Piercings and Self-piercing

[[Sound_Nin]]

Alright, well, this last saturday, I pierced my own tongue. It looks AWESOME and feels awesome, and I'd like to debunk a few rumors. One is that if you pierce ANYTHING except your ears yourself it will most certainly infect. Not true. If this is something you want to do a lot, come on, you gotta learn how to do it. I wouldn't recommend piercing yourself if you have no idea what to do. As far as the tongue goes, I was very very high and felt like I was invincible. Lucky for me, I knew how to do it. It started to hurt because I put an earring in it and it was getting absorbed by my tongue. :cross: well, duh. I know, I know, stupid idea. Well Yesterday morning I got a barbell from one of my friends. It feels great, and I don't regret piercing myself (I just wouldn't want to do it over again). I have pierced my ears and lip as well.

Now on to the [B]TOPIC OF PEIRCING ITSELF[/B]
Honestly, this is something I have always wanted to do, for aesthetic purposes and for... more practical, personal things. :devil:
I think that it should be a more common practice. It's been around since the dawn of humanity, and since I live in the bible belt I should know, it isn't very well accepted here.

So... what are your thoughts?

[KatanaViolet]

I used to have my tongue peirced [I]professionally[/I] and I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but your an idiot.
No Risks? Yes, Risks.
[B]Transmittable diseases[/B]: if hygiene standards are not adequate, you are at risk of blood-borne diseases such as hepatitis (B and C), and HIV, which can be transmitted from dirty needles. Hepatitis is particularly known for it?s resilience and some strains can live for up to eight hours on dirty instruments in normal room temperatures
[B]Bacterial infection:[/B] this can result in cysts (pockets of tissue filled with fluid, air or pus), which can develop into septicaemia or toxic shock syndrome if left untreated. This can be very serious and even fatal.
-Areas of the body that have a lot of blood vessels, such as the tongue, can suffer from prolonged bleeding and serious blood loss when pierced.
-Tongue piercings carry a higher than average risk of bacterial infection because of the high number of bacteria already present inside the mouth. In the most serious instances this can result in inflammation of the heart valves or tissues (endocarditis).
-Self-piercing is particularly dangerous as it is unlikely that you will have the correct equipment, training or hygiene procedures to minimise the risk of infection or scarring.

If you honestly are serious about wanting to become a peircer, than find legitimate and safe ways to do so. Become an apprentice or something. If you really want to do it that bad, then learn it from someone who can teach you PROPERLY. Any good peircer is big on preventing infection and proper procedures. And I'm sure that anyone who actually is professional about doing peircings would not be impressed by that.

I guess since it's allready done now you just need to work on taking super good care of it, and hope it doesn't migrate. Good luck with that.

Anyways, that's my opinion on that issue. Sorry that I kinda went off there, I just don't think it was the brightest thing. :animesigh

As for pericing in general, I've had my tongue, my lip, my bellybutton and my ears peirced. However now I only have my lip and ears. I've kind of taken it easy with that... I'm not sure what I want to do careerwise, but I've had alot of jobs where I'm working with people, and not everyone is comfortable with people who have a face full of metal (I probably wouldn't do that anyways though). I find myself to be more into tatoos than peircings.
However, people who get peircings don't make me uncomfortable, I have a friend with her septum peirced (aka, Bull Nose) and these days any girl with a peircing either has her belly button or tongue peirced. What bugs me are people who get peircings just out of fads. Self-expression is a-okay, but if someone is getting a peircing just because their friends are doing it, or it's "cool", that's just lame. Even though you can take it out, peircings still scar. I've had my tongue peircing out for a year, and I can still see where it was peirced. Although it's not as permanent as a tattoo, I think people should still think it through before they get something peirced. They can be expensive. ...

[AnimeFront]

I think thats a bit harsh to call the guy an idiot. I pierced my ear my self, but I i did take precaution. i dip the safety pin in rubbing alchol and then lit it with a lighter ensuring that all bacteria were killed. I hurts a little bit to put it through but it was cool and now I am up to real earrings, by gradualy increasing the hole with larger safety pins, As long as your safe about it, go for it. (however a tongue ring being done by an amateur could be dangerous becase the ring may not be secured enough and u could choke on it)

[KatanaViolet]

Believe me, I meant it in the least rude of ways.
Piercing your own ears is something in an entirely different ball park than piercing your own tongue. There is so much bacteria in your mouth, and a fresh tongue piercing is like an open wound. He (or she) is not a trained professional, and if he/she had peirced the wrong spot it could have caused severe bleeding or permanent nerve damage. There are alot of nerves on your tongue. It may sound harsh but I'm telling it like it is. I just think that only an idiot would give themselves a DIY oral peircing. An even bigger idiot would do it when they are high... what happened to just having the munchies?? I certainly wouldn't want to get anything peirced by someone that unprofessional.

