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| quote: | Originally posted by Espresso
could someone please explian to me about the expression/art thingy about tatoos/ piercings? please enlighten me.
appreciated
p.s if you could also name one great person (artist/thinker/philosoph/scientist/poet/writer or any role model person that you'd look up to) in history that has/had tatoos/piercings?
i'm not joking, in fact very serious about this. |
I don't personaly know of any BUT here is some info i foudn out abotu it
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Piercing and tattoos
Definition
Body piercing and tattoos are a popular form of body art that have been practiced throughout history by various cultures.
Description
Various cultures have embraced adorning their bodies with piercings and tattoos throughout history. In 1992, the 4,000-year-old body of a tattooed man was discovered in a glacier on the Austrian border, and historical research has shown that Egyptians identified tattooing with fertility and nobility in the period from 4000-2000 BC Similar to tattooing, body piercing also has a rich history, which includes being used as a symbol of royalty and courage. In some hunting and gathering societies, body piercing and tattoos have long been used in initiation rites and as socialization/enculturation symbols.
In today's industrialized cultures, tattoos and piercing are a popular art form shared by people of all ages. They also are indicative of a psychology of self-mutilation, defiance, independence, and belonging, as for example in prison or gang cultures.
Popular piercing sites include the ear, nasal septum, eyebrow, tongue, cheek, navel, labia, and penis. Tattoos permanently mark various areas on the body.
Piercing is performed quickly and without anesthesia by either a spring-loaded ear-piercing gun or piercing needles, with the needle diameter varying from six to 18 gauge. The skin is cleaned, then the needle and jewelry are inserted through the tissue in one swift motion. Piercing is typically completed in tattoo or beauty parlors.
Originating from the Tahitian word tattau, meaning "to mark," tattoos are relatively permanent marks or designs on the skin. An electric needle injects colored pigment into small deep holes made in the skin to form the tattoo. Prison tattoo techniques are usually very crude, in marked contrast to the highly skilled art practiced in Japan and also performed in America and Europe. In recent years, the ancient art of Mehndi, or temporary tattooing of the skin with a paste made of henna has become popular America and around the world. Henna is a stain normally made for hair, and therefore exempt from U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation. Although seemingly safe because it does not pierce the skin, henna tattoos using black henna, a paste that contains parahenylenediamine, can actually be dangerous when absorbed into the skin of some people.
Causes and symptoms
While piercing and tattooing are popular, both present definite health risks. Tattoos can lead to the transmission of infectious diseases, such as hepatitis B and C, and theoretically HIV, when proper sterilization and safety procedures are not followed. Black henna tattoos can cause significant allergies and rashes, leading to renal (kidney) failure and even death in those who are sensitive to their ingredients. These types of tattoos have appeared particularly dangerous to young children. Body piercing also presents the risk of chronic infection, scarring, hepatitis B and C, tetanus, and skin allergies to the jewelry that is used. A recent Mayo Clinic study reported that 17% of college students with piercings suffered a medical complication such as infection or tearing. Use of piercing guns and preferences for upper ear piercing have led to increased infections in recent years. The force of the gun's delivery further complicates matters around the delicate cartilage of the upper ear and some people require surgical intervention.
Body piercing and tattooing are unregulated in most United States, but illegal in some. The American Dental Association (ADA) opposes oral (tongue, lip or cheek) piercing, and the American Academy of Dermatology is against all forms of body piercing except ear lobe piercing.
Diagnosis
Some of the signs of an infection from either piercing or tattoos are obvious, such as inflammation of the pierced or tattooed area, while the symptoms of hepatitis C, the most common blood-borne infection in the United States, may not be so obvious. Allergic responses to tattoos may occur due to the pigment compounds used, such as oxides of iron, mercury, chromium, cadmium, and cobalt and synthetic organic dyes. Symptoms of an allergic reaction include swelling, redness and severe itching. Symptoms of henna tattoo reactions are an eczema-like rash around the tattoo site. The patch should be tested for reaction severity before it proceeds to anaphylactic shock, or severe allergic reaction.
