joined to the ear by a chain, and in some places both nostrils are pierced. The left side is the most common to be pierced in India, because that is the spot associated in their legends with the female reproductive organs. The piercing is supposed to make childbirth easier and lessen period pain.
It took America a little longer to adopt nose piercing. We don’t find any record until the late 1960′s. It was later adopted by the Punk movement of the late 1970′s as a symbol of rebellion against conservative values, and conservative people like parents and employers still don’t react well to it, so consider their reaction carefully before getting it done.
Tongue piercing was practiced in a ritual form by the Aztecs. The tongue was pierced to draw blood to gain favor with the gods, and to allow communication with the gods.
Tongue piercing is one of the most popular piercings, it’s shocking, provocative and fantastic for oral sex (for both sexes), but at the same time no one need know you have it.
The oldest mummified body in the world was found frozen in an Austrian Glacier in 1991, tests showed the body to be over 5,000 years old. The body had pierced ears.
Ears were probably first pierced for magical purposes, very many primitive tribes believe that demons can enter the body through the ear, because demons and spirits are supposed to be repelled by metal, ear-piercing prevents them entering the body. Sailors used to have an ear pierced to improve eyesight, and if the bodies washed up somewhere it would pay for a Christian burial. In many societies ear piercing is done as a puberty ritual, in Borneo the Mother and Father each pierce one ear as a symbol of the child’s dependence on their parents.
Ear piercing is an almost universal practice for men and women. At various times in history men wore elaborate earrings; during the Elizabethan era many famous men such as Shakespeare, Sir Walter Raliegh and Francis Drake wore gold rings in their ears.
“As the Roman Republic grew more effeminate with wealth and luxury, earrings were more popular among men than women; no less a he-man than Julius Caesar brought back to repute and fashion the use of rings in the ears of men.”
“Jewels & Women; The Romance, Magic and Art of Feminine Adornment” Marianne Ostier, Horizon Press, New York, 1958
LIP LABRET PIERCING HISTORY ^TOP^
The piercing of the lips for the insertion of objects into them is very widely practiced throughout the world. Most lip piercing is done with labrets, which can either be a pin of wood, ivory, metal, or even in one case quartz crystals. Among the tribes of Central Africa, and South America the Labret piercing is stretched to extremely large proportions, and large wooden or clay plates are inserted.
Among the ancient Aztecs and Mayans labret piercing was reserved for male members of the higher castes, they wore beautiful labrets fashioned from pure gold in the shape of serpents, golden labrets with stones inset and ones of jade or obsidion (labret in Aztec “Tentetl”). The Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest, and the Inuit peoples of northern Canada and Alaska wore labrets fahioned from walrus ivory, abalone shell, bone, obsidian, and wood.
The piercing of the septum is probably the second most common piercing among primitive peoples after ear piercing, it’s even more common than nostril piercing. The septum piercing is particularly prevalent among warrior cultures; this probably has to do with the fact that large tusks through the septum give the face a fierce appearance. The Septum piercing was beloved by the Aztecs, the Mayans, and the Incas. They wore a variety of jewelry, but jade and gold were the most popular because of their religious associations.
Septum piercing was widely practiced by many North American Indian tribes, the name of the Nez Perce, tribe of Washington state, stem from their practice of piercing the septum, Nez Perce, is French for Nose Pierced, and was given to the tribe by the French fur traders.
Navel piercing is a modern invention and has never been recorded in primitive cultures; however the navel has long been recognized as an erogenous zone, because of the difference between men’s and women’s stomachs. Women’s stomachs differ from men’s in that they are more rounded in the lower part, are longer than men’s, have a greater distance between the navel and genitals, and are more deeply recessed than men’s; these features are often exaggerated by artists to make women appear more feminine in paintings.
We find in the 14th century find low plunging necklines on dresses. Queen Isabella of Bavaria introduced the ‘Garments of the grand neckline’; where the dress was open to the navel. This open display soon led to nipple fashion and among higher caste women it became common to find diamond studded rings or small caps on their nipples. And even more daring to pierce them and pass gold chains through them decorated with diamonds.
In the late 1890s the ‘Bosom Ring’, came into fashion briefly, and sold in expensive Parisian jewelry shops. These were inserted through the nipple, and some women wore on either side linked with a delicate chain. The rings enlarged the nipples and kept them in a state of constant excitation.