Ears, that's fine... eyebrow and bellybutton, a little sketchy... tongue or lip, no way.

[DBZgirl88]

[COLOR=#004a6f]My mom pierced my ears when I was 8 months old, but I hardly wear earings. I wore them alot when I was 10, but my ears were always getting infections. I guess I have sensitive skin.

My sister had her ears pieced when she was sixth months, and she wore gold stud earings, which she [B]never took off[/B] till she was twelve.

I don't like piercings in general, because it's having rings or pieces of metal in your skin that can get caught on something, and hence your skin will get ripped (ouch). Ears just don't seem quite as sensitive as the rest of the body, so I'd say stick to ear piercing.[/COLOR]

[Sara]

[quote name='GoldScorpion78'] As far as the tongue goes, I was very very high and felt like I was invincible. Lucky for me, I knew how to do it. It started to hurt because I put an earring in it and it was getting absorbed by my tongue. [/quote][color=#b0000b][size=1]Oh, my. A tad foolhardy, wasn't that?

I don't know much about piercings, and I don't find them particularly attractive or unattractive. I suppose if I had a pair of heirloom earrings or something, I might have my ears pierced so I could wear them--but I don't, and I don't have any other reasont o particularly want pierced ears. I occasionally wear clip-on earrings when I want to jazz my look up a bit, and I'm happy that I don't need to "mod" my body at all to wear them.[/size][/color]

[Perfection]

[SIZE=1]Well I've had my ears pierced for quite some time and had no trouble with them. They make me look so damn [b]hip[/b], [i]cool[/i], and [u]funky fresh[/u].

>>;;

I also pierced my lip myself quite a while ago, but it looked as if it was getting infected so I took it out one morning and didn't put it back in, go me! I went through all the pain of a giant [i]sterilised[/i] safety pin for nothing.

[b]Later that month[/b]; I got it pierced professionally. Whoo!

[b]When I Turn 16[/b]; I'm getting my tongue pierced which shall be painful, but I like tongue piercings, no matter how much I must clean it.

=D.


If people are wanting to get any type of piercings, I do recommend getting it done professionally, bacterial infections are bad enough without any other diseases infecting your system.[/SIZE]

[Annie]

[size=1]If you were a professional, I don't see why you couldn't give yourself a piercing :p But, yes..if you aren't, it's better to go to a professional. Not only for infection risks, but also because you could damage very important nerves. For instance, in your eyebrow, if you puncture a certain nerve, you could paralyze your face.

I've never wanted a belly piercing or an eyebrow piercing. I thought about getting a labret, but decided no. Then I wanted a nose piercing, and it's still on the mind. But I really wanted to get a nipple piercing [ouch, I know]. That also is still in thought. However, I can't get any piercings until I get out of the military.[/size]

[InuYashasV]

i've had my ears pierced by professionals (i have double holes in both ears). i'm trying to convince my parents why i should be able to get a third hole, although i kno someone who could pierce it for me at school. i would, but the parental unit would kill me if i came home with a third hole that i got at school.

[Guest Syrius]

In the past i have had a total of 27 peircings in my face/ears alone, i had to take them out after a week 1/2 because turns out i was allergic to the metal. i plan on doing it all again sometime, but i will have to wait untill i have enough money, because THIS time, i will have ALL of them done professionally. I still remeber what happened to my ears the next morning after i peirced my own ears with an icecube and a saftey pin. MY EARS WERE SWOLLEN INTO THE SIZE OF DUMBO'S and MY EARS WERE TRYING TO SWOLLOW THE METAL.

[[Sound_Nin]]

I can understand the being called stupid. I really didn't expect for everyone to be all admirative and nice. It WAS stupid, and honestly, if I was not me, I would call me stupid too. It hasn't infected yet, people. No nerve damage, otherwise I'd be able to tell. No vein was injured. No bleeding, no infection, nothing.
You can't swallow a barbell, they're too tight. The earring idea wasn't bright at all, and if I hadn't been given the barbell it would be all healed up by now. As far as the pain goes, I kind of like pain. No, actually, I REALLY like pain, so it was no big deal. I didn't feel the pain of the needle and I can't even remember doing it. I just remember trying it several times before I worked up the courage to do it right. I wasn't afraid of the pain, I was afraid of piercing a vein and squirting blood all over the place. But, no regrets.
Syrius, Your ears swole up because you didn't do it right. Did you try loosening the earring maybe?
I'm just as surprised as you guys that my tongue hasn't fallen off by now, or my lip. You have to admit though, I must've done it right or I'd be in the hospital by now.

