DEAR ABBY: I just read the letter from "Upset in Collegeville, Pa.," regarding the 15-year-old girl who wanted to get her bellybutton pierced. Your response included, "As long as the procedure is done hygienically, it shouldn't cause any damage."

I am a gynecologist. I have observed that navel piercings often cause significant permanent scarring, especially at the upper piercing site. These scars are far larger than one would expect. They also can be associated with darkening of the skin at the scar site, which makes them even more cosmetically unacceptable.

I can't explain why piercings such as earlobes usually have no scarring while navel piercings often result in unsightly permanent scars. Anyone considering a bellybutton piercing should be aware of this potentially permanent problem. - Oregon Gynecologist


DEAR OREGON GYNECOLOGIST: Although I live in Los Angeles, probably the navel-piercing capital of the United States, I cannot claim to have seen as many bellybuttons "up close and personal" as you have, so I bow to your expertise. Many readers commented on that letter. Read on:

DEAR ABBY: May I add a note to your response to the parents who agreed to let their daughter pierce her bellybutton, then changed their minds? I am 62 and still can't quite forgive my father for much the same thing. He was old-fashioned and wouldn't let my older sister drive. When I was 15, I begged to take driver's ed and get my license at 16. He agreed, on the condition that I pay for lessons myself.

Well, I did, and passed with flying colors. But when I turned 16, he refused to let me get my license. When I asked why he'd lied to me, he said he hadn't lied. He simply thought I'd never be able to save enough to pay for the course. Even after 46 years, I still think he lied to me.

My advice to the parents: Do not break your word. It could damage your relationship with your son or daughter forever. - Marj G.,
Weslaco, Texas


DEAR MARJ: I agree. She fulfilled her part of the bargain, so the parents shouldn't have reneged on their promise.

www.azcentral.com

Piercing is not just for earlobes anymore. But this popular trend as brought about an unpopular allergic reaction.

"Nickel allergy appears as a red raised, inflamed area of skin," said Dr. Philip Mirmelli.

About 15 percent of the population suffers from nickel allergies. Dr. Mirmelli says the majority of people don't even know it.

"They live with this irritation or they put cortisone creams on it, and they'll never get to the real problem," he said.

The problem is on the rise as more and more people get piercings.

"You've got to be careful of what you pierce it with … stainless steel or 18 carat gold or better," said Dr. Mirmelli.

A simple patch test reveals who is allergic to nickel. Eileen only has her ears pierced, but that's all it took. Now her watch is giving her a rash.

"I'm in the process of eliminating anything that might contain nickel in my home, in my workplace," she said.

That includes costume jewerly, eyeglass frames, zippers and surprise: even pool table felt.

"Any material that has green dye has some nickel in it," said Dr. Mirmelli.

The more exposure to nickel, the more likely you are to develop a sensitivity. The only treatment is avoidance.

There is no cure. Some people get around it by putting a coat of clear nail polish on their costume jewelry.

And, just in case you were wondering, U.S. nickels don't contain nickel, but Euro coins do.

www.king5.com

A police force became embroiled in a row over sex discrimination yesterday after it issued a new dress code banning male officers from wearing earrings on duty.

Paul Kernaghan, the chief constable of Hampshire Police, said he was anxious to smarten up the appearance of uniform officers and it was thought that the public did not want to see male officers wearing earrings.

Female officers, however, can continue to wear earrings, as long as they are of the stud variety. The edict has angered some officers, who feel the ruling is discriminatory.

Gay officers said the policy sent out an anti-homosexual message. Wearing a ring in the right ear has become a symbol of homosexuality among gay men.

The force has been warned that the policy could face a legal challenge and the Police Federation has said it plans to take up the issue.

Maureen Adamson, the force's director of personnel, who wears earrings herself, defended the new code. She said: "Many men who wear earrings are not gay and the policy was certainly not designed to discriminate against gay men."

