Bod Mod Society

This is probably a very stupid question, but how can I tell what size my navel bar is? I have one which is a little silver ball at the bottom, which is attached, then a jewel screwed on to the top. I wanted to buy some more coloured jewels.

I don't really like my the colour I've got, but for the last year I've not been able to undo the damn thing. I was so scared as I was very underweight when I had it done and it wasn't through that much skin, so it's really thin and I didn't want to risk damaging myself. Finally went at it with pliers though and I've managed to unscrew it and give it a thorough cleaning. Now to buy something I actually like.

Take it out, and use a ruler. You might find it easier to rest the barbell on a piece of paper and draw dots at the ends then measure between the dots.



But if it's "really thin" you might be better to retire it and repierce

You can, but because the thickness is usually pretty small it can be awkward. I can usually tell by sight now but a ruler can help if you hold the bar on top and close one eye when you're looking at it. What piercing is it? It'll most likely be 1.2mm (16g) or 1.6mm (14g) so figure out if it's closer to 1mm or 2mm and you've probably sorted it. The main exception to those two sizes for common piercings is that nostril piercings are usually 0.8mm (20g) - 1mm (18g). Most UK sites will use mm anyway rather than gauges, but if you need a conversion chart I usually use this one.

Had my anti tragus done yesterday and the ball fell out today...and is well and truly lost but there's quite a lot of swelling so avoiding fiddling with it and just hoping it stays in until tomorrow when I can go back to the place and hope they sort it for free....

I have a question about anti tragus piercings. Do they have to have a ring in, or can a barbell go in them? If so, what length and gauge? I really like the idea of getting my anti tragus done, but I've only ever seen people wearing rings in them and I always seem to get infections when I have them in.

No, you don't get an infection from wearing a "ring". You probably don't even have an infection, but BCRs move around a lot which causes irritation and redness.

Yes, you can have a barbell if you wish. They're better as initial jewellery, although they don't have magic antibiotic properties.

Haha, I know they don't cause infections, I just seem to get them more often when I have them in- which then causes my doctor to make his usual suggestion of taking them out, including all the other ones that are nowhere near the infection site. If tattoos could be lifted off the skin, he'd be telling me to do that too.

If you've had more than one infection you're really doing something wrong, and need to look at whether your piercer or hygiene practises are causing you problems. Infections are, and should be, very rare.

It's more likely that you're mistaking usual healing for an infection, and since your doctor hates piercings they won't argue. Normal piercings will be red and will produce fluid called lymph, which can be confused for pus. Piercings will also hurt. Infections are about more than that - your piercing might feel hot if you touch it (which obviously you shouldn't) and the discharge is more likely to be green rather than clear or pale yellow.

Another thing to think about is the metal you're wearing. It could be that your BCRs and barbells are of different materials, and you're sensitive to one of them.

A lump isn't an infection. It was probably hypertrophic scarring, although maybe a keloid - but again they're quite rare. And whilst I don't know you or your ex I find it hard to believe that he could do something to upset your piercings whilst you were still asleep and without leaving any traces for you to notice later.

A nurse tried to tell me it was a granuloma, but I'm pretty sure the green stuff it leaked occasionally ruled that out. And I don't choose to believe it, but apparently the stuff he was bragging about to his friends was...disconcerting. I like to believe that I was just really bad at looking after my piercings and skin divers at that point (although how I would suddenly go through a bad patch I don't know) but my friend used a case in point where he deliberately gave me an eye infection because I refused to cancel on going to a male friend's birthday party as the reason she believes he would have done similar to my piercings.

Well, in an abusive relationship it's easy to become depressed, and then you can start looking after yourself less. Your self esteem suffers. So yeah, it's possible you'd go through a bad patch like that.

I have a question about anti tragus piercings. Do they have to have a ring in, or can a barbell go in them? If so, what length and gauge? I really like the idea of getting my anti tragus done, but I've only ever seen people wearing rings in them and I always seem to get infections when I have them in.

Since most of you guys have far more piercings than me, I need to ask what will look decent as my next one, since in my right ear, I have 1 lobe, helix and anti tragus and my left remains at one lobe...lame, I know.

What will look decent in my left ear? My ears are quite small as my anti tragus means I can't have my 2nd lobe piercing in the usual place, but this shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Just ordered these - http://www.bodyartforms.com/productdetails.asp?ProductID=8792 Can't wait to get them ^_^