Piercing and Surgery.

idunno78

Hey all,

I have looked but couldn't find exact answer I'm looking for. I'm having surgery soon and have my nipple, tongue and belly button pierced. I'm wondering can I put plastic ones in there places for duration of surgery. Has anyone done this or is it at the discretion of the drs!? I'm not to bothered about the belly button.

Thanks

dearg lady

idunno78 wrote: »

Hey all,

I have looked but couldn't find exact answer I'm looking for. I'm having surgery soon and have my nipple, tongue and belly button pierced. I'm wondering can I put plastic ones in there places for duration of surgery. Has anyone done this or is it at the discretion of the drs!? I'm not to bothered about the belly button.

Thanks

I think it's at the discretion of the docs. I had a very recent nipple piercing when I went in for surgery, and they let me cover it with a dressing which was pretty nice, so see what they say anyway.

polkabunny

I went in for a tonsillectomy, I took out all my piercings. I think they would have been alright with putting plastic retainers in my ears, however the piercing I was concerned about closing up (my septum) had to be left empty for oxygen. Wasn't fun trying to mess with little balls and screw them on after coming out of a general anesthetic, and then I kept being put back on oxygen too. Still have the septum piercing though

tfak85

It wont matter whether the jewellery is plastic or metal, what matters is the location, as pointed out by polkabunny the septum had to come out as it was going to interfere with the surgical area.

Putting some tape or dressings over the piercings should be fine, if they are not going to be touched in the process.

idunno78

Thanks guys for all your replys will just see the day what happens!

niallam

Unless they're in the way or your getting an MRI you'll usually be fine leaving them in

Star Lord

niallam wrote: »

Unless they're in the way or your getting an MRI you'll usually be fine leaving them in

I was let keep mine in for my MRI, after I'd explained that it was titanium and so non magnetic. And it wasn't in the area being scanned. They hesitantly agreed that it be okay, but warned me to hit the buzzer if I felt any discomfort, or felt it heating up.

jenga-jen

I'd a similar worry when I went for my tonsillectomy a few years ago. Consultant was getting ready to shoo me out of his room when I asked him. I explained that no, it wasn't just my ears and that if I took them out it might cause me some problems. Clearly not an issue he was too familiar with since it's usually kids getting tonsils out.... Once I explained that I could put in plastic retainers he was more than happy.

You can't have them in during surgery because of infection control depending on how close the surgery is to the piercing and also, as mentioned, in case they need to do an MRI (horrible ripping things might happen with metal :eek:)

Definitely mention it to your surgeon in advance in case they spot them and are 'wtf?' mid-surgery but once you explain they should be fine with it (but yes, very much at their discretion and surgeon dependent!)

IamMetaldave

Mine were taken out for an appendicitis (but put back in while I was still knocked out by the nurses as I asked them to) and left in for brain scans.

Alan b.

ASK THE SURGEON.
it depends on so many differant things, location of the piercing, type of procedure.

metal piercings can cause severe burns due to certain procedures. im not a doc, but worked in a hospital, in theatre before and removing metal jewellery was something that was always checked and warned about before the patients went in for their op.

plastic retainers would be your best bet, but even at that, you should be asking the surgeon.

SillyMangoX

Any time I go for anaesthetic I take out any that can be taken out eg lobes and nose, but I keep in my traguses, rook and conch and they just cover them with a wee bit of tape, that's happened in 3 separate hospitals now so I would say it's fairly common!

LSP

Hi, I have navel tongue nose and roughly 17 ear piercings and for a surgery I had I had to take a lot of them out. However there were a few ear ones I couldn't remove so they had me put a plaster over them for the surgery. Unfortunately my tongue closed over a bit even in the short time I had the bar out, I had to go straight back in when I was discharged to have it opened up again. The tongue in particular might be a problem as it can be a barrier for any tubes that they might have to put down your throat in an emergency or whatever. A piercer opened it up again for free though.