Body Piercing - CHOICE # 363

Is body piercing worth the health risks associated with this growing popular fad?

This concern was raised in a Consumer Council report on body piercing popular among teenagers and young adults these days.

To them, body piercing may be just a way of expressing a fashion statement. But unlike other fads of outlandish hairdo or dress, body piercing comes with health risks.

Body piercing has the potential to cause local bacterial and fungal infections, as well as transmit viral infections such as HIV, Hepatitis B and C.

The risks are all the more worrying for reasons as pointed out in the report: first, body piercing, at present, is not regulated in Hong Kong. Practically anyone can set themselves up in the business, at any stall outlet in a shopping mall.

The Department of Health has issued "Recommended Guidelines on Infection Control for Skin Penetration Practice" for the trade. The guidelines are voluntary only . 

In the UK and USA, a licence must be obtained from the authorities for operating a body piercing establishment or premises. And the practitioner should have appropriate training.

In some places (Rhode Island and Florida) in the US, piercing on a person under 18 years of age is prohibited unless written parental consent can be submitted. In Hong Kong, there is no age-limit for piercing.

Second, ordinary consumers are often not aware of the potential hazards, complications and side-effects, of piercing on the various parts of the body - ears, lip, nose, tongue, and navel, to name but a few.

Consumers have scant knowledge of the healing times needed for the different body parts - piercing on ear cartilage and navel, for instance, can take anything between 16 weeks to 52 weeks to fully heal from the wound.

Nor could they make an informed choice on a suitable practitioner operating in premises and conditions of cleanliness and hygiene.

In one of the cases highlighted in the report, a 17-year-old youth had his upper left ear pierced in a shopping mall.

Five days later, he developed on the ear an excruciating painful swelling containing pus. The swelling had to be removed surgically under general anesthesia; no less than 15 cc of pus was drained from the abscess.

The infection left an ugly scar on the boy - his left ear was distorted afterwards.

Though a link between body piercing and Hepatitis B could not be confirmed, information from the Department of Health over the past 4 years does seem to indicate the probability of such a potential.

In 2003, out of 98 cases of reported Hepatitis B transmitted through blood or body fluid, 8 had history of performing acupuncture, body piercing or tattoo within the incubation period. In 2004, there were 3 out of 131 cases; in 2005, there were 4 out of 104 cases. As of 31 December 2006, 1 out of 108 confirmed cases of Hepatitis B in the first 11 months of 2006 reported having such history. 

The most common body piercing symptoms are allergy and scar tissue formation. Some people have a tendency to form raised and sometimes itchy skin overgrowths (called keloids) due to the skin wounds.