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Traditionally, face piercings are generally related to noses and lips. However there are several types of facial piercings that are popular at present Facial piercings tend to have greater possibilities of rejection or developing scar tissue since a number of them affect areas of flat skin, in what is known as “surface” piercings.

Surface piercings are marked by extremely high rate of rejection as the skin doesn’t have adequate slack and the piercing jewelry exerts pressure on the tissue. Additionally, any infection to these face piercings is likely to affect vital parts and can easily spread to the blood; hence proper healing care after face piercing is needed.

Facial piercings can be done on the various areas like forehead, temple, bridge of nose, nostril, septum, cheeks, labrets/lips, lowbrets, scrumper, and mandible.

Techniques and methods of face piercings

The following are the most common facial piercing techniques and procedures

• Piercing that are undertaken by experts involve the use of an exceedingly pointed hollow surgical needle similar to the ones employed for giving drips or blood.
• This implies that for the majority of facial piercing the needle is pierced in an instant and the degree of uneasiness is minimal.
• As has been observed people react to different body piercing in different ways.
• Some are often extremely distressed with certain piercing and may lose consciousness in the process.
• Others may throw up and there are others still who might not be affected at all by the seemingly painful procedure.

Risks of face piercings

There are certain risks associated with facial piercing and these shouldn’t be taken lightly. The common facial piercing risks are:

Infection: In the absence of adequate care, infection can result in scarring and even blood poisoning.

Allergic Reaction: Some people are allergic to particular metals and only realize this during piercing and have a serious reaction to the jewellery. The inflammation, coupled with problems in breathing can result in hospitalization.

Nerve Damage

If a piercing isn’t positioned cautiously, it can penetrate a nerve, detaching it and making the adjoining area devoid of any sensation.

Face piercing after care

You need to keep in mind the following face piercing after care pointers

• You must at all times make it a point to keep your hands clean prior to touching your piercing.
• You need to do this to ensure that your hands are not the source of contamination for the area that has been ierced.

The use of sterile cotton, cotton gauze or other disinfected material should be used for cleaning from the second night onwards. You should exercise caution while removing any trickle from the skin in the vicinity of the pierced area. If the piercing has become loose and can be twisted with relative ease, clean the different sections at a time, while rotating it through the pierced area. This has to be done to ensure that the entire surface of the piercing has been properly cleaned.

Healing after face piercing

• The curing of an ordinary wound and the healing of a facial piercing is significantly dissimilar.
• For a normal wound the body simply has to restore and rejoin the injured tissue, but with facial piercing, this process is made difficult by the presence of an unfamiliar substance, the jewellery.
• A facial piercing can take a number of weeks or even months to heal. The healing process commences soon after the piercing is done, with the cells moving from the border of the wound together until they join.