Microdermals & medical emergencies
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Thursday September 4th, 2008 @ 9:56 PM
Filed under: Surface/Unusual
Hi there! I had a surface bar on top of my left clavicle (horizontally) for approximately 8 months. It was 14ga, 1″ long, internally threaded titanium. It was done by an experienced piercer and given lots of tender loving care and sea salt soaks, but it just never fully healed and so I removed it about a year and a half ago with intentions of getting it redone with microdermals, which seemed like a more permanent option for the piercing. Recently, I became sick and hospitalized with what turned out to be viral meningitis. I needed a lumbar puncture and a precautionary CAT scan to check for tumors that might be causing the symptoms before the lumbar puncture was performed. They gave me a cup to remove all my jewelry and body jewelry and thinking back if I had gotten the microdermals I would have needed them to be removed with a scalpel. What if I were unconscious and couldn’t inform them of my microdermals, or what if they needed to use defibrillators on me? I don’t know if this would pose any problems in these scenarios. Maybe the types of metal anchor jewelry is made of are neutral in these situations, but the reason I ask this is because I saw a girl on Modblog who had a medical bracelet with information about the locations of her microdermals. Is this a precaution everyone with microdermals should take? Thank you for any insight you an provide and for serving as a tremendous resource for modified people!
All the microdermals I’ve seen are made of titanium. There is a lot of anecdotal, and maybe even clinical, evidence that suggest titanium should be fine in MRI’s. However, very few technicians will let you have an MRI if they knew you have something like a microdermal that isn’t medically-necessary. In the case of CAT scan or X-ray, the microdermal won’t cause any problems, other than possibly being in the way on the X-ray.
Here’s where I think microdermals could pose a problem in a medical emergency: Imagine a nurse or doctor or surgeon can’t figure out what the hell you have in your body and/or how it comes out…and therefore your treatment somehow gets delayed, and that delay causes your condition to worsen. Or causes you to die. Far fetched? Perhaps. And I certainly hope so. But I think those are the sorts of things that we have yet to really find out, because microdermals are still really new.
But, maybe that’s one “good” thing about every freakin’ piercer on the planet “getting their microdermal on”…there are so many of them out there, the problems that are bound to occur should show up a lot faster than if they weren’t that common. Heh.
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5 Responses to “Microdermals & medical emergencies”
If it weren’t for the fact that removing my surface bars would just leave wicked cool scars anyway, I’d consider doing what you suggested and get a medical bracelet. Indicate locations of your surface bars/microdermals, the material they’re made of (non-ferrous Ti vs SSS, including the ends) and that they are implants not simple jewelry, and hence for emergency removal only. Also include the number of your piercer, preferably cell, and a second piercer if you have one you trust. Short of tattooing removal instructions on your arse cheek, I think that’s as much insurance as you can hope for.
redeye on September 5th, 2008 at 5:02 amI actually carry a wallet card that list all of my jewelry, the ASTM or ISO specifications of the materials used in my jewelry/implants, instructions for emergency removal, including diagrams of where my jewelry and implants are located, the phone number of my piercing studio and a release of liability for the hospital/emergency medical personnel. As I either make my own jewelry, or only buy jewelry constructed of implant grade materials, and I provide a release to the hospital, I have never had problems during any Xray, CAT, PET, or MRI diagnostic procedure. I think that it helps that I am medically trained and have the ability to communicate with these medical professionals using their terminology. I have even provided several of the MRI technicians at my local hospital with medical journal articles relating to tattoo and body jewelry and diagnostic imaging. I have found that if you take the time to educate yourself about what you are doing to your body and what materials your jewelry and implants are constructed from, true medical professionals will listen. This is just my personal experience and I may just be lucky, but I do have several medical conditions that require semi-frequent diagnostic imaging tests and I live in rural Iowa, where one would not expect to find many medical professionals well versed in dealing with implants and body jewelry.
TexaninIowa on September 5th, 2008 at 11:39 pmI get sick a LOT, and I’ve had MRI’s, cat scans, etc. with titanium and glass jewelry in. You should be fine.
Ace on September 6th, 2008 at 7:04 pmConclusion, nonferrous metals are OK in MRIs.
One procedure where ANY kind of conductive metal could be a problem is defibrillation…anybody got any hard info on this?
Xenobiologista on October 17th, 2008 at 9:43 pmi am a student radiographer and have many piercings so have had to ask many questions about them. titanum is mri safe as it is non- ferromagnetic and shouldn’t be pulled from the skin.ita a lie that radiographers won’t let you in with titanium by the way- we have patients with hip replacements in and they’re far more likely to cause problems! if it is stainless steel then you MUST tell the radiographer, or have some way of telling them if you are unconscious, because the piercing may be ripped from your body or may heat up and cause burns (no word of a lie i was wearing my id badge one day and it nearly got stuck to the scanner)I also had to remove my navel bars and put in plastic retainers so they didn’t get attracted to the machine. There are some instances where we may be able to tape down the piercing but this not recommended at all so I would ensure you remove the piecring first if you have an appointment. It is also very important you tell a radiographer that you have a piercing if you are having an x-ray or CT scan. this is because some artefacts can look like nodules or tumours or could have someting hiding behind them. also metallic piercings cause scatter in CT scans, i.e. there are white streaks across the radiographs, so it is harder for the radiologists to report.
weirdpunk on November 19th, 2008 at 5:03 pmoh and read this article- very helpful and says that there is no problems with defibrillation and piercings.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WJ5-4JKR42W-X&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=3e396c5761d56bf155f0a2c486102226
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