Complications of bodymodification by piercing in the field of ent

Introduction:

Body piercing can cause severe complications. We evaluated number and character of occuring complications depending on the individual body piercer, the localization of the body piercing, preinterventional consultation and postinterventional treatment.

Material and methods:

The data were collected using an anonymized questionnaire, whose 15 items were completed by persons in the age of 15 – 99. In this work we included persons with existing piercing as well as formerly pierced participants. Persons with conventional, unstretched ear holes were excluded. Questionaires with missing information regarding localization, complications or the institution where the person git the body piercing were rejected. A number of 799 questionaires were suited for further investigation.

Results:

A total of 799 questionaires were available, of which 715 were answered by females (89,5%) and 84 by males (10,5%). The date of the piercing event is peaking for the women at the age range of 16 – 20 years (51%), while the biggest age group of the men is 21 – 25 years old (49%). The most common complications were pain (19,4%), swelling (18,1%) und inflammation (17,0%). The mayority of these cases (76,9%) could be treated with self-medicination. Lower risks for complications were associated with the cases where the piercing was performed by a physician, piercings in the area of the eyebrow as well as communication of postinterventional crucial hygiene measures.

Conclusion:

Besides the establishment of a licensing system in the piercing business with explicit definition of educational foci it is necessary to create a hygiene directive to prevent postinterventional complications like infections.

Publication History

Publication Date:
18 April 2018 (online)