The benefits of having your nipple pierced are the same today as they were for the fashionable ladies of Paris and London in the 1890s. It makes the nipples larger, more sensitive, more sexually attractive, and provides a constant stimulation of the nipples. It provides greater sexual pleasure because it gives your partner something to play with during sex.
The Prince Albert piercing is named after Prince Albert who was the husband of Queen Victoria of England. He was reputed to have had this piercing done prior to his marriage to the queen around 1825, at that time Beau Brummel started the craze for ultra tight mens trousers. Because the pants were so tight, the penis needed to be held to one side or the other so as not to create an unsightly bulge. To accomplish this some men had their penis pierced to allow it to be held by a hook on the inside of the trousers, this piercing was called a “Dressing Ring” at the time because tailors would ask if a gentleman dressed to the left or the right and tailor the trousers accordingly, tailors to this day will ask if you dress to the left or right.
The Prince Albert Piercing is very effective for sex. It provides greater stimulation to both partners during sex, and it has the added allure of being somewhat kinky, people always have to wonder what it would be like to have sex with someone with a genital piercing.
Now let’s move on from history to problems associated with piercing. There is a lot of information here and it’s all things you should be aware of. If you want a piercing don’t let the following information stop you. But know the risks so you can minimize any side effects. Also and I can’t stress this enough, find an experienced artist who cares more about you as a client than as a piece of art he can show off.
Piercing the warning label.
Jewelry can sometimes be pushed out of the body like a sliver
Given the choice, your body doesn’t want foreign objects inside itself, and that includes a piercing. If it is “easier” for your body to push the piercing out like a splinter than it is for your body to heal a fistula (skin tunnel) around it, it will.
This is especially true for a surface piercing.
Fibrous scar tissue formed when the body over-responds to trauma
Keloids are a specific kind of fibrous scar tissue — most people make the mistake of assuming that all piercing-related scarring is keloiding. Keloids are more likely to occur in those with black and/or asian genetics. Keloid scars can extend well past the edges of the original wound/scar and tend to be darker in colour than hypertrophic scars.
While one can try and treat keloid scarring with steroid injections it is not usually effective and surgical removal is often the only option. It should also be noted that even after removal keloids may re-occur. Keloids are best avoided by minimizing the source of irritation (ie. taking out the piercing or changing the jewelry).
Due to bad placement or an increase in the size of the piercing, a piercing may become overstretched, the tissue surrounding the piercing may not all “grow” evenly. Rather than expanding to meet the stretching, it may simply thin out.
Thinning is also caused by weak spots. Weak spotsmay occour in the surrounding tissue, that tissue will tend to take all the stretching, often by thinning. Outside of overstretching alone, weak spots are most often caused by one of two ways:
Weights are NOT a good way to stretch. Weights put far more pressure on the bottom of a piercing than the top, and tend to wear away and thin out this tissue. Do not stretch using weights. Stretching should be accomplished by gradual increase in size of the jewelry.
Bad placement is the second way. For example, if a lobe piercing is placed close to the edge of the lobe, it has a natural weak point. When stretching, the forces will focus on that point, eventually breaking it.
If you notice a piercing thinning out, you are probably out of luck on further stretching on this piercing. You may be able to surgically correct this problem.
Safety pins are generally made of low-grade steels that are not at all suitable for body piercing. If you pierce with a safety pin you can expect at a minimum to have an allergic reaction, and you may also experience other side-effects leading to peripheral complications. For example, your body may adhere to the safety pin, making it very difficult to remove.
If you absolutely must use a safety pin, it must be made of an implant-grade stainless steel or titanium. A small number of body jewelry companies can manufacture these for you.
Aside from the risks generally associated with piercing guns, piercing studs themselves are simply not usable as body jewelry for two primary reasons. Earr piercing studs are simply not very long. They were designed for ear piercing, and most body piercings pass through more tissue. Thus, using a piercing stud compresses and damages the tissue, making it much harder to heal. Piercing studs are typically 18ga or 16ga, which is too small to safely do most body piercing. There are of course a handful of related issues, primarily related to the piercing gun, not the stud
If you get in a car crash, fall out a window, or just slip on some wet rocks at the beach, your piercings, may, effectively become shrapnel. If they are impacted with a large force the may be driven into your body. Now on a side note doctors and emergency response teams may not be aware that you have body piercings and may assume that any twisted metal they find in your skin needs to be removed immediately. In addition, in the case of an impact, nasal and oral piercings can most certainly present an inhalation risk.
