Archive-name: bodyart/piercing-faq/healed-piercings
Last-modified: September 20, 1996
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 26 parts:

1--Introduction 
2A--Jewelry Materials
2B--Jewelry Sizes & Designs
2C--Facial Piercings & Their Suggested Jewelry
2D--Body Piercings & Their Suggested Jewelry 
2E--Genital Piercings & Their Suggested Jewelry
3--Getting A New Piercing
4A--Professional Organizations, Instruction, Misc. Suppliers
4B--Professional Piercers - United States - A-C
4C--Professional Piercers - United States - D-K
4D--Professional Piercers - United States - L-N
4E--Professional Piercers - United States - O-P
4F--Professional Piercers - United States - Q-Z
4G--Professional Piercers - Canada
4H--Professional Piercers - beyond N. America
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
10D -- Personal Experiences - Genital Piercings Cont'd
11A -- Jewelry Manufacturers
11B -- Jewelry Manufacturers 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) 1996 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 will require stretching. With some piercings the jewelry must be of a
certain design. Please see Part 2 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
(KY).  Place a small amout of lubricant 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 prior to insertion, if it is not
already pre-sterilized.  

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 lubricant 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 pliers are required.  Both types of pliers are available through most
piercing jewelry and supply 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 as discussed in section 7.1 (above). Lubricate the tip of the
taper.  Insert the taper into the piercing with a twisting motion.  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. Fimo 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.

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.


7.2a  Knitting Needle Chart
      provided by M.A. Olds


-----------------------
UK    Metric      USA
-----------------------

# 000 10mm     #15
# 00  9mm         #13
# 0      8mm         #11
# 1      7.5mm        -
# 2      7mm          -
# 3      6.5mm    #10.5
# 4      6mm         #10
# 5      5.5mm    #9
# 6      5mm         #8
# 7      4.5mm    #7
# 8      4mm         #6
# 9      3.75mm      #5
-     3.5mm    #4
# 10  3.25mm      #3
# 11  3mm          -
# 12  2.75mm      #2
# 13  2.25mm      #1
# 14  2mm         #0
# 15  1.75mm       -

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

Rings can be fitted with a wide assortment of beads.  Cubes, skulls, hearts,
coils, and tubes in a variety of metals are just a few of the options.
Decorative sterling silver beads are usually too heavy to be worn on a new
piercing.  Silver beads can irritate a piercing if the bead is in contact with
the piercing.  Silver beads should not be worn with genital piercings; urine
will oxidize the metal.

In the case of gemstones, malachite and lapis should not be used with fresh or
genital piercings, as bodily secretions and urine can break down the stone and
release copper.   Other soft stones, such as jaspers and tigers eyes, are also
subject to erosion.

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.

Decorative beads can also be worn between the balls of circular barbells. This
prevents the balls from coming unscrewed and the jewelry from getting caught on
clothing or in other rings.

When decorating your piercings, be careful to avoid anything too heavy to
prevent 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 toirrigate 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 about their Ultrasounds 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
                             Piercing Exquisite
                         http://www.c2.org/~ardvark/
