Sensitive Piercings

So I'm looking to get a new piercing done. I've never been pierced anywhere except for my ears. I have noticed that they are truely sensitive to the type of jewelry I wear. I actually had to let my second ear piercings close up because they rejected the ear rings. Now, will this be a problem if I get a piercing anywhere else on my body? Or was it just my ears?

It is probably the same throughout your body. Certainly any other body part you would be referring to is as sensitive as your ears--nipples, genitals. Furthermore, the ears have a characteristic for healing that other genital areas lack: they are dry on both sides of the piercing. OK, the nipples are dry on both sides of the piercing. Piercings that have a wet side and a dry side (genitals and oral piercings) have more common infections if the skin is inflamed.

You sound as if you need at least 14K gold. Other biologically good metals are titanium, niobium, and 316 series stainless (surgical) steel.

Germangoddess, Please be very careful when you choose a person to do your piercing. Only use a person with good credentials and always follow instructions for cleansing and treating the new piercing site.

Switchablesussie is a sensible and trustworthy resource if you want to get advice from a woman, otherwise I'll be glad to give you some pointers on piercing safety.

Let us know how your piercing turns out.

The suggestions you have received are very good. I would suggest, however, that titanium and niobium piercing jewelry are least likely to cause reactions, especially during the healing period for a piercing. I never liked to use gold jewelry for a fresh piercing as the alloys can cause irritation and slower healing.

In my experience (which is from the early days of the body modification movement) I found more infections caused by over cleaning than anything else. Most piercings need to be cleaned with the suggested agent preferred by your piercer twice a day and no more. The client must follow instructions regarding aftercare. One must also refrain from unnecessary handling of the piercing until it is superficially healed. This can be a very long time for some piercings.

Let me climb on my soapbox here. I have never been a fan of oral piercings. They are an invitation to have broken teeth and gum erosion issues. I've done them, but one needs to consider these possible issues. But it is great fun to have oral sex with a partner who has tongue piercing.

Speed

Thanks everyone for the advice. The kind of piercing I am getting would be put in the oral category. It's a monroe piercing. I've never been a big fan of needles but somehow these past few months I have been itching for a new piercing. The piercer I am going to is an RN and has 20 years experience. I'm hoping to go with a titanium or the others Susie mentioned.

As far as gum erosion, I believe the type of ring they use has a special backing. I'm almost 99% sure on that. Just that 1% could be wrong.

Hopefully this piercing experience will be great and will open up new possible piercing experiences. Maybe one day I will think about getting that cute little clit hood piercing!

Thanks everyone!

Speed is right about the oral piercings causing gum erosions and chipped teeth.

I personally have never been a big fan of piercings around the mouth area. That one doesn't look too bad. It's just usually the dirtballs that I see with mouth piercings, they usually look all red and irritated or infected. Just don't let it look like that and I am sure it will look fine.

An update for everyone: Got my monroe piercing yesterday! Didn't hurt one bit and my body is nicely accepting it. No signs of rejection yet! Not even swollen either!

Thank you all for the advice!

So!

How about a photo?

Be careful and maintain a clean environment. Gum issues take month to develop, so check for any signs every week or so.

Of course when I was actively piercing, we rarely did facial piercings of any sort. I did more clitoris piercings than I did septum piercings, but my clientele was probably much older than is typical today.

Speed

Piercings that are most likely to get irritated or infected are those that have "wet" AND "dry" sides instead of both sides being wet or both sides dry.

A tongue is wet on both sides, nipples, ears, and most genital piercings are dry on both sides, but types of orofacial piercings, like the Monroe which is wet on the inside and dry on the outside have a much greater propensity for getting infected because the dry and wet sides have different normal bacteria. When they become connected by the piercing, infections often ensue.

As far as gum recession is concerned, a friend of ours is a periodontist, and he says he sees a lot of orofacial piercings doing damage to teeth and gums. He says the damage done by oral piercings (like tattoos for removal by plastic surgeons) is good for business. A gum graft can cost $1500 to more than $2500 for each area requiring surgical repair or grafting.

Think before your have an intraoral piercing.