Hypertrophic scarring is heavy scarring that appears around a piercing or other wound. The main reason that they’re different from keloid scars is that you can make them go away (they are also slightly lighter in colour and do not extend past the original scar).
Most people, including many artists will mistakenly call all scars keloids when in fact hypertrophic scarring is more common. Hypertraphic scars both go away with treatment, and with time.
Treatments include collagen-reducing steroid injections or topical creams, as well as other methods such as silicone sheet pressure and other homeopathic l methods
Abscess occurs when a bacteria invades tissue and white blood cells engulf the bacteria and die. The white blood cells accumulate as pus because they can’t be drained. Tissue eventually grows around the abscess, surrounding and isolating it in an effort to block the spread of infection. If these walls rupture, the infection can spread throughout the tissue and eventually the entire body.
Abscesses can happen procedurally from contaminated tools or needles, but more often occur because normal skin bacteria, gets trapped inside the piercing wound and is not drained or cleaned properly. Diabetics and those with impaired immune systems are at increased risk for developing abscesses. Parts of the body where blood flow is minimal are also at higher risk.
Symptoms include pain, tenderness, heat, swelling, redness and/or fever. Abscesses in piercings usually manifest themselves as raised pinkish bumps between the edges of the piercing.
Some abscesses may heal spontaneously, but most need to be drained by lancing a hole directly into the abscess so that the body can be rid of the fluid. Antibiotics are usually prescribed but in fact rarely help heal the abscess because it is isolated by the body’s own tissue. Abscesses are most frequently found with surface piercings which do not adequately drain
Boils commonly occur when a slight tear happens inside a piercing and normal skin bacteria gets trapped in the tear, which then heals. These circumstances are somewhat similar in nature to an abscess.
Boils are small, raised pink to red bumps located directly beside a piercing (rather than between the two entrance holes, as with an abscess). These bumps usually have pus in the center, which appears somewhat like white-head acne.
Treatment consists of several hot compresses per day. Effective treatment has included everything from herbal soaks to saltwater, though an antibiotic ointment applied twice per day yields the best results. If and when the boil ruptures, bleeding should be encouraged in order to drain the boil of blood and pus. A doctor may prescribe oral antibiotics as well, and healing can take from 10 to 30 days.
Boils most commonly occur on nostril and nipple piercings, though any non-oral piercing can develop a boil.
Diseases carried and transmitted in the blood (many sexual diseases and others, including of course Hepatitis and AIDS) can be passed from person to person if there is either direct (ie. blood on blood) or indirect (blood on object on blood).
Direct contact can occur if an artist pierces you and then sticks them self with the needle accidentally (they’ll be affected, but not you). It can also happen if two people are doing play piercing and their blood comes in contact (for example, if a person with blood on their finger from their own wound pierces another person). To put it simply, don’t put yourself in contact with anyone’s blood that you wouldn’t be 100% comfortable having unprotected sex with.
Also known as “cross contamination”, indirect contact is when something bloody touches an object which then touches another object which then touches another person’s blood. Each step along the chain is potentially contaminated, so every object touched could give you the diseases in the source blood. That is why artists change their gloves at certain steps during a procedure! It should also illustrate that if you go to a careless studio, getting one piercing could suddenly force you into an unprotected orgy with thousands of people.
Nipple piercing-related factors can lead to serious problems with a woman’s breasts: infected milk ducts are a possible risk when dealing with trauma to the nipples. This condition is similar to a problem breast-feeding women can experience.
Minor infections can travel deeper into the tissue quite quickly, infecting milk ducts. Normal signs of an infected piercing may not even be visible. There might be a lump (warm to the touch, possibly discolored) that forms somewhere away from the nipple on the breast.
Antibiotics can often treat them, or, in slightly more serious cases, lancing (like you’d do for a boil) can be done in the doctor’s office. Untreated though, it can easily lead to surgical removal of the infected milk ducts or the entire breast. Worst case, an infection of this type can literally kill you.
When a piercing is overstretched, the healing skin tunnel (fistula) can be forced out the back of the piercing as an unsightly “blowout”. In addition, some people will experience some discomfort feeling like pins and needles. Minimize the chances of this happening by stretching the piercing slowly and listening to your body.
If it does occur, do not stay at that size of jewelry! Immediately reduce the jewelry and allow the blowout to absorb back into the tissue. If you do not do this, the tissue will heal like this and it will become very difficult for you to repair in the future.
