The worst things about piercing guns are the people using them. Not that using a piercing gun makes you evil or anything but if you prefer a gun then you’re probably untrained. Any decent piercing studio should have professionals that could do a quality ear piercing with their eyes closed, hung over on a Sunday.

Earring shops at malls, staffed with people that have little knowledge of piercing or sterilization are the most likely to use a gun. It’s from these guns that you’re most likely to get an infection. Hepatitis and other diseases have been linked to piercing guns due to their inability to keep sterile. Only recently have piercing gun manufacturers begun designing cartridge systems that address the sterilization issue. The cartridge that comes is the only part that should come in contact with the client, if the cartridge works properly that is. Cartridges are then disposed of between uses.

Also leading to infection was the gun’s method of “firing” the stud through the ear, on the upper ear it often led to shattered cartilage and other painful problems. The latest designs force the piercing stud through the tissue by squeezing a handle that drives the stud. While this may be all right for ears it is certainly not recommended for any other parts of your body. It seems that piercing gun manufacturers are pushing ahead anyway and marketing their guns for general body piercing.

Body piercing should be done by a pro in a studio with an autoclave and proper piercing needles and quality jewelry. I have to say that I’m extremely disturbed by the thought of someone getting their navel pierced with a gun. No trained pro would dream of using a gun over doing it by hand. This said, anyone that chooses to use a gun must be untrained. Why you would let someone with little knowledge of piercing near your navel with a piercing gun is well beyond me.

Another thing that worries me about guns is the jewelry used. For larger gauge body piercing, a hollow needle is used and then the jewelry is placed in the hole. This isn’t pretty but it’s much better that sending something with a sharp point into the skin then stretching and tearing the wound as you push the tapered edges of the stud through. Have a look at this body piercing stud designed for a piercing gun:

Notice the threads on the outside next to the bevel. These are to be pushed through a new wound. This is truly frightening. Also, when a new piercing swells it has a tendency to get caught in the external threads common to cheap piercing jewelry. Good jewelry has internal threads that don’t come into contact with the wound, key feature.

Over all if you’re just getting a standard earlobe piercing with a small gauge stud then a piercing gun isn’t too bad so long as it uses a cartridge system. For anything else, get a pro and spare your some health risks and pain.

Want to know what to look for in a professional body artist or piercing studio, well look no further:

Tattoo removal can take four to ten 15-minute treatments, and doctors suggest a healing duration between visits of four to six weeks. The cost, which is considered cosmetic surgery and therefore not covered by health insurance, can be as much as $600 so you want to be sure you're getting a quality tatto that you're going to be happy with.  You're going to have to live with it for a long time.

Piercing is often considered secondary to tattoos because you can always have them removed, but that isn't always true. Sure you can take out the piercing but is the initisl piercing wasn't done well or you didn't take proper care of it you can end up with scars that will either never go away or require surgery to remove.

Keloid scars are chunks of scar tissue that extend beyond the origional site of the wound.

What to look for in a tatto or piercing studio:

Some important factors are whether or not piercing and tattooing are done in separate rooms, how instruments are sterilized and what types of metals the shop uses for its body jewelry.

Body Jewelry should only be made of surgical grade stainless steel, 14- or 18-karat solid gold, niobium or titanium.

For the initial piercing, even gold isn't recomended because the nickel content can cause allergic reactions in some people.

The types of threading on body jewelry is also important.  A thread is the part that 'screws' if its on the outside or 'external thread' it can tear at the wound.  Internally threaded (screwy bit on the inside) jewelry avoids contact with the wound. Its more expensive but if you've ever seen a keloid scar you know that its well worth the money.

To guarantee hygienic service and high quality look for studios that are members of the Association of Professional Piercers.

The APP is a body of professionals that have rules and regulations for body art that are usually higher than federal standards.

For example, all needles used for tattoos must be disposed of after a single use, as well as razors, applicators and ointments.

Instruments not thrown away are sterilized in an autoclave. An autoclave which uses a combination of heat and pressure to sterilize equipment. It's effective but the autoclaves aren't cheap. Not every studio uses them. Some studios simply wipe equipment with alcohol which isn't 100% effective.
 

The ancient Egyptian elite were famous for their love of beauty.  Adorning their bodies with elaborate jewelry served not only a beauty function but also separated the classes.  In ancient Egypt only the Pharaoh was permitted to pierce his navel.  A bellybutton ring for anyone but the Pharaoh was an offence punishable by execution. For any young people who are afraid to let their parents see their new body jewelry this should put things in perspective. At least the authorities won’t come round the house after and throw you in the electric chair!

It’s also well known that most wealthy Egyptians wore earrings to display their wealth. Years ago archeologists unearthed the mummified remains of a man with large-gauge plugs in his earlobes. This five-thousand year old corpse is the oldest example of body piercing ever found. Those plugs in your ears may represent the very first type of body modification ever!