Most infections from piercing are due to the use of non-sterile techniques. The skin pathogens streptococcus and staphylococcus are most frequently involved in skin infections from piercing. The fleshy tissue around the pierced area may weaken and tear, leading for example, to a badly disfigured earlobe. Other common complications include contact dermatitis and scars. Piercing can result in endocarditis, urethral rupture, and a serious infection of the penis foreskin leading to severe disability or even death.
Treatment
Treatment of a local infection from piercing includes warm compresses and antibacterial ointment for local infections, to a five-day course of oral antibiotic therapy. If hepatitis B or C is confirmed, a series of diet and lifestyle changes, such as the elimination of alcohol, is recommended to control the disease.
There are four methods to remove tattoos, including: surgical removal that involves cutting the tattoo away; sanding the skin with a wire brush to remove the epidermis and dermis layers in a process called dermabrasion; using a salt solution to soak the tattooed skin (salabrasion); and scarification, removing the tattoo with an acid solution to form a scar in its place. Topical steroids can often treat reactions to henna tattoos, but improvement may take several weeks.
Prognosis
Depending on the type of infection resulting from either piercing or tattoos, the treatment and prognosis vary. Minor infections respond well to antibiotic therapy, while blood borne diseases such as hepatitis B and C cause life-altering results. Disfigurement may or may not be fully correctable by later plastic surgery. Patients particularly sensitive or allergic to the ingredients in black henna may suffer serious consequences, even death, if their reaction progresses. Others may be left with scarring or altered pigmentation along the tattoo design.
Prevention
The best way to prevent infection from piercing or tattoos is not to get one in the first place. Procedures should be performed in a sterile environment by an experienced professional. The person performing the procedure should remove a new needle from the plastic in front of you and should put on a new pair of sterile gloves. Anyone considering a henna tattoo should require proof from the artists that he or she is using pure, safe brown henna, not the unsafe black henna.
Piercing should be completed with smoothly polished jewelry made of 14 or 18 carat gold, titanium, surgical steel or niobium. An allergic reaction can result with the use of jewelry made of brass plate or containing a nickel alloy. Healing time from a piercing range from six months to two years. A piercing should be completed in a sterile environment that uses every precaution to reduce the risk of infection. Excessive force, such as exerting a strong pull, should never be applied to jewelry inserted into pierced body parts to avoid tearing and injuring the tissues.
Key Terms
Endocarditis
Infection of a valve inside the heart.
Hepatitis
Inflammation of the liver.
Socialization
Process by which new members of a social group are integrated in the group.
For Your Information
Resources
Periodicals
Abbasi, Kamran. "Body Piercing." British Medical Journal (April 14, 2001): 936.
Brown, Kelli McCormack, Paula Perlmutter, and Robert J. McDermott. "Youth and Tattoos: What School Health Personnel Should Know." Journal of School Health (November 2000): 355.
Califano, Julie. "Piercing Peril: Adorning Your Body can Backfire Big Time." Cosmopolitan (April 2003): 112.
Edy, Carolyn. "Body Piercing Woes: One More Reason to Think Twice Before Getting Your Navel Pierced." Yoga Journal (June 30, 2000): 36.
"Hazards with Henna Tattoos." Pulse (June 23, 2003):60.
"Perichondritis: A Complication of Piercing Auricular Cartridge." Postgraduate Medical Journal (January 2003):29-31.
Sullivan, Michele G. "Henna Tattoos Tied to Bad Allergic Reactions." Family Practice News (May 15, 2003):16.
Weir, Erica. "Navel Gazing: A Clinical Glimpse at Body Piercing." Canadian Medical Association Journal (March 2001): 864.
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I know it's a lot to take in! | quote: | Tongue Piercing COMMENTS?
Tongue piercing is one of the most common, popular, and easy-to-heal piercings out there.
Tongue piercings are generally done centrally and vertically through the body of the tongue. Off-centre piercings are also a valid option, as is the much more rare horizontal tongue piercing. Other rare placements include tongue orbitals and other tongue surface piercings. Related piercings include the tongue web piercing.