It is essential, especially in female nipple piercings, that the jewelry be large enough to allow the ring to sit comfortable, and to move freely. A ring that is too small will put uneven pressure on the piercing, increasing the chances of migration and rejection. In addition, it will sit low and be quite difficult to move.
In general, nipple piercing does not affect breast feeding unless something goes very wrong in your healing (extreme scarring, mastitis, etc.). There are about twenty milk ducts that exit the nipple, and a single piercing should do little to no damage to this system. That said, you should of course take the rings out while you’re actually doing it.
There is however a remote chance that an infection from a nipple piercing could damage milk ducts (again: remote chance) and jeopardize breast feeding, even after the piercing is removed. Certainly it’s worth considering the risks. It’s a remote chance, but when it comes to offering the best health for your child, many future parents will choose to draw the “better safe than sorry” line very far on the “safe” side.
You can always get them pierced afterwards!
Heavy bleeding can cause shock, but so can injury (ie. piercing, cutting, suspension, and so on) and some peripheral events such as allergic reactions and serious infections. It needs to be emphasized that shock can be life-threatening; be prepared to do rescue breathing and CPR. Because of that I strongly urge anyone who’s working or playing in an environment where people could go into shock to have up-to-date CPR and first-aid training!
While the vast majority of people with modified nipples will experience enhanced sensations, it is possible for minor nerve damage to cause numbness.
While not truly a “risk”, it should be noted that after piercing, most people will experience enlarged nipples (which are far more likely to show through a t-shirt for example). It’s also important to note that for most people, this enlargement will not go away even after the piercing is removed.
This enlargement can also occur from regular play piercing and other heavy nipple play — not just from permanent piercings. Enlarged nipples from heavy play piercing may look like bulbous scar tissue that some won’t find aesthetically pleasing.
It is an unfortunately and frighteningly common phenomena in the younger generation of mod doctors to put a greater emphasis on the modification than the needs of the client.
If your procedure is risky (for example, implants on top of a forearm), the practitioner should explain to you why the procedure can’t be safely done, and discuss your alternatives with you. Only the worst most dangerous hacks will do a procedure that isn’t safe “because the customer insisted”. They will either work with you to develop a safe alternative, or not do the procedure at all.
In the course of discussing all this with you, they will be listening to what you’re saying, and assessing whether you understand the implications of the procedure and are ready for it. If they don’t think you are ready, they will — and SHOULD — tell you either that they won’t do it, or that you’re going to have to ask them again in six months.
Always respect this golden rule:
The “client safety factor” always outweighs the “mod coolness factor”. Always.
Since many genital piercings are self-done by people with very little experience piercing, it is not surprising that they tend to be on the timid side, and find themselves with unacceptably small and/or shallow placements.
Genital piercings probably take more real-world abuse than any other piercing. Properly done though they should bring you pleasure, not problems.
As such, genital piercings should never be done in a gauge smaller than 12ga. In addition, the placement should be suitably deep so as to allow the piercings to survive the stresses they’ll be put under.
Some people don’t like the way that genital mods feel. Most people either like them or are indifferent, but there are definitely people who do not enjoy the feeling. If it’s just piercing, there’s no reason why you can’t take them out for sex (although maybe that defeats the purpose and you’d be better off changing partners than changing jewelry).
If your mod is genital beading or subincision or something equally irreversible, do consider the fact that it will dramatically limit your future sex partner options.
Anything that slows the flow of urine sets a foundation for infection. In addition, when genital piercings become infected, they can transfer this infection up into a urinary tract infection. In addition, anything placed into the urethra or bladder can draw infections inside the urinary tract — it is essential to make sure that any urethral toys are as sterile as possible.
If you think you have a UTI, go to your doctor, who will, after a urine test, prescribe antibiotics which should clear it up quite quickly. Oh, and cranberry juice, while it helps, is not going to magically cure it on its own.
Genital warts (HPV) affect between 1 in 10 and 1 in 5 people in the United States. It is the most likely STD for you to come in contact with, and many people who suffer from it are unaware of that fact.
It is not unusual for genital warts to “grow out of” fresh piercings. In addition, if your fresh piercing comes in contact with warty tissue it can almost immediately sprout warts of its own.
For example, if you get your tongue pierced and then give oral sex to someone with genital warts, you could soon after have giant warts flowering out of the top and bottom of the piercing. Alternately, if you have genital warts and get a genital piercing, it is possible for the warts that you didn’t know you had to suddenly flower out of that piercing hole.
While genital warts do often just go away on their own, that is usually less common in these cases. You should DEFINITELY see a doctor if this happens to you.
