Consider the risks of body piercings

Just because you are pregnant doesn't mean you have to give up on your appearance for nine whole months. Many women continue to make sacrifices for style and appearance during their pregnancy, and most of these decisions cause no harm to the baby whatsoever. However, if you’re thinking about getting a piercing during your pregnancy, you might want to consider some of the risks and side effects.

Body piercings during pregnancy are a bad idea 

Of course, getting a piercing or micro dermal implant anywhere near or around the belly is a bad idea if you are pregnant or trying to conceive. It could heal perfectly fine and be uneventful, but there is a good chance it will not fully heal and therefore become infected. A navel piercing, for example, will continue to stretch for the duration of your pregnancy. The stretching will leave the hole open and susceptible to infection. Any infection, while you’re pregnant, could go straight to your bloodstream and have negative side effects on your growing baby. Nipple piercings would also be a bad choice during pregnancy. Your breast size will change until after your baby has stopped breastfeeding, and the process of breastfeeding itself will make you susceptible to infection at the piercing site.

Even if you get a piercing that is not close to your breasts or baby bump, you are putting your baby at risk. While you might do your best to find a clean and reputable piercing parlor, there is always the risk of disease transmission through the needles. You could contract Hepatitis B or C from unsanitary needles, as well as HIV. The risk is low, but there is no need to take the risk whatsoever. You should wait until after you’ve given birth to go through with any new piercings.

Existing piercings

If you already have piercings when you become pregnant and they seem to become infected, it could be because of all the changes your body is going through, hormonal and physical. Take any infected piercings out right away and get the infection checked out by your health care provider immediately so that it doesn’t spread.

Any piercings you might want to get during your pregnancy can probably wait until after you’ve given birth so that you don’t put yourself and your baby at unnecessary risk. Besides, after you’ve gone through the intense and unmatched pain of childbirth, any body piercing will feel like a mosquito bite.

Source: Nicolas Kluger: Body Art and Pregnancy. European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology Volume 153 Issue 1 pp. 3-7 November 2010.