Body piercing with fatal consequences

Body piercing: medical consequences and psychological motivations.

Body piercing is increasing in popularity around the world. In this review, I describe the history, origins, and peculiarities of various forms of body piercing, and procedures involved, variations in healing time, legal aspects and regulations, and complications and side-effects. I have also included a discussion of the motivation for and psychological background behind body piercing. In prese...

Complications of body piercing.

The trend of body piercing at sites other than the earlobe has grown in popularity in the past decade. The tongue, lips, nose, eyebrows, nipples, navel, and genitals may be pierced. Complications of body piercing include local and systemic infections, poor cosmesis, and foreign body rejection. Swelling and tooth fracture are common problems after tongue piercing. Minor infections, allergic cont...

Risks associated with tattooing and body piercing.

The purpose of this article is to highlight the importance of including cosmetic body-piercing and tattooing in HIV prevention and education. Little information about risks associated with tattoos or having one's body pierced is evident in the health promotion and disease prevention literature, particularly among adolescents, ethnic groups, and incarcerated populations. It is incumbent that pre...

Body piercing and tattooing perspectives.

This descriptive, correlational study surveyed 79 pierced and/or tattooed participants to determine reasons why people pierce and tattoo their bodies and to assess participants' knowledge of health risks involved in body alteration procedures. Participants queried represented a wide age range-between 19 and 55. Results showed that participants perceived few health risks involving piercing and t...

JAMA patient page. Body piercing.