When a tongue piercing is first done, a great deal of swelling occurs, which usually lasts as much as a week (some people find this first week very painful to the point where sleeping is difficult, but most people experience very little pain from tongue piercing). Total healing time is about a month, during which aftercare is limited to occasionally rinses with either salt water or a mild mouthwash.
Most tongue piercing is performed using a straight barbell in 14ga to 10ga using a standard needle piercing procedure. Other piercers have performed this piercing using a scalpel, cutting lengthwise along the grain of the tongue to install 2ga or 0ga initial jewelry, usually a Teflon plug or even wooden jewelry — other people choose to stretch to these sizes. In the larger sizes, people may choose to wear hollow barbells with smartie beads to reduce the weight and stress on the surrounding tissue.
Tongue piercings carry with the almost no infection or risks directly related to the piercing (like cancer), but they do carry a large risk tooth chipping — after all, if you bite down hard on a steel bead, what do you think will happen to your tooth? However, the risk of chipped teeth can be almost totally eliminated by wearing properly sized jewelry. For healing and initial piercing, the tongue jewelry should be 50% longer than the thickness of the tongue (normally this is 3/4"), but once healed it is very important that a shorter bar be installed.
Tongue piercings are generally considered very useful for oral sex — although that's definitely not the only reason people get the piercing! The location of the piercing should match the style of oral sex you will be performing... Some people find that piercings closer to the tip work well if you will be performing oral sex on women, with deeper piercings being slightly better for men. It is important to note that tongue piercings may never "truly" heal in some people, and are a very easy way to transmit STDs!
In the modern historical sense, the piercing was "first" done on Tattoo Sammy, a German artist, using a 10ga dermal punch in 1978 (documented in PFIQ if memory serves). In addition, the Ripley's Archive contains photos of sideshow performers not long into the 20th century wearing barbells in what appear to be healed tongue piercings. Paul King adds,
The tongue has a long history of temporary piercing for religious and performance practices. We know Mesoamericans such as the Aztecs practiced tongue piercing as well as other perforations as a part of blood offerings to their deities. Islamic Fakirs and Sufis from the Middle East, and Asian Spirit Mediums of the Far East practiced tongue piercing as an offering and proof of trance state. The reason for the central Australian Aboriginal holy man's practice of piercing the tongue remains unknown.
From the turn of the 20th century, Western Carnies borrowed many of their sideshow tricks from fakirs bringing to American and European audiences their first glimpses of tongue piercing. Elayne Angel is largely responsible for the popularity of tongue piercing today — she is credited with being the first person with a tongue tip and multiple tongue piercings.
It should be noted that tongue piercing can (indirectly) lead to death — for example, if you get in a car accident, are brought to the hospital, and need a breathing tube inserted, it can be blocked by the tongue stud. If the doctors are inexperienced in dealing with piercings, this can mean no breathing tube. Even if they are, it can delay the breathing tube long enough to leave you with brain damage. While this only affects a tiny percentage of people who get there tongues pierced, it is important to think about these indirect risks with all piercings... Is your piercing worth dying for?
Some piercers make the claim that tongue piercings should be pierced from the bottom up. Most do not, and to be blunt, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference. It's just the personal preference of the piercer, and don't let their technique affect your decision.
There are two common things that might stop you from getting your tongue pierced: First, is overly prominent veins on the bottom of the tongue. Sometimes they can be avoided (so you may want to get a second opinion from an experienced piercer if you are told no), but there are rare cases where it would not be safe. The second thing that can make a tongue piercing difficult to impossible is an overly prominent tongue web (that holds the tongue to the bottom of the mouth). If it is too long and tight, you won't be able to stick out your tongue, making it difficult to pierce, and, in addition, a piercing would rub on the webbing leading to discomfort.
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DALLAS STAR ™ °¤§£¤y°
Treat people as if they are what they ought to be and you may help them to become what they are capable of being.
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now that's just SICK!!! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ewwwwwwwwwwww
great for oral though. hee hee ^ ^
I don't know why but i've always thought they were awesome, envied all my friends who had one. Up until recently i couldn't get one because i was still living with my parents and my mom said she'd kick me out if i ever got one. Now i'm out of there, the only thing i have to face is the pain... and i have a feeling it's going to hurt a lot 
