How one mother handled her daughter's body piercings

A few words about body piercing:

In the past few years, my teenage daughter had her ear cartilage, her nose and her navel pierced. We did a lot of research, and found that tattoo businesses are the only places to offer these other types of piercings.

We talked with other families, and visited a few tattoo parlors in the area, until we found one that was immaculate, and followed all health department codes to the letter.

The one we used is Ronin Tattoo, in Aurora (ronintattoo.com). The entire business was very clean. The space where the piercings were done was kept sterile, the piercer wore disposable surgical gloves and all the instruments were one-time use.

Each of these piercings was done with a needle, not a gun. The piercer at Ronin solely uses one-use-only hollow needles and never uses a gun, even for cartilage piercings, as he explained to us that it could shatter the cartilage. He also spent plenty of time explaining the process and the care instructions to us, and to our daughter, before he did the piercings.

Despite the cleanliness of the space and the piercing procedure, there is still a risk of infection, and this risk is greater with body piercings, especially depending on the area.

Tongue piercings (a dentist's nightmare) are especially prone to infection and can damage the teeth. Piercings in the eyelids, nose, belly button and other parts of the body can also lead to scarring and nerve damage.

Gauging — a continual stretching of the hole in a pierced lobe that has become popular with boys more so than girls — causes another dilemma. The stretching, tearing, and scarring caused by gauging are often permanent. Some day your kids will grow older and may not want those giant holes in their earlobes. But gauges a quarter-inch or larger will remain permanently stretched, and their only option will be plastic surgery.

All these things understandably drive parents refuse to allow their children to get body piercings. But if you're game, your child has to be at least 14 years old and have parental consent. At Ronin, parental consent means a parent (or legal guardian) must accompany the child, and a copy of the child's birth certificate must be provided before a piercing specialist will come near your child. In addition, both parent and child must present a valid photo ID.

Without parental consent, children have to be at least 18 years old in Illinois.

After only a year or two, my daughter has stopped wearing everything except her regular earrings, and all the other piercings have closed up. Part of this may be due to her changing fashion sense, but much of it was a result of other factors. She could not wear any jewelry when she was on her school's cross-country team, and as a result, her nose piercing closed and was re-pierced a few times, before she gave it up. She also had to have an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), and you cannot wear any metal in the MRI machine.

With any piercings, there are many factors to consider. Get your teens involved in the research process. Have them talk with people who have or have had body piercings. And if they get the go-ahead, be sure you find the cleanest and most professional facility available.

#8212; Rachel Yackley