Nursing and Piercings

Nurses General Nursing

Published

  1. Do you have any piercings?

    • 26
      No, never would
    • 10
      No, but would like to
    • 113
      Yes, just the usual earrings
    • 28
      Yes, but only one in an unseen area
    • 19
      Yes, but only one in a visible area
    • 58
      Yes, I have more than one, but less than five
    • 41
      Yes, I have several

295 members have participated

Obviously this is done in the same vein as Nursing and Tattoos. After reading through that and the discussion at Disturb you to see a tongue pierced?, I was wondering how many "allnurses" had piercings. BTW, I don't have any and wouldn't consider doing it.

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
:eek: Being old, I will never understand tongue piercings. Do young people do it for shock value or what? I can imagine the odor when food gets stuck in it....yuck! I prefer a clean mouth, thank you. :eek:

I'm not even 30 and i certainly don't get it. Besides, seen too many disasters with them at work in emergency cases, and in those cases where someone was so insistant to keep the ring in during surgery, that the MDA snagged it with the ET tube (oh they'd told the MDA that they were going to take it out....).

Not to mention chipped teeth. Plenty of adults coming in to get the back of their front teeth fixed.

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I have 2 piercings in each ear, but I take them out during my shifts. Up until a few weeks ago I had my nose pierced and never had an issue with it - as a student nurse.

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I have 4 piercings in one ear and 3 in the other. Also have a tattoo on the side of my neck. I have worked agency at several different hospitals and have never had any complaints. I wear my long hair pulled back at work, and have actually had comments on the tattoo. I feel as long as it is tasteful and doesnt interfere with work, then there is no prob. But if I was told to cover it, I would.

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I do believe that tasefulness is the key here. Just as in the scrubs we were. Professionalism is, atleast partially, a state of mind. :)

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Specializes in Open Heart/ Trauma/ Sx Stepdown/ Tele.

One ear has three, the other has four on the bottom and three cartilage piercings upper portion, navel, and two tats...have had quite a few compliments on the ears, and not just from the "younger" crowd.

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Specializes in Cardiology, Radiology.
I have 2 holes in each ear. However I only wear one set of studs. Im sorry I got the second peircing in each ear. It was nice as a teen, but its a little wild for me now. :lol2: I guess I'm getting boring as I get older...

I'm with you gooeyRN...Just have the 2 piercing on my earlobe and will occasionally wear studs in the top hole and a dangly pair in the lower hole when not at work. I am 42 years old and don't really care for any other type of piercings or tattoo. Patients always comment to me about other staff that have multiple visible piercings or tattoos and how unprofessional it looks. To each his own I say...but remember the patients and what age group they are in when you wear them. It's against our hospital policy to wear more than one set of earrings on the lower earlobe and they can't be large earrings. Patient's just don't like it.

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Specializes in Cardiology, Radiology.
:eek: Being old, I will never understand tongue piercings. Do young people do it for shock value or what? I can imagine the odor when food gets stuck in it....yuck! I prefer a clean mouth, thank you. :eek:

Me too...but to each his own I say! My daughter wants to have her belly button pierced but it ain't happening while living in my home and I do check her belly frequently. No tattoos either. She's a pretty thin girl and we don't want any more attention drawn to her!! We want the boys to stay away for a while longer and it seems to attract boys to girls that have these piercings and tattoos. She's a good girl and we want her portrayed as a nice girl and stay that way!!

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I have piercings 2 in each ear, my belly button, and two other special ones:uhoh21:. I like them they serve a purpose to me and it's OK. No one needs to see them so like who cares right!

Tara

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Specializes in OR Internship starting in Jan!!.

I have 4 in each ear, my belly button, my tongue and both nipples. While I'm new to nursing (still taking pre-reqs) I've worked in corporate America with no problems.

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Specializes in Forensics.

I have 3 in each ear, a navel ring, and a tongue ring. I don't see a problem with it. Most people don't even notice my tongue ring, because I'm not one to play with it between my teeth or anything. I had it done for myself, and myself only. Not for anyone else to see or benefit from. No one ever sees my belly ring, because I don't wear belly shirts when I'm out, and I wear scrubs to work. As for my ears, I only wear diamond studs in the first hole now, because the other ones bother me.

I think only some piercings are unprofessional when taking care of patients, like spikes coming out of faces or the "bull ring" that some people have in their nose. A small eyebrow ring isn't a big deal to me, and a nose piercing isn't bad either as long as it's a very tiny stud.

I don't think people should have a say in what other's do to their bodies. I've been a patient my whole life (Cooley's Anemia), and I've never had a problem with any of my nurses having piercings. And now as a nurse, I don't see a problem either.

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Specializes in Forensics.
:eek: Being old, I will never understand tongue piercings. Do young people do it for shock value or what? I can imagine the odor when food gets stuck in it....yuck! I prefer a clean mouth, thank you. :eek:

I cannot speak for anyone else, but I didn't do it for other people to see. I got it done for myself, because I wanted it. As a matter of fact, I actually had my tongue pierced a little farther back, so it wasn't noticeable. I never play with it, so no one ever sees it, unless I yawn or something.

As for odor, food has never gotten stuck in there, and my mouth gets cleaned often. I have never heard of anyone having an unpleasant odor coming from their mouth due to their tongue piercing. The hole in the tongue is only big enough to fit the bar that goes through it, so food should not get in there.

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