[KatanaViolet]

Well, you should consider yourself lucky then. I am glad to hear that nothing is wrong, although I would call you an even bigger idiot if there was.

"I told you so!" would have been along the lines of what I would say... however when it comes to stupidity, I'm not very sympathetic, so don't take it personally <3

But, it is possible for people to swollow their tongue ring, even if it is a barbell. Eventually it can loosen, and if you don't regularily tighten it, it will fall off, and if your sleeping or eating or something, you could swallow it and not even know it. I've seen it happen. My barbell fell off once, back in the day when I had my tongue peirced, thankfully I didn't swallow it. That would have sucked. So make sure that doesn't happen.

And I guess in the mean time, take good care of it, rinse it after eating and smoking, sea salt or saline solution work best... although I think saline might just be for other peircings... I can't remember. If not, then use [U]diluted[/U] Scope or Listerine.
And please don't do anything like that again, okay?

[[Sound_Nin]]

My barbell hasn't even loosened. But maybe that's just mine. Oh, and the fact that I take it out and put it back in too.
You can bet I won't do anything like that again. I've run out of things to pierce, except maybe my nose and I don't have a ring so... I'm not going to. I've gotten the piercing out of my system. I think, and always have thought that self-piercing depends on whether or not you're confident enough in your abilities and knowledge of the topic. If not, I guess learning from experience is the only solution.

No, saline isn't for oral piercings. Diluted mouthwash and salt water (ideally sea salt) are the cheapest option. Or if you can, buy some oral piercing cleanser.

[renayiiq]

Ok, the idea of piercing yourself [I]is[/I] pretty foolish. If you know what you're doing, though, and you know the consequences of what could possibly happen if you screwed up, then you're not completely foolish.
Well, I can't say that I haven't pierced myself. I have given myself 2nd holes in my lobes 2 times. Both times, they got infected.The first time, it was back in my freshman year and I thought it'd be easier to do it to myself rather than to have someone else do it to me. Not true. I didn't know squat about sterilizing. Yeah, I know, I was a big dumb a**. Second time was not too long ago, about 3 months. I'm not really sure right now...can't seem to remember time. Yeah. But uhm...I used the right needles and everything, but I didn't know that the earings that I had used were just painted metal. My mom had them still in the package and everything and gave them to me. It turns out that my ears got infected and had to take the earings out. It hurt alot, too, because I was afraid of missing if I would've done it fast, so I pierced them both very slowly. Luckily, I can deal with alot of pain (I've had my bridge pierved professionally, and yes, it really hurts alots).

Yep, that's my story. As for my opinion on piercings, I used to have my lip done but it was crooked so I took it out. I still have my bridge pierced, though. I also have a piercing on the cartilage of my ear. That's it for noe, but I do plan on getting a piecing on the nape of my neck as well as re-peircing my lip, getting my ears done all the way up to where my cartilage piercing is, high nostril and regular nostril piercings on both sides, and an ashley piercing (an inversed vertical labret).

[SIZE=1](ps - im sorry if my typing is messed up; I'm high offa my a** & its two oclock in the mornign)[/SIZE]

[Guest Syrius]

Yes GoldScorpion, I tried loosening it. I am guessing they were'nt big enough.

[Cora Jane 2]

[FONT=Garamond][SIZE=2][COLOR=Navy]Well I guess as far as piercings go I had my ears pierces professionally and I did all my cartilage piercings. I had three on the bottom on both sides and three on the top on both sides. I also have my nose pierced. I did that one myself then took it out due to family reasons... which is a whole other story, then went and got it professionally done. I also had below my tongue pierced, the skin that connects the tongue to the bottom of your mouth. Unfortunately that broke and I am looking to go get my tongue pierced since that was the reason I got below it pierced. But I intend to get the skin clipped if I still can't get it pierced. I also had my navel pierced, but I did that one myself and I had to let it close since it got infected. However once I lose a little weight I might go get it done again, well make that when I get my six pack back. I need to get into shape first. But yeah, if you don't know what you are doing you should definately not pierce anything yourself. But that is about it. Now tattoos are a whole other issue. So yeah. That is about all I have to say.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[Japan]

[COLOR=Indigo]I had my ears pierced for a while, but they became infected. I had them done by proffessionals. Anyways, I got fed up one day and took them out. I never put them back in and they closed up.[/COLOR]

[Queen Asuka]

[size=1][color=hotpink]I LUV PIERCINGS! <3

First of all, I'd NEVER do them myself. That is just ridiculously scary. It's scary enough getting it done by a professional with sterilized equipment. Yeah.

