Thinking about getting pierced? A Guide to Body Piercing and Your Health
Poor hygiene during the procedure can result in infection. All needles, jewellery, instruments and surfaces e.g. metal tray should all be sterile, ideally in a sealed pack marked sterile and be opened in front of you. Needles should not be sterilised and re-used as they will become blunt and therefore more painful. Your piercer should own an autoclave in which to sterilise instruments and jewellery. To ensure the autoclave is working effectively it is good practice to have a spore test done monthly, you can ask to see a recent certificate. A spore test involves putting an ampoule of bacterial spores through an autoclave cycle. The ampoules then go to a laboratory which checks whether the spores have been killed. They are particularly hard to kill so if they have been killed you know that the autoclave is working properly. Your piercer should always wash their hands and wear disposable gloves. Cross contamination occurs if the piercer touches something and transfers micro-organisms from that object to your body. If the piercer touches anything that has not been sterilised they should replace their gloves before continuing the procedure.
New piercings are open to infection. Different piercings have different healing times so you should listen to your piercer and also to your own body. Allergies and ill-fitting jewellery can delay the healing process. Your piercings should be done with implant grade titanium, PTFE or other highly bio-compatible material. Surgical stainless steel is only legal for piercings over three months old. Your piercer is not allowed to put surgical stainless steel in your fresh piercing as it contains nickel that can trigger an allergic reaction. Your jewellery should not fit too tightly, if in doubt contact your piercer. It is not recommended to change your jewellery yourself during the healing period. It is possible for your piercing to become infected with bacteria. This usually causes a lot of pain and other possible symptoms are redness, a swelling that gets worse rather than better and a dark yellow or green discharge. If you have a bacterial infection it can be treated with antibiotics that your GP can prescribe if needed. New piercings also leave you open to viral infections such as HIV and Hepititis. It is important to remember that oral sex without a condom is far less safe if the mouth or genitals involved have recently been pierced. Normally oral sex would be a medium-low risk activity but with a fresh piercing it becomes a high-risk activity. A recent study has suggested that even an apparently well healed piercing may still pose an increased risk of HIV transmission. This is because the movement of the jewellery can cause slight damage to your skin of which you are unaware.
Spermicidally lubricated condoms should only be used as a last resort. Spermicides are irritating to a piercing and can delay healing. They are not approved for oral and anal sex they are only useful for preventing pregnancy and not for preventing disease. Studies show that spermicides will cause slight irritation for most people that will leave you more open to infection if the condom does break. Almost all flavoured and extra strong condoms are spermicide free. There are also regular spermicide free condoms available. The technique for putting on a condom may have to vary if the penis is pierced. It is most common to be pierced in the head of the penis. It can be helpful to unroll the condom a little, stretch it out and over the piercing then roll it down as usual. If the piercing is further down then roll it down as usual until you reach the piercing then gently stretch the condom and lift it over the piercing. The presence of jewellery can increase the risk of a condom tearing. For anal sex use extra strong condoms and check regularly that it is still intact. If a piercing is well healed the piercing could be removed for sex. Information supplied by Ben Crawford
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