"We felt that members of the public would find it more acceptable if male officers did not wear earrings."

A group of gay officers, who declined to be identified, has asked Lee Hunt, a local Conservative councillor, himself a former policeman, to speak for them.

Mr Hunt, who represents Southsea on Portsmouth city council, said: "The police force is supposed to be developing more of a live and let live approach but this sends out the wrong message."

Under the new dress code female officers are allowed to wear a small pair of stud earrings in the ear lobe only.

A nose piercing is acceptable only on cultural or religious grounds and no other body piercing, including tongue piercing, is permitted.

A Hampshire Police spokesman said that the force had recently conducted a review of existing policy and the revised dress code had been circulated to staff.

It did not believe that the ban on men wearing earrings was an issue for the majority of its officers, but would listen to any representations made on the subject.

www.telegraph.co.uk

Erik Hansen rolls up his left sleeve to reveal a roughly drawn skull-and-crossbones-tattoo. A friend did it for him a few weeks ago, using a needle and ink at what Hansen calls a "poke and stick party" - a growing trend among young people as tattoos and piercings have surged in popularity.

Body art between friends can be a rite of passage, a backroom ritual often done on the sly.

Teens talk about school athletes doing tattoos or piercings for one another as an initiation. "It’s more fun to have a friend do it - and it was free," says Hansen, a 20-year-old from Minneapolis.

But officials where he lives - and in other places nationwide - are worried. In Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis, they’ve started a poster campaign in schools and neighborhood hangouts to encourage young people to have their tattoos and piercings done by licensed professionals.

"Get the good design, not a bad disease!" says one poster about tattooing. Another features a photo of an upper lip piercing with warnings about the risk of infections, blood-borne diseases and nerve damage.

The Oregon Health Licensing Office has a similar Web-based campaign, begun after several young people from the town of Klamath Falls got serious upper ear infections from piercings done at a jewelry kiosk with lax sterilization procedures. The cases - and resulting disfiguration - were documented in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.

Meanwhile, the Texas Department of Health library offers a video for teens and young adults titled "Tattooing and Body Piercing: Thinking Smart About Body Art." And Connecticut is among states with a brochure that has similar information.

The biggest concerns include the potential spread of tetanus and hepatitis B or C if people share tattooing needles or whatever sharp objects - pins and nails included - they use to do their piercing.

"It’s just not something you can do in your garage," says Shahn Anderson, a licensed tattooist and president of the Alliance of Professional Tattooists, who helped design the Hennepin County campaign.

Eighteen-year-old Katie Klaren thinks posting the information is a good idea.

"Anything but ears, I would want a professional to do," the high school senior from Roseville, Minn., says as she waits at a licensed piercing studio in Minneapolis with her friend, Leslie Barker. The fresh-faced teens were there to have their nipples pierced - a procedure that’s become trendy since Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl flash.

"It’s an on-the-edge kind of thing," Barker says, adding that both waited until they didn’t have to have written parental permission - required in Hennepin County since last summer.

Several states have laws that prohibit minors from getting tattoos or "body art" regardless of who’s holding the needle. And others, such as Wyoming, are considering bans.

Often, licensed piercers and tattooists have even stricter standards than states or cities, requiring a parent to be present or, in some cases, setting their own age limits for certain procedures.

Some youth think that banning them from having work done, or requiring parental permission, is only causing more minors to do the piercing themselves or seek out unlicensed amateurs, known in the industry as "scratchers."

"You can’t just outlaw things," says Hansen, who says he could not have afforded a professional tattoo even if he’d wanted one. "It’s like prohibition; it doesn’t work."

Gail Dorfman - the Hennepin County commissioner whose age-limits ordinance prompted the safety campaign - disagrees.

"We’re not telling kids they shouldn’t get tattoos or piercings," says Dorfman, who’s also the mother of five teenagers. "We’re just saying, ‘Be smart about it."’

