Nipple piercing is a form of body piercing that has become more popular and it is being done by both women and men, young and old in this modern world of beauty.
Female body piercing especially boob piercing may result in too many complications during healing processes such as the appearance of scars after healing or keloid formation but it does not go to the extreme end of life-threatening.
Nipple piercing in most cases is characterized by the formation of either bumps or scars especially to those that are still healing. More often, piercing problems are usually temporal but in rare occasion more complex.
The information in the article creates an impression how the scars or bumps or keloids appear and some ways on how to handle them.
Nipple piercing scar removal
Scars can be removed depending on the type of the scar formed around new or old piercings and a third type that’s more likely to develop where old ones.
Here are some of the types of pierced scars and how to remove them:
Keloid Scars
They are typically characterized by being reddish-brown, bulbous, taut/smooth-surfaced bumps that appear around a piercing and often continue growing outward, well beyond the hole.
Keloids usually appear as result of an accumulation of collagen in and around a piercing or other wound. However, genetics adds fuel to the fire and triggers a person’s scar tissue to grow out of control, forming a bulbous keloid.
It is recommended that if you are prone to formation of keloids, you should try to keep away from the having them.
Methods of removing a keloid scar
- Removing the jewelry at the first signs of keloid formation and allowing the piercing to heal closed will often get rid of the keloid, or minimize its size.
- Existing and healed keloid scars can be removed surgically, under local anesthetic, by a dermatologist or plastic surgeon. Surgical removal of the scar tissue does not guarantee that more scar tissue will not form.
- Scar tissue may also be injected with cortisone or other steroids. A large or deep scar may require more than one session. The cortisone acts to shrink and break down the scar tissue.
Note: Possible side effects of cortisone injections are unwanted hair growth, yeast infections, and other steroid-related side effects.
- Some people have reported diminished keloids with the application of tea tree oil, available in most health food and organic stores.
- Vitamin E, applied during healing, may decrease the formation or chance of formation of scar tissue.
- Several piercers have recommended the application of a paste of distilled water and aspirin, for 20 minutes twice a day.
Hypertrophic scars
These are the most common scars on the nipple after piercing and are known to be flesh colored. They mostly appear around a pierced hole, sometimes in an almost perfect circle with a fairly flat, roughly-textured top.
When a hypertrophic scar develops, changes in jewelry and piercing aftercare will have little to no impact on the scar tissue. Therefore eliminating it will require more than a simple jewelry change or improved aftercare regime.
Treatment of hypertrophic scars does not require professional medical intervention but can be treated at home at a low cost using simple home remedies.
Atrophic Scars
These are the result of more minimal bundles of collagen partially filling in the void of tissue where a wound or piercing was and it may result into a sunken recess in the skin that has a pitted appearance.
It requires simple therapies to help minimize both types of scars by allowing healthy tissue to replace the lumpy collagen growths that comprise scars.
Scars and breastfeeding
Body modifications are a group of practices that include branding, piercing, scarification, and tattooing. If you are either considering getting your nipples pierced or a tattoo or already have your nipples pierced or a tattoo in place, you may wonder if you can breastfeed your baby.
Breastfeeding will not cause any problems with your piercings, especially if they are well healed. According to some studies, it shows that there are few complications associated with nipple piercing while breastfeeding. But still, many mothers go ahead and breastfeed successfully.
The following are some the risks associated with it during breastfeeding period:
- Block milk ducts leading to low milk supply
- Prolonged healing process
- Prone to infections
- Reduced nipple sensitivity
- Formation of scars
- Prone to development of mastitis
- Allergic reactions
How much do nipple piercings hurt
Before someone thinks of undergoing nipple piercing, the most common question that comes to their mind is,” How badly do they hurt?” Unfortunately, there’s no way to answer that question for anyone but you, because nipple piercing pain is completely subjective.
Here are some of the ways to help you minimize on how much it hurts or make the process less painful:
- You can numb your nips with a topical anesthetic before you get pierced.
- Stress hormones help you keep your cool while undergoing the process.
- Popular consensus is positive during the process.
pictures
The picture in the articles shows or describes vividly how a pierced nipple looks like and some of the side effects associated with nipple piercing such as the appearance of bumps, scars and even a yellow discharge.
These images will assist you to know if the nipple pierced has been infected and this will press you to seek medical attention from a professional dermatologist.
How long will it take to heal – healing time
There are three stages of the healing process of body piercing especially nipple ones in this case. These stages may include:
Stage one
This is the initial stage when your wound is still fresh and is marked by bleeding; Bleeding, redness, soreness, and discharge are all common. Itching may also occur but it is rare. Proper hygiene at this stage is very important.
Stage two
This is the stage when healing process begins and is also the stage when crust starts to occur. Your healing wound will exude and expel dead skin cells and lymph cells or plasma. In case those substances are left there, it may lead to an infection.
However, you may also experience itching and soreness despite it beginning to heal. Also, those flare-ups may encourage irritation to commence.
Stage three
This the final stage of healing where the skin cells become smooth and tough, the inside of the channel is sealed, the jewelry moves easily through the piercing, and changes of jewelry don’t bother it. After complete healing, if proper care was not taken, scars may appear or keloids.
Jewelry and bars
These bars are straight and normally have balls at each end that can be removed. Again these can be made from a variety of materials including Titanium, Steel Bioplast, and Bioflex.
A large range of colors is mostly in Titanium and Bioplast as well as Gold Plated Steel and Gold and Black PVD.
There are numerous nipples jewelry apart from nipple barbells such as nipple shield, nipple rings, nipple clickers, nipple horseshoes e.t.c