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Conditions

Problem Piercings

Piercing

People have been piercing their bodies for thousands of years, but whilst modern day teenagers are more likely to be doing it to make a fashion statement than to intimidate their enemies, the potential health problems are much the same. Most piercing, if carried out in a safe and surgical environment, shouldn’t pose any health problems, but there are several infections, including Hepatitis B & C that can be passed by use of dirty instruments. You can also develop bacterial infections around the piercing, resulting in air or pus filled cysts that can develop into much more serious problems. Piercing carried out in the genitals should be looked after with increased care, as infections down here can inhibit sexual intercourse and urination – which is quite a price to pay for an piercing that (hopefully) most people won’t see…

Comments and Questions

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Please note: Unfortunately Channel 4 cannot respond to individual inquiries. If you have any concerns, you can check out NHS Choices, but ultimately it is always best to check with a health professional.

my eyebrow piercing just grew out :( and i want to get it pierced again on the exact same place is that a bad idea to get it pierced over the scar?





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to get rid of the lump on your nose rey using hot salt water compress. make it as how as you can stand (make sure youvve boiled the water) and put it on a cotton wool ball and hold it against the lump. made mine go away all 3 times ive ad my nose peirced and also worked on my ear piercings too. hope this works for you!





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Got my navel pierced last week in Feb, starting to see problems with the piercing. It's particularly red around the top of the piercing and a bit pussy. The top ball is also digging into my skin - is this a sign of the bar being too short? I've been using TCP on it to avoid infection, but think it's too strong so have swapped to Savlon spray. Any suggestions?





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I had the same problem with the top ball sticking in my skin. I found the savlon spray worked well. I also bought some plasters, the long fabric one that comes on a roll. Cut a piece off and then cut it so there is a slit and stick it to your belly, pull the ball through the slit and it will stop the ball digging in your skin. When me and anyone I knew had our belly button pierced it always went red on the top while it was healing.

How do i get of the lump by my nose piercing, iv'e been to the doctor, the piercer and walk in clinics and they have given me creams, antibiotics and all sorts, everything is helping it decrease in size, but i want it to go completely, how do i do this? x





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i had my nipple pierced about 3-4 yrs ago, and had so many problems with it swelling an pussying all the time, i took it out a yr ago an every now an then it swells up an puss still even thou the holes hav healed it still finds a way out!! is this slighty normal or does this mean its been infected an still is? thanks





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Well, I've never had my nipple peirced, although since it's a flesh peircing and there's a tunnle made through delicate flesh - it can sometimes trap in infections. You should perhaps see a good peircing artist, or maybe the doctors. I was told about infections still being stuck inside healed up peircings, like yours, wheny I got my eyebrow done. Although.. It could be something else, but it seems more likey to be caused by the hole in the flesh to still have stuff in it. It can do this even in just ear lobe peircings, like just with studs, and to swell up from putting even some clean earings in, after leaving it for ages. See if someone else answers this or comments about nipple peircings, though, since I've never had one done myself and this isn't from actual personal experience.

heyaa ive had my belybutton done in august last year , and i changed it like 4 months afterwards , is it normal if i get crusted puss around it ? and the skin between it is thiner than it used to be ?





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i got my belly button done and a few weeks later it stated coming out with green ganky stuff so i put savlon and sucdo cream and know t come up like a big lump of skin at the bottom do u know wht tht called and it keeps on bleeding what shall i do





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Hi, i got a monroe piercing done about a month ago. It's fully healed but there's a wierd lump thing growing next to the hole on the inside of my mouth. It doesn't hurt or anything, its just annoyong. Do you know what it is?





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i had my navel pierced last may and then september last year i got a lump underneath it. that took about 2 months to get rid of then it started to sercrete this liquid on and off. i still have it now and it occurs more often (about twice a week!) i dont know what to do!? please help me :) xx





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I had my tongue pierced on 3/1/10 and it healed (or so I thought) completley fine but the last few days the back of my Tongue has gone yellow and all gammy. Why is this and what should I do?





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It looks like no one else has asked this question, so please fill in the rest of your details below.





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