Body piercings not for everyone

Emily Volpini (junior-public relations and sociology) didn't think that getting a tongue piercing would cause her so much pain and anxiety.

After a trip to a local piercing shop, Volpini was turned away because her tongue wasn't suitable for a piercing.

"The guy said the piercing would be too close to my teeth," she said. Anatomically, Volpini was denied the piercing because her frenulum, the tissue that connects the tongue to the floor of the mouth, ran to almost the tip of her tongue.

Tony Campbell, manager, tattoo artist and piercer at Totem Tattoo, 225 W. Beaver Ave, said, "If a frenulum comes too close to the tip of the tongue, a good piercer would tell them not to get it done."

Phil Clouser, owner of Art of the Ages and dermagraphic specialist, said around two or three percent of clientele have an extended frenulum.

A couple of months later, while in Brazil, Volpini decided to try get her tongue pierced by a professional there, she said.

"I told him what the guy [from home] told me," but the piercer said that it didn't matter, she said.

The tongue piercing was done on a slant on the top with the bottom projecting out near the tip of the tongue, she said.

While on her flight home back from Brazil, Volpini neglected to move her new piercing, she said.

"Twenty four hours later and the bottom of the piercing was in my tongue," she said.

When Volpini realized that the bottom part of her piercing wasn't going to come out of her tongue, she sought advice from the tattoo artists at Totem Tattoo. They told her to seek medical attention, which she did at the ER, she said.

When the ER was unsuccessful at getting the piercing out, a doctor referred her to an oral surgeon, she said. To get the piercing out of her tongue, Volpini explained the oral surgeon injected an agent into the tongue that causes it to expand, she said.

$600 later, the clasp on the piercing finally came lose, she said.

Clouser recommends that potential clients who have an extended frenulum, go to their oral surgeon and have it clipped.

"It is a pretty common procedure and by not piercing through this ligament, a person avoids all kinds of problems," he said.

To avoid having a piercing go bad, making sure the frenulum is of standard length is very important. According to Ramiriz, one also has to have the barbell sitting at a 75 degree angle when they are getting the piercing, to avoid other problems.

"It is pretty much idiot proof," she said.

Also the rumor, that a person can get paralyzed when getting their tongue pierced is false, Campbell said.

Unless you somehow get a spinal injury while getting your tongue pierced, it is impossible, because there are no nerves in your tongue that affect mobility, he said.

Tongue piercings are not the only types of body art that can have limitations due to anatomy.

"Every person is different, I see things everyday that can't be pierced," Clouser said.

Some people can't get eyebrow rings because the skin around their brow is too thin, he said.

"Ninety percent of surface piercings will grow out," Campbell said. For example, piercings on outtie belly buttons and on the nape of the neck grow out, Campbell said.

Although rare, some people cannot get tattoos because of skin diseases like excessive acne and psoriasis, he said.

"Generally if people have a skin problem, I tell them to place the tattoo on the least affected area," Clouser said.

Both Campbell and Clouser warn that piercing a nostril with a stud decreases ones chance of healing properly.

Until two years ago we required customers to start out with a nose ring, Campbell said, but today we let it up to the customer's discretion.

"I do about 20 noses a week, and only one or two of them are nose rings," he said.

When getting a nose stud, a customer is cutting their chances of healing, he said.

However, Art of the Ages requires customers to start their nostril piercings with a stud.

"People turn us down because we do not start our nostril piercings with studs," Ramiriz said.

"Rings are so much easier to clean, all you have to use is some antibacterial soap," she said.

In fact, Ramiriz recalls this summer when a girl came into the shop from New Jersey who had gotten a stud in her nose, she said.

The stud had sunken into the piercing and her skin began to grow over it, she said.

After removing the stud, the girl had a huge hole in her nose, Clouser said.

"All of my clients get half hour counseling before I touch them," Clouser said.

Campbell and Clouser both agree that when shopping around for a tattoo or piercing, it is important for consumers to do their research on the risks that they face and trust the artist's judgment and advice.