All about Nipple piercings and Nipple Jewelry

A nipple piercing is a piercing, centered usually at the base of the nipple. It can be pierced at any angle but is usually done horizontally or, less often, vertically. Also it's possible to place multiple piercings on top of eachother. A nipple piercing typically takes 3-6 months to fully heal. Some people have noted that they can take up to a year and a half to fully heal. It's recommended that if you're stretching a nipple piercing, you should wait at least the suggested healing time of their piercings between stretches.

Jewelry rejection

The nipple is fleshy enough to pierce securely behind plenty of skin to prevent rejection. However, if the jewelry gauge is too thin or the piercing isn't deep enough to begin with, there is a risk of rejection. Metal allergies could cause it to reject. Problems with infections and/or too much tugging and pulling on it could also cause it to reject.

Nipple piercing and sex

Nipple piercings stimulate the hormones prolactin and oxytocin. This may for some men and women result in significantly decreased libido.

Special health concerns

Long term stimulation of prolactin that is caused by nipple piercings may result in overt hyperprolactinemia (Modest & Fangman 2002, Demirtas et al 2003). This problem may develop decades after the piercing so the association is easilly missed.

Infection or hormonal stimulation caused by nipple piercings can cause particularly nasty mastitis (Jacobs et al 2003).

History

The perforation of the nipple to apply jewelry has been practised by various native people throughout history. Male nipple piercing was reported to be done by the Karankawa indians, female nipple piercing is practised by th Kabyle people in Algeria.

The earliest accounts of nipple piercing in western culture date back to the 14th century. During that time a fashion trend arose, which considered very deep Cleavage (breasts) as fashionable. Often times even the nipples were exposed in these dresses. Queen Isabeau of Bavaria was the first to pierce her now visible nipple for decoration purposes.

Years later, during the victorian period around 1890, the fashion evolved again. It became popular to apply Anneux De Sein, like small diamant rings or gold chains, to the nipples. As before this trend was mainly practiced by the upper class.

During the late 1990s the practice revived again and nipple piercing became fashionable once more. The populatity it enjoys in present times is partly due to celebrities, especially in Rock and Showbiz, who publicly displayed their piercings or confessed to have one such as Tommy Lee or Lenny Kravitz.

Nipple piercing and breastfeeding

A common question among women who consider nipple piercings is how it may affect breastfeeding. There is no evidence that proper nipple piercings cause any complications with lactation. However, it is recommended that good care is taken to prevent infection by using a piercing professional and good body piercing aftercare. Frequent re-piercings can also damage the nipple and cause complications. It is also recommended that the piercing be healed before breastfeeding. Most body piercing professionals will refuse to pierce a pregnant woman for this reason and because piercing causes stress on the body that could potentially complicate a pregnancy.

Several complications have been noted involving breastfeeding with a piercing present, so it is recommended to remove nipple jewelry before nursing. Several complications resulting from nursing with nipple jewelry inserted can include poor latch, slurping, gagging, and milk leaking from the baby's mouth. It can also be a potential choking hazard for the baby. As the baby sucks, the ends on a barbell (if worn) may come loose and could possibly lodge in the baby's throat (a captive bead ring, properly inserted, would lessen the risk of anything becoming loose, falling out, and lodging in the throat). The baby's gums and tongue as well as the soft and hard palate could be injured by the jewelry.

Cool Fact: A nipple piercing gained considerable media attention after Super Bowl XXXVIII, during which Janet Jackson exposed her right breast on which she had a nipple shield applied to a piercing. This incident is ironically called Nipplegate.