PIERCINGS ARE $30
PER PIERCING
CASH
except dermal, ear cartilage, and genital piercings

What are young people saying about body piercing today?

Ask other teens who have been pierced what they thought of the whole experience. How much did it cost? Was it painful? How long did it take to heal? If they had the chance to do it over again, would they still get the piercing?
Some tips teens have passed along to us:
  • YOU do NOT have to pierce your body to “belong”.
  • YOU can ALWAYS change your mind or WAIT if you are not sure.
  • If YOU do decide to have your body pierced, NEVER pierce your own body or let a friend do it because you can run into very serious health problems.
Are there any medical reasons why I should not get a piercing?
Yes. There are medical conditions (see the list below) that could interfere with the natural healing process after a piercing, which makes getting a piercing under these circumstances not only a bad decision, but a risky one.
The Association of Professional Piercers recommends that you should not get a piercing if:
  • You have a skin irritation or an unusual lesion or a rash, lump, cut, moles, or lots of freckles (where you want to get pierced)
  • You have diabetes, hemophilia, an auto-immune disorder, certain heart conditions, or another medical condition that might interfere with the healing process
  • If you have plans to become pregnant and want a nipple or navel piercing
  • If you’re already pregnant
  • If a licensed professional piercer feels that it would be a bad idea
Bottom line, if you are wondering if it’s safe for you to have an oral or body piercing, you should talk to your health care provider first.

What are the risks of body piercing?
The most serious risks are infections, allergic reactions, bleeding, and damage to nerves or teeth. Infections may be caused by hepatitis, HIV, tetanus, bacteria, and yeast. If the piercer washes his/her hands and uses gloves and sterile equipment and you take good care of your piercing, the risk of infection is lowered (but can still occur).

Did you know that:
  • You CAN get and/or spread a serious infection (including HIV), if the piercing equipment hasn’t been sterilized properly
  • Infections caused by bacteria getting into the puncture of the piercing can happen later, even after the piercing has healed
  • If the studio uses a piercing “gun” to do body piercings, LEAVE! Piercing guns cannot be sterilized and should NOT be used for body piercing
Another cause of problems from piercings is using the wrong kind of jewelry for the area pierced. If the jewelry is too large, it can actually cut off the blood supply to the tissue, causing swelling and pain. If the jewelry is either too thin or too heavy, or if you’re allergic to the metal, your body may reject the jewelry.

Know the risks before you have your body pierced:
  • Bacterial infection (where you had the piercing)
  • Excessive (a lot of) bleeding
  • Allergic reactions (to certain kinds of jewelry)
  • Damage to nerves (for example, you may lose feeling at the area that gets pierced)
  • Keloids (thick scarring at the piercing site)
  • Dental damage (swelling and infection of the tongue, chipped/broken teeth, gum trauma, choking on loose jewelry)
Is the healing time the same for all body parts?
Healing time is different depending on the part of your body that you get pierced. Some parts are more likely to get infected or have problems. Piercings on your ear lobes usually take about 6-8 weeks to heal. However, piercings on the side of your ear (cartilage) can take anywhere from 4 months to 1 year to heal. The reason for this is that the type of tissue in each area is different, and the amount of pressure placed on the pierced area while you are sleeping is different too.
Tongue piercings swell a lot at first, but heal fairly quickly if the right type of jewelry is used. However, metal jewelry in the tongue may damage your gums and chip the enamel surface of your teeth. In fact, the ADA (American Dental Association – a group of dentists that set professional standards for dentists in the United States), is against any type of oral piercings because of all the risks.
In some cases, nipple piercings can damage some of the milk-producing glands in a young woman’s breasts. This can cause infections or problems later on if the woman decides to breast-feed her baby. Some pierced areas, such as the navel (belly button), are more likely to become infected because of irritation from tight clothing. A pierced site needs air to help the healing process.

