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Body piercing brings health risks
Reported 13 June, 2008
More than a quarter of people who have body piercing
suffer complications, the first medical study of the trend said today.
The warning comes after research published in the British Medical Journal
estimated that one in 10 adults in England have piercings somewhere other
than their earlobes.
More than a quarter (28%) have experienced complications while 13% had
serious problems, according to the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and London
School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Almost one in 100 piercings among the 16 to 24 age group led to them being
admitted to hospital. In this group, 31% of piercings resulted in
complications, with half of those requiring medical attention.
Self-piercings and those not carried out by a specialist were more likely to
require medical attention.
The authors warned that piercing could place a burden on the NHS. They said:
"If piercing remains fashionable, almost half the female population might
eventually have had a body piercing at a site other than the earlobe.
"Even if serious complications are rare, the popularity of the practice and
the fact that complications can occur long after the actual piercing, might
place a considerable burden on health services for many years."
One of the authors, Dr Fortune Ncube, a consultant epidemiologist at the HPA,
said: "It is vital that anyone considering a piercing ensures that they go
to a reputable piercer.
"Much of the advice is common sense - don't try to do it yourself, make sure
that you know enough about the procedure as well as the skills and
experience of the piercer and make sure the environment is clean and
hygienic. Your piercer should tell you how to look after the piercing."
The study involved 10,503 adults aged 16 or over. A total of 1,049 had a
piercing, with 1,943 piercings in total. Seven people said they had at least
10 piercings while women were around three times more likely to have a
piercing than men.
Nearly half the women aged 16 to 24 had a piercing and younger people and
those from lower social classes were far more likely to have them. The most
popular places were the belly button (33%), nose (19%), the ear (13%),
tongue and nipple (both 9%), eyebrow (8%), lip (4%), genitals (2%).
Women were most likely to have their navel pierced, although this was among
the least popular piercing among men. In contrast, nipple piercing was most
popular among men but one of the least popular among women. Genital piercing
was twice as popular among men as women although it was still uncommon.
The most common problems reported in the 16 to 24 age group were swelling,
infection and bleeding. Problems were most likely to be reported with tongue
piercings (50%), genitals (45%) and nipple (38%). Help was most likely to be
sought for piercings of the genitals (45%), followed by the nipple (25%) and
tongue (24%).
There have been no reported cases of contracting a blood borne virus, such
as Hepatitis B and C or HIV, through body piercing in the UK. However, this
has been seen in other countries and the report warned this risk remains a
cause of concern.
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