She says doctors and nurses at the county’s hospital have seen a spike in young people with infections caused by amateur work, sometimes done by friends or unlicensed operators. She also notes the case of a 19-year-old woman who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for doing piercings in a vehicle near a Minneapolis high school and another in suburban Wayzata last year.

Jesika Bornsen, a professional piercer at a shop called Saint Sabrina’s in Minneapolis, agrees that the campaign can only help educate teens and parents.

"It’s saying, ‘Talk to your parents about it,"’ says Bornsen, a member of Association of Professional Piercers who’s worked in the field for eight years.

She says parents also might be pleasantly surprised if they checked out licensed piercing and tattoo facilities, which increasingly look more like spas than darkened back rooms.

In the end, she says, "Parents have to pick their battles."

"Do you want your kid to have a healthy piercing?" she asks. "Or the safety pin in their eyebrow?"

www.seacoastonline.com

A doctor delved into two historical crafts - body art and body piercing - on Thursday, examining its widespread practices and implications.

Dr. Greg Smith, a medical epidemiologist with the Department of Health and Human Services, spoke to several of the region's physicians and health professionals. He explained the cultural importance of body art and piercing, its medical relevance and regulatory approaches.

"Clinicians need to know about this because they're going to see patients with body art," Smith said. "Emergency room physicians need to know how to take this jewelry off. They need to know the complications that can occur from it.

"Dermatologists, obviously, need to know all the different skin problems that can occur."

Smith's presentation was part of Down-East Dermatology Day, an opportunity for health officials to come together and review simple and serious skin problems. He gave a primer on the storied history of body art, a practice performed for thousands of years by almost all societies for various reasons, including status, rites of passage or as a reflection of life.

In Western culture, the art, tied to expressions of individuality, has evolved to part fashion, part fad.

Increasingly, more people have gotten tatoos. The prevalence of the art form in the United States has grown to between 7 million and 20 million, indicative of today's culture and standards of beauty, Smith said.

An FHM magazine article on the Sexiest Women in the World reveals that six of its top 10 ladies have at least one tatoo. Even one of Mattel's Barbie dolls appears with a butterfly tatoo across her tummy.

"It's mainstream," Smith said. "It says a lot to our young people about the pressure to have body art."

But the piercing, when performed in incorrect and unsafe manners, comes with drawbacks.

The cuts invade subcutaneous areas, resulting in a risk of infectious complications to ears, navel, eyebrow, nose, nipple, tongue or genitals. Some have even pierced their neck, chest wall, back, arms, legs or palm.

"It's extremely important that sterile technique be used and that equipment for piercing be used one time and that any equipment used repetitively needs to be sterilized according to standards," Smith said.

Smith described the body art industry as highly unregulated. Only 13 states, including North Carolina, have regulatory authority over tattooing establishments, and only six of these states exercise authority over body piercing establishments.

Many piercings across the nation, Smith said, are performed by unlicensed practitioners who have learned techniques from magazines, videos and other piercers.

Smith referred to New Jersey law as smart regulation. The state requires facilities that perform tattoos and body piercing to obtain written approval from local health departments and stick to health and safety standards including disinfection and sterilization of reusable instruments.

It also has established standards for training and licensing requirements for salon owners, apprentices and operators, and it created a reporting mechanism for infections resulting from a body art procedure.

"That the only real protection that we have right now in the state is that a lot of the piercings are done in tattoo establishments and those are regulated by the state and they have to adhere to some pretty strict guidelines," Smith said.

But piercings can technically be performed anywhere, including beauty salons, nail salons, clothes boutiques, department stores, jewelry stores, private homes and physicians' offices. Ear lobes are the commonly pierced body objects.

"At least you have some protection on that front. But if you look at where all these piercings are performed, if they don't give tattoos, they're not regulated," Smith said.

The Department of Internal Medicine and the Office of Continuing Medical Education of the Brody School of Medicine in association with the Eastern Area Health Education Center sponsored the day's events.

www.reflector.com