Body Piercing is Cool, But Is It Safe?
Is body piercing dangerous? The success of it depends on what part of your body is being decorated. People are piercing everything these days – from their labia to their tongues to the webbing between their fingers. However being irresponsible about where you get pierced or how you get pierced can be a huge mistake. You could seriously jeopardize your health and become a true fashion victim.
Although having your tongue pierced is very hip it can also damage tooth enamel and even break teeth. This can cause the need for thousands of dollars worth of dental work in the future. Still, thanks to the gangster baling craze for shiny gems on the tooth many people insist on ruining their teeth to become more interesting in terms of being fashionable.
Piercing the tongue seems like the hippest thing but it is a touch that can easily turn you into some kind o fashion victim. If anything goes wrong you can get nerve damage, bleeding, blood poisoning, infections and toxic shock. Tetanus, allergic reactions, hepatitis B, HIV transmission and tetanus are also a big risk. The reason it is so risky is because it actually takes quite a large needle and hole to create a tongue piercing.
Contracting Hepatitis B is one of the worst things that can happen as the result of body piercing. It causes the liver to swell up and stop working. The main culprit for causing hepatitis is dirty needles.
Almost eight percent of all people who get hepatitis also get liver cancer. People who get hepatitis also get cirrhosis which is a scarring of liver tissue that prevents the organ from regenerating itself.
Yet another sometimes-fatal consequence of body piercing is an HIV infection (AIDS). These diseases are b contracted through a dirty tattooing or piercing needle. AIDS is ultimately deficiency of the body’s immunes system that makes it difficult to fight off infection. It can take ten years or more for the HIV virus to develop into full-blown AIDS which makes the person more at risk dying from a very simple infection like the common cold or a bladder infection. Don’t think you are not a risk for catching HIV. The sad statistics are that one out of 250 Americans is currently HIV positive and does not know it.
The main way to avoid HIV and Hepatitis B is to get your body piercing done at a professional salon that is pristine. It should only use needles that are completely sterile.
Piercing your own cheek, lip, tongue, eyebrow, naval, tongue or ears is NOT recommended for anybody in this day and age so please put that old bar of soap and that needle away! And if you do get pierced make sure it is from a reputable place where they use an auto sterilizer to keep equipment clean.
If you have children or teenagers who are thinking of getting a body piercing you need to keep an eye on them. They could impulsively make a mistake that could cause them to develop a chronic health problem for the rest of their life.