Body Piercings & Healing Times



Pierced Body Part:Healing Time:
Ear lobe
4 to 6 weeks
Ear cartilage
3 to 6 months
Eyebrow
9 to 12 weeks
Nostril
2 to 4 months
Tongue
4 to 6 weeks
Lip
2 to 3 months
Nipple
3 to 6 months
Navel (belly button)
9 months to 1 year
Female genitalia
4 to 10 weeks
Male genitalia
4 weeks to 2 months


The Basics
Body piercing, a form of body modification, is the practice of puncturing or cutting a part of the human body, creating an opening in which jewellery may be worn. The word piercing can refer to the act or practice of body piercing, or to an opening in the body created by this act or practice. Although the history of body piercing is obscured by popular misinformation and by a lack of scholarly reference, ample evidence exists to document that it has been practiced in various forms by both sexes since ancient times throughout the world.
Ear piercing and nose piercing have been particularly widespread and are well represented in historical records and among grave goods. The oldest mummified remains ever discovered were sporting earrings, attesting to the existence of the practice more than 5,000 years ago. Nose piercing is documented as far back as 1500 BC. Piercings of these types have been documented globally, while lip and tongue piercings were historically found in African and American tribal cultures. Nipple and genital piercing have also been practiced by various cultures, with nipple piercing dating back at least to Ancient Rome while genital piercing is described in ancient India c. 320 to 550 CE. The history of navel piercing is less clear.
The practice of body piercing has waxed and waned in Western culture, but it has experienced an increase of popularity since World War ll, with sites other than the ears gaining subcultural popularity in the 1970s and spreading to mainstream in the 1990s.
The reasons for piercing or not piercing are varied. Some people pierce for religious or spiritual reasons, while others pierce for self-expression, for aesthetic value, for sexual pleasure, to conform to their culture or to rebel against it. Some forms of piercing remain controversial, particularly when applied to youth. The display or placement of piercings have been restricted by schools, employers and religious groups. In spite of the controversy, some people have practiced extreme forms of body piercing, with Guinness bestowing World Records on individuals with hundreds and even thousands of permanent and temporary piercings.
Contemporary body piercing practices emphasize the use of safe body piercing materials, frequently utilizing specialized tools developed for the purpose. Body piercing is an invasive procedure with some risks, including allergic reaction, infection, excessive scarring, and unanticipated physical injuries, but such precautions as going to a medical professional for your piercing, sanitary piercing procedures and careful aftercare are emphasized to minimize the likelihood of encountering serious problems. The healing time required for a body piercing may vary widely according to placement, from as little as a month for some genital piercings to as much as two full years for the navel.

Nipple, navel and genital piercing


Navel piercing may have been practiced in Egypt, but its history is disputed.

The history of nipple piercing, navel piercing, and genital piercing, has been particularly misrepresented by printed works continuing to repeat myths that were originally promulgated by Malloy in the pamphlet Body & Genital Piercing in Brief. However, records do exist that refer to practices of nipple and genital piercing in various cultures prior to the 20th century. Kama Sutra dated to the Gupta Empire of Ancient India, describes genital piercing to permit sexual enhancement by inserting pins and other objects into the Foreskin of the penis.[8] The Dayak tribesmen of Borneo passed a shard of bone through their glans for the opposite reason, to diminish their sexual activity. In the Talmud (Tractate Shabbat 24A), there may be mention of a genital piercing in the probition against the kumaz, which medieval French Talmudic commenter Rashi interpreted as a chastity piercing for women.

Nipple piercing may have been a sign of masculinity for the soldiers of Rome. Nipple piercing has also been connected to rites of passage for both British and American sailors who had traveled beyond a significant latitude and longitude. Western women of the 14th century sometimes sported pierced as well as rouged nipples left visible by the low-cut dresses fashionable in the day. It is widely reported that in the 1890s, nipple rings called "bosom rings" resurfaced as a fashion statement among women of the West, who would wear them on one or both sides. It was reported that the practice was likked to the medical condition Hysteria.

