Types of Body Art

Body painting
Body piercing

Body Piercing

These days, body piercing has become so trendy that you could easily encounter people with their ears, lips, nostrils, eyebrows, belly buttons, tongues, or even cheeks pierced. If you too want to go in for one, think about it carefully. Ask yourself if they are safe, worth investing in and what the dangers are?

You’d probably find people wearing multiple hoops up, around, or inside their ears or studs and rings on the tongue, eyebrow, nostril, belly-button and lips. It seems that almost every part of the body is open to piercing. More and more teenagers are moving towards body piercing while their parents find it gross.

So, essentially, body piercing is a piercing or puncture made in your skin by a needle. Once this is done, a ring or piece of jewellery is inserted into the pierced area.

Before you consider having it done, be warned that during the healing period, you could fall prey to infection, or viral hepatitis, if your artist uses a non-sterile needle.

Side-effects: Body piercing can also lead do some side effects such as those parts of the body that have been pierced will be very numb and you may lose sensation in these parts (and this includes your private parts if you have yourself pierced there) lifelong.

You might also experience loose stools due to metals such as nickel from the piercing leaching into your body and increasing the level of heavy metals in your body. Lastly, on the emotional front, your piercing may be the reason certain men and women do not choose you for a romantic partner.

Who should do your body piercing? Have your body piercing done by a professional in a safe and clean environment. Choose a reputed professional who should:

• First wash his hands with a germicidal soap and then start the procedure
• Wear disposable gloves
• Use disposable syringes
• Use a new needle to do the piercing
• See that the piece of jewellery you want to have on is sterilized before attaching to the designated area
• Check that the professional doing the piercing instructs you on how to see that your new piercing heals appropriately and how to handle any problems.

Do not do the piercing yourself as it will lead to infection. Select a body piercing shop with great care and use jewellery made of titanium, 14-carat gold or surgical-grade steel.

How it is done: If you go to an experienced and professional piercer, he will use a hollow needle to create a hole by pushing the needle through the part of the boy you want pierced. Then, he will insert the body jewellery that you choose through this hole.

There may be times when the hole might bleed considerably. At such times, do not take aspirin or any painkiller that contains aspirin one week before you go in for a piercing, since these medicines may cause you to bleed a little more. Do not use piercing guns since they can damage tissue and cause infection.

Take care while choosing to go in for a body piercing, choosing your artist to do it and taking care of yourself once it is done.

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