Piercings bleed. Genital piercings may bleed for a couple of days. As such, basic logic tells us that a fresh piercing opens your bloodstream to the environment. Full healing takes at least a month, and during that time period your blood is much more accessible to microbes.
Most STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) are transferred by blood to blood contact, usually passing through small tears in the genitals during sex. Having a fresh piercing dramatically increases the chances of this transfer happening.
If you have unprotected sex with a fresh genital piercing or other related procedure, and either you or your partner has an STD, your chances of passing it are very high.
While it’s generally not a good idea to have sex with a fresh body modification, if you do choose to take that risk, it is very important that you use protection.
While most body modification procedures do involve some blood loss, in most it is minimal and should require no first aid treatment let alone be worried about on any larger level. However, there are times when blood loss can be significant, both intentially and unexpectedly.
It should be noted that blood loss almost always seems like more than it is at the time. The majority of the time simple direct pressure can stop the bleeding. A cold compress may also help with swelling. Heavy bleeding that doesn’t stop after this may require medical treatment.
People with bleeding disorders (hemophilia, etc.) will of course bleed more and since their blood can’t properly clot should be taken more seriously.
It is certainly not unheard of in some of the sexually explicit procedures for the artist to be motivated by their fetishistic drive to do the procedure. In other words, they may get off on piercing you.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with someone being aroused by the thought of a procedure. When it becomes a problem is when it starts clouding judgment. You don’t want to be in a position where the artist is motivated primarily by their own sexual drives (rather than by a desire to help you achieve your personal goals).
Almost universally, a good way to identify a responsible artist is that they’ll go to great lengths to ensure that you’re ready for your procedure. That you’re mentally stable and able to handle it, and they’ll even try and talk you out of it often to gauge your drives.
The most obvious way to identify a fetishistic artist is if they make “scene details” (ie. what you’re wearing or not wearing, doing the procedure while you’re in restraints, etc.) a priority, you can bet that is where their head is at. Unless that’s what you’re LOOKING FOR (and I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with this happening as long as it’s consensual), avoid these practitioners.
If the bead comes off of a piece of oral jewelry (or nasal jewelry in rare cases) it can be swallowed. In general swallowed jewelry passes through the digestive tract within a few days totally harmlessly (although in rare cases an object can become stuck requiring either tube removal or surgery). While not recommended, if you swallow a bead or a ring there’s not really much in the way of complications — outside of anxiety — that should be expected. If the entire bar is swallowed (is of course pointy) it could in theory damage your gastrointestinal tract, but this is rare.
If you swallow a bar or larger piece of jewelry, you should check your stool to make sure it passes (to put it simple, shit in a strainer, and then sift for gold) — if you don’t see the jewelry in a few days, call your doctor and get their opinion. Eat a high fiber diet (whole grain breads, cereals, fresh fruits and veggies) until you pass the jewelry. Do not take any laxatives (although milk of magnesia is OK).
If you start throwing up, gagging, choking, etc. seek medical care immediately (assuming it’s not just an anxiety attack). Same goes for if you have stomach pains, bleeding from your rectum or blood in your stool, or are running a temperature.
If loose jewelry in your lip, nose, or mouth opens accidentally you may aspirate (breathe in) the jewelry and/or the bead. If this happens, seek medical attention immediately.
Minimize this risk by always making sure the beads on your jewelry are properly affixed.
Overall, tongue piercings are by far the safest and easiest piercing both to get and to subsequently deal with. As with all body modifications though, there are risks you need to consider.
When jewelry rest against your gums, there is erosion over time, just like water dripping on rock can dig a hole over years. A piece of metal rubbing on your gums can rub a hole in your gums, exposing the roots of your teeth.
Obviously, this puts you at dramatically increased risk of gum and tooth disease, and risks the loss of the affected teeth altogether. Expensive surgery is needed to correct this problem, so if you notice it starting, deal with it immediately.
This risk can be minimized with careful choice of jewelry (determined by the shape of your anatomy) — although other factors such as smoking, diet, and even just genetics also play a role. A professional artist can help you with this, including suggesting alternative jewelry if your gums are being eroded by what you are wearing. Please note that when this happens it is generally irreversible so don’t let it progress if you notice it!!!
Chipped teeth are by far the most common risk for oral piercings. It’s a simple commonsense fact that if you bite down hard on a piece of metal, like a steel bead on the end of a steel barbell, your teeth will break before the metal does.