Growing popularity
Body modification in general became more popular in the United States in the 1990s, as piercing also became more widespread, with growing availability and access to piercings of the navel, nose, eyebrows, lips, tongue, nipples and genitals. In 1993, a navel piercing was depicted in MTV Video Music Awards "Music Video of the Year", “Cryin’”, which inspired a plethora of young female fans to follow suit.According to 2009's The Piercing Bible, it was this consumer drive that "essentially inspired the creation of body-piercing as a full-fledged industry." Body piercing was given another media-related boost in 2004, when during a Half-Time performance at Super Bowl XXXVll singer Janet Jackson experienced a “wardrobe malfunction” that left exposed Jackson's pierced nipple.Some professional body piercers reported considerable increases in business following the heavily publicized event.

Risks associated with body piercing
Body piercing is an invasive procedure with risks. In a 2005 survey of 10,503 persons over the age of 16 in England, complications were reported in 31% of piercings, with professional help being necessary in 15.2%. 0.9% had complications serious enough to require hospitalization.

It is always recommended that you have your piercing done by a medical professional. RN,NP, PA, MD, or DO who is trained in placing body piercing
Autoclaves are standard equipment in professional piercing studios, helping to prevent infection. This type uses a vacuum pump to remove air from the chamber before sterilizing sealed packages of items for later use.
Some risks of note include:

  • Allergic reaction to the metal in the piercing jewelery, particularly nickel. This risk can be minimized by using high quality jewelery manufactured from titanium or niobium or similar inert metals.
  • Infection, bacterial or viral, particularly from Staphylococcus Auraeus, group A Streptococcus and Pseudomonus. Reports at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases indicated that bacterial infections are seldom serious, but that twenty to thirty percent of piercings result in local benign bacterial infection. The Mayo Clinic estimates 30%. Risk of infection is greatest among those with congenital heart disease, who have a much higher chance of developing life-threatening infective endocarditis, hemophiliacs and diabetics, as well as those taking corticosteroids In 2006, a diabetic woman in Indiana lost a breast due to an infection from a nipple piercing. Viral infections may include hepatitis A, hepatitis C and, potentially, HIV, although as of 2009 there had been no documented cases of HIV caused by piercing.While rare, infection due to piercing of the tongue can be fatal. Higher prevalence of colonization of Candida Albicans was reported in young individuals with tongue piercing, in comparison to non-tongue-pierced matched individuals.
  • Excess scar tissue, including hypertrophic scar and keloid formation.While piercings can be removed, they may leave a hole, mark or scar.
  • Physical trauma including tearing, friction or bumping of the piercing site, which may cause edema and delay healing.The risks can be minimized by wearing properly sized jewelry and not changing it unnecessarily, by not touching the piercing more than required for aftercare, and by being conscious of environmental factors (such as clothing) that may impact the piercing.
  • Oral trauma, including recession of gingival tissue and dental fracture and wear. Recession of gingival tissue affects 19% to 68% of subjects with lip and/or intra-oral ornaments. In some cases, the alveolar tooth-bearing bone is also involved, jeopardizing the stability and durability of the teeth in place and requiring a periodontal regeneration surgery. Dental fracture and wear affects 14% to 41% of subjects with lip and/or intra-oral ornaments.
Contemporary body piercing studios generally take numerous precautions to protect the health of the person being pierced and the piercer. Piercers are expected to sanitize the location to be pierced as well as their hands, even though they will often wear gloves during the procedure (and in some areas must, as it is prescribed by law).Quite frequently, these gloves will be changed multiple times, often one pair for each step of setup to avoid cross contamination. For example, after a piercer has cleaned the area to be pierced on a client, the piercer may change gloves to avoid recontaminating the area with the gloves he/she used to clean it. Wearing sterile gloves is required by law for professional piercing procedures in some areas, such as the states of Florida and South Carolina. Tools and jewelry should be sterilized in autoclaves,and non-autoclavable surfaces should be cleaned with disinfectant agents on a regular basis and between clients.
In addition, the Association of Professional Piercers recommends classes in First Aid in blood-borne pathogens as part of professional training or better yet using a medically trained piercer is always the best option.