My Surgery Story
I had a nasty fall on ice in January 2022 which resulted in 5 months of hobbling around until I finally got diagnosed appropriately and had surgery on my right leg. (I also had an MRI!! Same story there as my previous one, lol!)
So… I had already discussed my body jewelry with my nurses - they were very receptive to learning about the realities of modern body jewelry and how to discuss them. Refreshing, to say the least! It came time for the anesthesiologist to perform what he called a “metals check” (with the nurses laughing behind him 😆). He literally recoiled and said “Oh, my! All this needs to come out!” I simply responded with, “Everything I have in is either F-138 steel or F-136 titanium… What are you guys putting in me today?” 🧐 He simply stepped back and thought for a quick moment before saying, “Fair enough.”
😎 WIN!!!! 😎
The moral of this quick story is that knowing what you have in your body gives you a solid platform for retaining your piercings. If ever in need, send us your email address and we will get you a copy of the most recent ASTM documentation for F-138 steel. Not only can removing piercing jewelry be an additional expense and a GIANT pain in the butt, it can also cause infections, pain, bleeding, swelling, etc. Not to mention added stress in an already stressful situation! 🙁 Definitely not in YOUR best interest. HOWEVER, not everyone can argue for this.
I am an aggressive advocate!! 😅 Removing piercing jewelry causes harm. Period. And we end up being the ones handling these negative outcomes & hurting our clients needlessly!! Worst part of the job, for real…
So just make the decision that’s best for YOU, but one based on the TRUTH about these materials and not because you’re being told to remove them (aka: bullied & misinformed). The more of us that refuse to comply with this bad information, the sooner it will stop happening to everyone! Power in numbers! 👊
NOTE: Other non-medical materials, such as silver and gold (and the unknown materials used for cheap “mall metals”) contain MORE than just silver or gold, and DO need to be removed for medical procedures. More on that in another post!