So the next time some conservative old geezer complains that ‘in their day’ people didn’t feel the need to pierce their bodies you have a great argument to throw back. Just tell them that you’re carrying out an act of cultural preservation that dates back more than five thousand years.

For more body jewelry and piercing info and shopping click here.

Rejection

Rejection is a more severe form of migration. When the body completely forces a piercing out of the body, it is called a “rejection,” because the body has completely rejected the piece of jewelry.  Rejection is often a result of the above mentioned factors coupled with a poor piercing job.  Improper use of needles or a non-body-piercing needle can result in complete rejection.  See the entry here on needles.

next time I'll talk more about how to choose a piercing studio, but in the meantime buy some good jewelry, and don't pierce yourself!

Take care of that wound!  Tongue piercings typically heal in 4-6 weeks but the amount of discomfort you feel during this time is directly related to how you take care of that open wound in the middle of your tongue.  Follow these tips specific to tongue piercing and you should be free of pain and infection before you know it.

1. For the first three to six weeks you should use an antibacterial mouth rinse after every meal.  Biotene and Tech2000 Dental Rinse are really popular rinses for good reasons.  They have the proper ingredients and they're not too strong and not too harsh. Mouthwash is too weak and homemade mixtures, well, we don't even want to think about those.

2. Check in the mirror to see if there are any small bits of food lodged in the hole.  Some salami with your tongue stud and you're asking for an infection.  It doesn't happen too often but food bits can work their way into the wound where they fester for a long time delaying the healing process.  Consistent checking after every meal will cut back on the chances of a chunk getting inside. 

3. Rinse your mouth frequently with a salt solution.  8 ounces of warm water to ¼ teaspoon salt and swish this in your mouth for 15-20 seconds.  do this after you drink or smoke or put anything in your mouth.  Some people swear by natural sea salt but NaCl is NaCl wether it comes from the Sea the kitchen table or wherever.  Salt water rinsing is great because it kinda feels good and you quickly get into the habit of doing it often to sooth your aching tongue.  

Now that you know what to do here are a few things that you shouldn't do:

-Don't chew gum or tobacco this is a really bad idea

-Don't play with your piercing jewelry swishing it around your mouth and clicking it against your teeth.  You will eventually crack the emnamel on your teeth causing them to decay rapidly. There's nothing worse than a toothless 40 year old with a tongue stud.

-Don't go kissing a bunch of people.  This isn't really practical, but the exchange of body fluids really increases the chance of infestion. If you do, make them brush their teeth first.  Just show them the stud in your tongue and they should understand.

Piercing needles are not for sewing, they're big and scary. Don't let their appearance frighten you.  Piercing needles were designed specifically to pierce the flesh while causing the least amount of pain possible. Their  design also helps the 'wound' heal faster than it would with an ordinary needle.

Maybe you've heard of this guage and that guage needle.  If you didn't know allready the term guage refers to size, small number equals a big needle, big number small needle. For instance, if you're get a nipple pierced you don't want to use a needle lower than a 12 gauge. Lips and nostril can be pierced with a thin 14 or 16 gauge.

Piercing needles are made from surgical steel, at least they should be.  Surgical steel is hypoallergenic and capable of extreme sharpness.  If you've ever handled a surgical scalpel you know what I mean.  Because they're so sharp they slice cleanly through the skin without tearing or pulling. Being sliced through doesn't sound too attractive but it's alot less painful then being pierced then stretched as the rest of the needle goes in. The bizare feature of piercing needles is that they are hollow.  They actually cut a tiny hole through the skin being pierced.

Hollow needles leave a clean-edged, precision hole in your flesh.  Don't cringe, a hole with clean edges heals quickly. Regular needles, that push their way through the skin, tear and bruise the skin causing more pain and leave wounds that take longer to heal.

If having a good clean hole punched through a part of your body with a hollow bit of surgical steel with laser cut percision doesn't appeal to you, yet you still want to get pierced, maybe it's better if you just don't look at the needles.

If the idea does appeal to you then great.  When you've run out of space on your body for new piercings you can get a job piercing others. 

Next time i'll talk about piercing jewelry.

The procedure for a good body piercing isn’t the same is for getting your earlobes pierced. Most earlobe piercings that you see done in a mall or jewelry store involve using a piercing gun that quickly shoots the actual earring post through the earlobe. This may be fine for an area of the body that has soft tissue and is easily pierced, but when it comes to your tongue, forget it. 

Some turkeys use guns but they're fairly crap.  They dont line up and they would have to be awfully powerful to get through some of the thicker parts of the body.  Basically you should never go for a piercing from some turkey with nothing but a gun who claims he can pierce your belly with it.

What you want is a pro with lots of rubber gloves and a set of professional piercing needles.  I'll write some more about piercing needles tomorrow.