Top 5 myths about body jewelry and piercings

 

When you are getting a piercing, you are essentially creating a hole in your body that should be treated with as much care as you would treat a wound or cut. With so much hearsay out there, what can you really believe when it comes to getting a piercing?
We attempt to tackle the top 5 myths about body jewelry and piercings.

Piercing guns are just as good as piercing needles

A piercing gun uses disposable piercing inserts that, hopefully, are discarded after every piercing has been done. This keeps the possibility of a piercing becoming infected low but you still don’t know if all of the piercing gun parts that come in contact with your piercing are sterilized.
A piercing needle can be inserted into an autoclave, which is the highest level of sterilization you can get for medical tools.

Another thing that’s been said is that using a piercing gun is more likely to cause your piercing to become infected because of the force used to push the stud into the earlobe. So think about it, do you really want the look of your sparkling diamond stud earrings to be marred by damaged earlobes?

Body piercing and body piercing stores aren’t safe

Like any shop that deals with beauty — nail shops, spas, etc. There are good piercing stores and bad piercing stores, luckily there are more good piercing stores then bad. Just like picking out a good nail salon, you want to make sure the piercing store looks clean. Other tips:

• Make sure the piercer washes their hands with germicidal soap.

• Make sure the piercer wears fresh disposable gloves.

• Make sure the piercer uses sharp and clean needles. Usually the piercer will pull out a individual packet that holds a single needle they will use on you.

• Make sure the store has clearly marked containers for placing used piercing needles and that these containers are used.

Body jewelry can be cleaned with table salt, alcohol or hydrogen peroxide

Most if not all piercers will tell you how to take care of a new piercing by soaking it in a sea salt soak. Sea salt works by drawing out toxins and impurities in the new piercing, which is important if you don’t want your piercing to become infected.
Alcohol and hydrogen peroxide are not advised because while they clean the piercing, they also kill the healthy blood cells that are going to help your piercing heal. And the same goes for table salt.

Body jewelry in new piercings should be rotated often

The saying that one should rotate their jewelry in a new piercing is an old one. However, the problem is that when you rotate your jewelry it gives the bacteria and crusty parts a chance to be pulled into the piercing which can cause an infection in the piercing.

You can’t breastfeed if you’ve had your nipples pierced

The fact is that there is nothing stopping you from breastfeeding if you’ve had your nipples pierced. In fact, some moms who have had or still have their nipple piercings have talked about having increased milk flow while nursing. However it isn’t advisable to keep your piercing in while nursing the baby.