Citation

Folz BJ, Lippert BM, Kuelkens C, Werner JA. Ann. Plast. Surg. 2002; 49(3): 264-271.

Affiliation

Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Philipps-University Marburg, Deutschhausstrasse 3, D-35037 Marburg, Germany.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/01.SAP.0000015430.72110.E8

PMID

12351974

Abstract

The desire to modify a person's outer appearance is a phenomenon that can be traced back to the beginning of humankind. Body modifications have been practiced among all cultures around the globe to differing extents. The authors present medical complications through jewelry in a series of 35 consecutive patients. Patient charts were evaluated for age, gender, type and sequelae of injury, complications, and treatment results. The male-to-female ratio was 1:2.2. Most of the recorded complications were related to the new vogue of piercing, with the ear affected most commonly. Usually the complications were minor; however, 2 patients sustained disfiguring damage to their auricular cartilage as a result of high ear piercing, a child nearly asphyxiated on an aspirated earring, and 2 patients experienced severe dysphagia as a result of tongue piercing. The most severe complication was a lethal strangulation injury in a female patient whose necklace got trapped in the headrest of her car seat during a front-end collision.

Language: en