Risks of getting a piercing and precautions to avoid them

Piercings are becoming increasingly fashionable, which is why, in recent years, the number of centers that carry out this procedure without complying with all the sanitary guarantees. A study published in the prestigious scientific journal American Journal of Dermatology revealed that, in approximately one 20% of cases, appear some kind of complicationThe most frequent being infections and local bleeding.

Risks of getting a piercing

The problems that can be generated as a result of getting a piercing can be due to different causes: from the material used, the hygiene during the process, the instrumental, the medical profile of the person, cares later and undoubtedly the body area where the piercing is placed. First of all, we must be aware that the placement of a piercing implies a lack of integrity in the skin. Likewise, any type of piercing in any location implies a risk in terms of suffering complications. These are some of the possible complications with which we can find when placing a piercing:

Allergic reaction

We can suffer a allergic reaction to the material used, be it the piercing or the antiseptic, even the instruments. Many piercings have a nickel alloy; the nickel It is found in many jewelery objects and is a relatively frequent cause of allergy in a part of the population.

Local or systemic infection

An infection in the perforated area may also occur, also called a systemic infection by local spread. At the local level we can find various symptom such as redness, inflammation, increased temperature, pain when touching and fever may even appear due to systemic involvement.

Scarring and disease transmission

When we perform the placement of a piercing, we suffer the risk that the piercing does not heal as it should and that a abnormal scarring of the area. For example, the formation of a keloid or local induration. In turn, any type of intervention implies a risk to biological level by the use of contaminated material, which could lead to the disease transmission.

Risks according to the area

However, depending on the anatomical place where we place the piercing, specific complications may appear. We will mention the most important:

Language

The placement of a piercing in the tongue can involve the deterioration of tooth enamel of nearby teeth due to microtrauma. This will imply dental hypersensitivity and even microfractures on the tooth surface. The 'piercings' in the mouth cause numerous oral and mucosal lesions such as inflammation (periodontitis, for example), infection, pain, alterations in phonetics and chewing, taste alteration, bleeding because the tongue is highly vascular, halitosis, changes in salivation, allergic reactions to the material ...

Genitalia

Piercings in the genital area can cause a scar that obstruct the urinary tract, Urinary infections and local infections. They can also cause injury during sexual intercourse that imply the possibility of disease transmission of biological risk before their bleeding. Family Medicine Specialist