News: Piercing Cases a Cause for Concern?

This week, two piercing cases made the news that could, understandably, cause alarm for some.The first case was of an Italian teenager who was diagnosed with a severe pain disorder called trigeminal neuralgia, which is also aptly nicknamed the "suicide disease" because the electric shock-like pains are so debilitating. Upon removing her tongue bar, the pains ceased within two days. The tongue piercing was the culprit; the ball underneath her tongue was irritating a nerve which caused a chain reaction of irritation to other nerves.

The second case in the news this week was of a Massachusetts teen with an infected navel piercing that got so bad she had lost over 30 pounds and was listless and incontinent. The mother has been charged with child abuse; the defense is saying this was simply a matter of poverty and ignorance.

Does this concern you? Do you think maybe piercings are really dangerous and you shouldn't get them? I feel really bad for the people that got sick from their piercings. But that doesn't mean the entire practice should be shunned.

These cases are extremely rare. The tongue piercing case wasn't even recent - this happened years ago but is making the news now because it was recently reported in a medical journal. The teen with the pain disorder was apparently paying attention enough to guess it could have been connected to the recently pierced tongue and was smart enough to remove it. This may have been an error on the part of the piercer, but it also could have been a total fluke. Even the experts studying the case agree. Dr. Marcelo Galarza, who reported the case to the journal, said, "Certainly, this was an isolated case, an extremely rare complication of this kind of piercing."

The teen with the navel piercing - if poverty is an issue - probably did it herself or had a friend do it, which would be the first big mistake. She was young (14) and was probably trying to hide the piercing from her mother, even if she knew it was getting infected - big mistake number two. And thirdly, her mother's lack of action to take her daughter to the doctor was inexcusable, no matter what could have been wrong with her. There were warning signs, and both of them ignored them.

Professional piercings by professional piercers are the first step to avoiding complications. The second step is to clean and care for your piercings and seek the advice of your piercer or doctor if anything seems wrong. It is not necessary to avoid body piercings as long as you take the proper steps and precautions.