Scott's Health Tips:

Body Piercing
Health Tip #11, 7 November 1996

While returning to Freeborn Hall last week, I stepped up to the S.M. desk and handed my SID card to the cute, smiling Security Monitor behind the counter. As I waited for my card back, I did a double-take when I realized that something was very different about Amanda Prestwood. Finally, I noticed it when the yellow lobby lighting glinted off the new piece of metal stuck in her nose. Amanda had gotten a nose-ring! "What made you decide to do that?" I asked. "I dunno, really. I just went there to get this neck collar for Halloween and then all of a sudden I was signing papers, handing over my credit card.... It just kinda happened!"

And then there�s also Adrianna Granville and Tommy Velasquez who, three weeks ago or so, decided to get their eyebrows pierced. It was something they�d been thinking of doing for a while now and finally decided to go through with.

Body piercing is not something confined to Sproul Plaza, the streets of Telegraph, or that blue Arcturan guy in the bar in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock ("Genesis planet forbidden!"). You don�t have to be a skateboarder or asking for beer money in order to have rings hanging from various body prominences. Even the intellectual, future graduates of the University of California are doing it!

Wicked Body Piercing on Telegraph advertises the following prices:

Ear                             $15
Lip                             $20
Eyebrow                         $20
Tongue                          $25
Taper                           $10
Genitalia                       $30
Nipple                          $25
Nostril                         $15
Navel                           $25
Tragus — (part of the ear)     $20
Septum — (middle of the nose)  $25
Labret — (part of the lip)     $25

Depending on which part of the body it was, after you�ve been pierced, you should clean it out twice a day for four weeks using �-strength Hibiclens. After that you can use regular soap as long as you wash it away completely. Rotate the jewelry through the skin and rinse the whole thing thoroughly. Avoid getting deodorant or perfume around the piercing as it will act as an irritant. The jewelry should usually not be removed for several months, perhaps as long as a year. You should get help from the shop with this because doing it too early or incorrectly can result in infection or the closing of the hole.

QUESTIONS EVERYBODY'LL ASK YOU: What is that thing? Did it hurt? Why did you do it? That's permanent, you know ... Is that real? What did your parents say? You must have been pretty drunk when you got that. What on earth will your gynecologist think? I would NEVER do that. How do you blow your nose? How do you eat? Does it go all the way through? You're one of those freaks, aren't you? What else do you have pierced? Isn't there some sort of health risk? Won't you regret that when you're 80?

* For very thorough details on the equipment and procedures, and what sanitary precautions the shop should take, check out the rec.arts.bodyart FAQ at ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/bodyart/

Sources of Information:

Allergy & Inf. Disease: gopher://gopher.niaid.nih.gov/11/aids/nursing/pt-teach
Body Piercing: EMS Concerns: http://www.ncemsf.org/pulse/a5-2-1.htm
Christiaan�s Piercing Page: http://net.indra.com/~vanwoude/Piercing.html/