Piercings - Doctors warn against bad infections

The German Society for Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery warns: Piercings can have dangerous consequences. It threatens infections and deformations.

Sensitive tissue
According to the doctors, the tissue in the nose and pinna, the most common places for a piercing, is very sensitive. If the cartilage skin there is damaged, pathogens can invade and cause infections.

Although piercings look interesting, complications can cause tissue to die and body morphology to become a deformity. (Image: Scott Griessel / fotolia.com)

Aseptic conditions required
Doctors emphasize: Due to the risk of infection, piercing should be carried out under aseptic conditions only - as in the hospital.

Deformation instead of modification
Piercing and healing infections can cause cartilage tissue to die down to the point of losing parts of the appropriate body region.

Plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is well aware of the consequences of failed piercings: sometimes the doctors correct small scars, but sometimes complicated reconstructions are necessary, for example when parts of the nose have died down.

Tunnel Piercing
Reconstructions are inevitable in "tunnel piercing". Here, a hole in the earlobe is continuously enlarged with chopsticks. The problem arises when the wearer no longer likes this jewelry. Then a flap of skin hangs down where the round ear lobe was previously, and plastic surgery is required to restore the lobe - as in the case of accident victims.

Against nose rings and ear studs
The German Society of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery generally rejects body modifications to the cartilage of the nose and ear in the case of facial piercings.

Bleeding at tongue piercings
The doctors also warn about tongue piercings. If an artery is injured here, it can lead to bleeding, swelling and breathlessness.

Quality decides
Decisive for complications is the material, the expertise of the piercer, the hygienic conditions and careful care after the sting.

Professional advice
Specialists recommend that you consult a plastic surgeon before the end of a piercing session.

Signs of inflammation
Signs that an inflamed area has become inflamed include: redness, pain, swelling, pus and skin hypersensitivity and heat.

How common are complications
Piercings often cause complications. A British study came to the conclusion in 2008: Every third pierier has complaints in the episode, and even every second piercer; every hundredth had to go to hospital because of complications. (Dr. Utz Anhalt)