So when I was 15, I got my navel pierced. After it didn't heal a year later, I took it out. A few months ago, I got it re-done. I then got my tongue pierced. On my honeymoon, I changed the barbell, it was too short, and it swole and got SUPER SORE and I took it out and let it heal up completely. My piercer (a friend of mine, sad she moved away) did my tongue again for free, and this time it didn't do the initial swelling or anything of the sort and now it is just fine.

I got my nipples pierced in January. It hurt like a MFer, but wow. It was like, pain for pleasure, because my boobs have never looked better. Seriously. They always look so perky and raring to go. I should probably change the jewelry soon. They actually only hurt for a day or so, and then it was easy to clean them and wear a regular bra. <3

My husband has gauged ears and a lip ring. I heart it.[/size][/color]

[[Sound_Nin]]

Ouch. That sounds... painful. I don't know why, but I only find nipple piercings hot on guys.

Anyway... my tongue is almost completely healed now. I got worried because I thought it was a bit crooked, but I checked again and it's not. Everyone thinks it's hot, and I like it. I really can't imagine taking it out and letting it heal. I took it out a couple of days ago and it felt... naked. :animestun

My ear started to infect so I cleaned it out really good with strong rubbing alcohol and it's starting to heal up.

How do you get your ears gauged? Do you like have to put something in there to stretch it out or what?

[Queen Asuka]

[size=1][color=hotpink]First of all, you're not supposed to TOUCH any piercings with alcohol or peroxide. Clean them antibacterial soap ONLY! And then, if you can find it, a sterilized sea-salt solution will help it heal MUCH faster. Also, multi-vitamins are awesome.

As for guaging your ears, you usually do it by getting a tool that is the size of your piercing on one end and bigger on the other and gently pushing it through. You have to do it slowly and let it heal completely between each stretching or otherwise if you ever take them out, the holes will never close up. I know some people that stretch their own though just by getting some bigger sized rings and shoving them through.[/size][/color]

[Shinjitsu]

[color=red]Hmmm... I guess piercing one's self is very much a teenage thing to do, lol. I, for one, had both my ears pierced by my best friend when I was 13. Basically she got a sterilized pin and stuck it through my ears (after marking out where to pierce first, lol). They only hurt a little.. matter of fact, methinks it hurt her more than it did me, lol, but I didn't end up with any infections, and I saved myself a whole heap of money. She did use ice to sort of make my ears numb, but that didn't work too well after I couldn't feel my fingers, lol. Anyhow, professionals can stuff piercings up too, so either way you can get infections, etc. Eh, also try not to remove your earrings for quite a while after you've had your ears pierced (or anything, really), because you'll basically just end up having the hole close and well, it'll defeat the purpose *le sai*.[/color]

[[Sound_Nin]]

That is completely not true. I used alcohol to clean my other ear and it healed completely perfect. And, I've pierced other people's ears and had [I]them[/I] clean it with alcohol and theirs healed as well.
You're only supposed to use peroxide if it's already infected. And even that doesn't work very well, only if it's just started infecting.

[Queen Asuka]

[QUOTE=GoldScorpion78]That is completely not true. I used alcohol to clean my other ear and it healed completely perfect. And, I've pierced other people's ears and had [I]them[/I] clean it with alcohol and theirs healed as well.
You're only supposed to use peroxide if it's already infected. And even that doesn't work very well, only if it's just started infecting.[/QUOTE]

[color=hotpink][size=1]Go to a PROFESSIONAL piercer and see what they tell you.[/size][/color]

[[Sound_Nin]]

I never said it was the best option, I just said it works, and it does.

[renayiiq]

[QUOTE=GoldScorpion78]That is completely not true. I used alcohol to clean my other ear and it healed completely perfect. And, I've pierced other people's ears and had [I]them[/I] clean it with alcohol and theirs healed as well.
You're only supposed to use peroxide if it's already infected. And even that doesn't work very well, only if it's just started infecting.[/QUOTE]


Actually, you're not really supposed to do any of that on anything. You're supposed to use plain, colorless, scentless, mild, anti-microbial soap. Peroxide and alcohol are both definite NO-NOs.[URL=http://www.safepiercing.org/bodyAftercare.html]Go here and see for yourself.[/URL] <--click! It's the body and facial piercing aftercare guide from the Association of Professional Piercers (APP).
Specifically go down to where it says "What to Avoid," and look at the second dash. It clearly states, "Avoid the use of alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, Betadine, Hibiclens or ointment."
I've got a bridge piercing, a piercing in my ear cartilage up near the top, 8g's in my lobes, and I've had a lip piercing before, as well as having a few friends who are professional piercers, so trust me, I know these things.