Piercing

There’s been a lot of news stories that affect our community this year - particularly arsons and robberies against a lot of tattoo shops. Below are some of the most notable news articles from 2008, some of which got heavy media attention.

NIU Shooters’ Tattoos in Spotlight

TSA policies/woman forced to remove nipple piercings

Teacher Took Underage Student to Get Tattoo in Friend’s Home

Apartment Complex Says No Tattooed or Pierced Read more…

“One drawback - or appeal, depending on how you look at it - to dermal anchors [is that] they’re basically permanent. But, because the part that goes under your skin is made of titanium, which is the same material used to make replacement joints and plates used for repairing bone breaks, you shouldn’t have to remove it for surgery any more than you would have to remove a plate in your head or replacement knee joints.

They may ask you to remove Read more…

Question: Okay, on the 26th of December I got a labret piercing. The back piece that holds the piercing in place I believe is inside of my lip. A friend of mine told me to leave it alone because the back piece should just “pop out” YEAH NO. Every day the hole that was once there is getting smaller and smaller. HELP PLEASE. Do I go back to the piercing parlor or should I go to the doctor and have them open up my lip and take it out which will probably Read more…

This was a big year for record breaking! Several artists attempted to break records for the most tattoos in a period of time or the longest tattoo sessions. Here are the ones that succeeded!

Mario Barth Does First In-Flight Tattoo

March – 577 tattoos in 24 hours by Robbie Koch Earns $20K for Make-A-Wish Foundation

I’m not sure what happened with the above record since Oliver Peck made the record books for 415 tattoos in June. But Read more…

Piercings are everywhere. Seeing a piercing — whether on a bellybutton, eyebrow, lip, nose or cheek — has become an everyday occurrence. This fast-growing trend among teenagers creates an outlet for self-expression, but it doesn’t come without a downside.

The safety risks and effects on everyday life that come along with a piercing are not to be taken lightly and need to be thought about before the decision is made to get a piercing.

The first step in the decision to get something pierced is where to go. It is helpful to ask friends who have piercings where they got theirs done, and about their experience there. Call around and make sure that the shop is licensed and ask questions about your specific piercing; making sure the shop has an autoclave (a sterilizing machine).

Another important thing to do before a piercing is to make sure that you’re up to date with your immunizations (especially hepatitis and tetanus), and if you plan to get a tongue or mouth piercing, that your teeth and gums are healthy.

The risks that come along with piercings are great. Chronic infections, bleeding, scarring, hepatitis B and C, tetanus, skin allergies, abscesses and nerve damage are just some of the side effects that can occur.

Consider how a piercing will affect your life. If you get an eyebrow piercing, how will that affect your job? Some workplaces have strict rules when it comes to body piercings, so you have to ask, is it worth losing your job for a lip ring? One would hope that people can look past appearance and pre-judgments, but there will always be people who associate piercings with trouble makers. So it’s important to weigh out the pros and cons and consult your boss beforehand.

Arianna London, a sophomore at Capital High School, pierced herself for the first time at the age of 12. Now 15, she has six piercings and her ears gauged.

She has pierced her bellybutton, nose and lip (in three places), snake bites (two piercings under the bottom lip) and a Monroe (a piercing meant to look like a beauty mark) — all piercings she did herself. Her tongue is also pierced, which was done by a friend.

“It started out as me hiding my piercings from my mom,” London said. “I figured if I didn’t do them professionally, it’s not like she can really stop me from getting the piercing. And now I just do it because I like piercing.”

She has not experienced any bad infections, but has had problems with swelling.

“At times I get tired of having so many piercings and I take them out for a while, but overall I don’t think I could say I have regretted doing any of my piercings except for when I decided to pierce my lips and didn’t like them too much.

“People do look at you differently when you have piercings like I do and they are quicker to judge you,” she said.

Kayla Lujan, a senior at Santa Fe High School, started piercing when she was 13. She has eight piercings, including gauged ears, bellybutton, nose, tongue, another hole in her ear, and both cheeks, all done professionally. When she was 16, she got her lip pierced but took it out.

“I regretted piercing my lip because I hate the scars that they left but at the time it seemed like a good idea.”

At 17, Kayla got her most recent piercings, her cheeks, or dimples.

“My dimples and my nose have both been infected. I had my dimples pierced by someone who wasn’t too experienced in doing that type of piercing since it’s not very common,” Kayla explained. “He pierced them curved and it’s supposed to be a straight piercing. So I had to have them redone the right way, and my face was secreting pus and blood for about three weeks or so, and it was really swollen.”

When she got her cheeks pierced, her workplace refused to let her work during the healing period and said she could come back when she could take out the metal jewelry and put in clear retainers, forcing her to take two months off of work.

Even though all the pain, Kayla has no regrets when it comes to her piercings.

“I love piercings and I don’t really care what people think of me,” she said. “It’s what makes me who I am.”

Question: “I was wondering if you would know why all of a sudden [my clitoral hood piercing] would start to hurt? I have had it for about 2 months and now it is sorta irritating like sometime it hurts to touch it softly but if you apply more pressure its fine. Or not to be gross but when I wipe after I go tinkle, it hurts then too - odd? Sometimes it itches.. I don’t get it. I love having it and my boyfriend does to so i was wondering if you knew Read more…

According to javno and Electric News, two Indonesian men were hoping to get a job when their tribal chief told them about a recruiter that had texted him with an opportunity for Intelligence agents. They were told that they had to get facial tattoos in order to do undercover missions, but then after getting them found out it was all a hoax. The duped men now believe that the tattoo artist and possibly the “job recruiter” are both mystics, but I’m Read more…

“I just got my first tattoo yesterday and i want to make sure that it will heal well. I had been told to wash the tattoo with warm water and after that carefully dry the tattoo and put a very thin appliance of Vaseline on it. I did those things and went to bed without any coverance and i didn’t let my blanket touch the tattoo. Strange thing is that i read that the tattoo would ooze ink (and blood) the first night, but nothing came out. The tattoo Read more…

This week, two tattoo shops were broken into and subsequently vandalized, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage. Also noteworthy this week is the stir it caused when a former D.C. council member was arrested for starting a fist fight in a tattoo shop with one of the employees. On a positive note, one shop is offering a variety of breast cancer awareness tattoos and will be donating 100% of the earnings from those designs to cancer foundations. Read more…