7.6 Piercings And Common Medical Procedures
Description
This article is from the Piercing FAQ, by Anne Greenblatt with numerous contributions by others.
7.6 Piercings And Common Medical Procedures
Finding a piercing-knowledgeable doctor is more difficult than finding
a doctor that is piercing-friendly. While a doctor may have the best
intentions, s/he may not be knowledgeable enough about piercings to
identify problems caused by inappropriate jewelry, inappropriate
piercing location, or a metal sensitivity. Too often doctors assume
that every problematic piercing is infected when the problem can be
attributed to other factors.
Some people are apprehensive to visit a doctor in case of a problem
because they feel that the doctor will disapprove. Your doctor should
be professional and should not be morally judgemental or express
personal disapproval about your piercings.
DENTISTRY
Removing tongue and lip and possibly nasal jewelry may be necessary
for x-rays if the jewelry is in such a location as to interfere with
the accuracy of the x-ray. Routine procedures such as cleaning should
not require the removal of oral jewelry unless it is so large that the
dentist cannot adequately work around it.
Please read Part 2C of the Piercing FAQ for information about the
risks of damage to teeth and oral tissues resulting from oral
piercings.
SURGERY
Most hospitals' policies require that patients remove all jewelry
prior to surgery in the interest of the patients' safety. Depending on
the location, jewelry may interfere with procedures. For example, oral
and nasal jewelry can interfere with breathing apparatuses. Discuss
the hospital's policy with your doctor or surgeon prior to
admittance. Take necessary jewelry removal and insertion tools with
you, just in case.
In the case of emergency treatment or surgery, such as after an
accident, your jewelry may be removed by hospital staff if you are
unable to do so. Unfortunately, because many hospitals do not have
appropriate jewelry removal tools (namely ring opening pliers) and the
staff does not have knowlege of the opening and closing mechanisms,
the jewelry may be damaged or destroyed during removal.
ULTRASOUND / X-RAY / MRI / CT SCAN
Ultrasounds performed on the abdomen usually do not require removal of
navel jewelry unless the jewelry is directly over the area which is
being examined.
CT scans of the head require removal of all facial jewelry.
The MRI, or Magnetic Resonance Image, uses magnetism to obtain an
image. Most hospitals require that all metal jewelry be removed for
MRIs. Any metal in or on the body will greatly distort the
image. Whether or not MRIs produce a magnetic force strong enough pull
jewelry out of the body is debated.
N.J. Marsh <njmarsh@chat.carleton.ca>, a former technician, comments:
"When I was working, jewelry of any sort would not have been allowed
in an MRI. Even stuff like fillings would artefact images, and so all
metal except for seriously permanent stuff would have had to come
off. Whether or not you should remove your jewelry hinges on
departmental policy and your personal reasons for the procedure. For
an elective procedure, I would definitely arrange for removal of metal
jewelry (with replacement by non-metal if necessary) in order to
obtain the best possible result."
Scott Dorsey comments:
"It is true that MRI is strong enough to pull out metal no matter how
small, but this will only affect items which are magnetic (ferrous;
this includes hematite beads). The good news is that your jewelry
probably is not magnetic. The bad news is that it might be. Not only
will ferrous metal be pulled out with enormous amounts of force,
causing damage to your tender little body, but it will also distort
the magnetic field and smear the image in the vicinity."
Neil Forrester <naf@psy.ox.ac.uk> comments:
"I recently went for an MRI scan for a friend's experiment. The nurse
told me to remove all metal from my person before the scan. I pointed
out that I had nipple rings and that I could not really remove them
because reinsertion would be a real hassle. Luckily I had recently
changed the jewelry to titanium which is not magnetically active, so I
only had to remove the steel beads. "
Ray Pearson <TAT-INS@worldnet.att.net> comments:
"I just got back from my doc's and from getting some x-rays. While
there I talked to the technician. You do not have to worry about your
jewelry during an MRI. While there are strong magnetic fields
generated there is not a pole to speak of. The jewelry will become
magnetized but will not be pulled out through your skin. It would ruin
your 'picture' due to the metallic disturbance of the field; they
would have to remove it to get a clear image if the distortion was in
the area they needed to view. She stated more than once that your
jewelry will not rip out."
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