Chipped teeth, on top of being sensitive, painful, and ugly, put you at a heightened risk of tooth infection, leading to far greater problems, and can be costly to fix properly.
The chance of chipping your teeth can first of all be minimized by wearing properly sized jewelry. In a tongue piercing, the bar should fit snugly with the tongue. If you can annoy everyone by playing with the barbell over your teeth, it’s probably too long.
Seriously, I can’t emphasize this enough — the 3/4″ (or so) barbell that you first get your tongue pierced with is long to accommodate any swelling. You MUST go back three to five weeks after the piercing and get a shorter bar. If you do not, you quite likely will chip your teeth at some point in the future.
Additionally, make sure that the beads are properly affixed to any oral jewelry, if it comes off while you’re eating, it can chip your teeth easily as well.
Other than that, you can minimize this risk by choosing softer non-metal beads (or soft gold beads), but these are not really in common circulation.
While the tongue is highly vascularized (served by the deep lingual artery/vein) and will bleed during the procedure, severe bleeding is extremely rare. If it does happen though, you need to seek immediate medical attention.
All tongue piercings swell. For most people this means that the tongue will swell to about 50% larger than its normal size (which is why fresh tongue piercings are usually done with a 3/4″ bar, and when healed require a 1/2″ bar) for two to seven days and then gradually returning to normal over three to five weeks. In addition, the lymph nodes in the area may become enlarged and tender during this healing period.
This swelling is nothing to worry about in general, but it will negatively affect your speech, taste, and ability to eat during the initial healing period. You can help it by doing sea salt / saline rinses. In addition, if you do everything that involves your tongue (eating and talking) slowly and carefully, your “retraining” and healing will be quicker. If the full swelling continues past a week, you should definitely visit your artist for a follow up.
In extremely rare cases the tongue can swell enough to actually block the airway — this is known as “Ludwig’s Angina” and occurs when the connective tissue, both in the tongue and in the surrounding area, becomes in famed. If this occurs, seek immediate medical attention, if you don’t you could DIE.
If oral jewelry (tongue or lip related) is rubbing on teeth, it can erode the enamel over time, leaving you more susceptible to dental infections. Minimize this risk by having properly placed and sized jewelry. Not all people’s anatomy allows them to have these piercings without negative anatomical interactions — if you are one of these unlucky people, you’re probably better off without the piercing.
Lemierre’s Syndrome is an extremely rare disease which has tentatively been linked as having tongue piercing as a potential trigger. As of mid-2002, there has been a single case of a 15-year-old boy in San Diego. It is important to note that a single small infection in a piercing can travel inward and become much more serious.
In some people a lip ring that rests between two teeth can actually cause some spreading of these teeth in the long term.
When piercings passing through cartilage become infected, it is possible for an infection to become trapped between layers of cartilage. When this happens, infection can spread very rapidly and literally destroy an ear within a period of a day or two — since the cartilage is the structural element of the ear, even after you’ve cleared the infection, permanent damage can easily be done.
A serious infection of this type should be immediately treated by a doctor. Again, this type of infection can spread and grow very quickly, so if this happens to you do not hesitate to visit an emergency room!
Not everyone’s anatomy is suited to the popular industrial piercing, and far too many artists are willing to pierce them anyway. This results in a placement which rather than cleanly passing perpendicularly through the rim, bisects the body of the cartilage on a shallow angle.
As a result, you’re basically asking your body to heal an unviable surface piercing in your cartilage. Best case, it rejects it with minimal scarring until it relocates itself to the rim (if you have one there). More likely though, a keloid or other scarring will build up around the piercing to compensate. Additionally, chances of infection — which can be quite serious are dramatically increased. If your anatomy is not suited to a mod, don’t get it
Under normal circumstances there is no way for your hearing to be damaged by a piercing. Sure, if an artist slips, falls, and rams a needle through your eardrum, then you could have hearing loss, but that’s just not going to happen.
As far as an infection traveling inward and doing such damage, but it’s one of those “one in a million” things; you’re just as likely to lose your hearing from scratching your ear and having a cut from your fingernail get infected and travel inward.
Large gauge conch piercings and other piercings that noticeably alter the structure of the ear will however make slight differences in the ability of your ear to channel sound (like a funnel) into the inner ear. The degree of this change should be extremely minor in normal circumstances.
And lastly in the urban legend category, while there has been debate that the minor irritation from piercing as well as some of the materials involved could marginally increase cancer risks, there are no known/documented links between cancer and body modification.
