Play Piercing

I have watched a lot of play piercings, assisted in some, practiced on myself, and pierced a sub under the supervision of an experienced play piercer. I have also witnessed a fleshhook suspension.

Some people have overcome their needle phobias through play piercing.

Piercings, temporary or permanent, can be a form of body modification.

Proceedure

Needles

Preperation

A fluid control pad or drop cloth should be used under the person being pierced to contain any dripping blood. Clean the skin with alchohol prep pads. Use a spiral motion from the center out; this pushes contaminents away. Next clean with Betadine or other provodone alchohol using the same spiral motion. You may want to clean again with alchohol to remove the yellow stain.

Many people are seriosly squicked by seeing other people being pierced or people with needles in place. You may want to conduct piercing in an area not directly visable from the main play area at play parties.

Piercing

If hypodermic needles are inserted perpendicularly, you need to orient them with the bevel up or down but not sideways. Good light is needed to see the orientation. Operating room lights are frequently used for this purpose.

Common areas to pierce are the chest/breasts, back, thighs, and labia. When piercing, be careful to avoid needle stick injuries. You can use the sheath of the needle or a sterile thimble to back up a fold of skin being pierced rather than your fingers. If you back up the fold with your fingers, be sure they are positioned so the needle will not stick your fingers. Pinch a fold of skin and slide the needle in one side through the fold. If you can't pinch a fold, drive the needle in almost parallel to the surface of the skin and then angle back up so the tip sticks out.

Controlled breathing can help manage the pain. Have the bottom inhale when you are ready to pierce and then tell them to exhale just before piercing.

The portion of nerves which detect sensations are normally close to the surface of the skin. Shallow piercings (parallel to the skin surface) will hurt more than deeper ones. The needle will hurt more during entry and exit than while traveling parallel to the surface of the skin.

You may wish to arrange the needles in decorative patterns. Use a surgical marker if you want to mark the areas to be pierced.

You can fiddle with needles which are already in place for more stimulation. It is preferable to use the blunt end.

You will likely find that it is easier to pierce in one direction only based on whether you are right handed or left handed. I have seen a pair of piercers, on right handed and the other left handed, work on opposite sides of someones back (not at the same time); one did the needles in one direction and the other handled those in the opposite direction. This allows for better control and reduced risk of needle sticks for symetric patterns.

If you do multiple piercings from top to bottom, this probably reduces the risk of needle sticks from protruding points since your had will usually tend to rest naturally below the area being pierced. For more complicated patterns, the direction you proceed should still be considered.

If you want blood and/or bruising. you can deliberately withdraw the needle at a slight angle so it scrapes on its way back through. Alcohol can cause more blood to flow from piercings which have recently had the needle removed.

You may want to hold an alchohol prep pad oor a piece of sterile gauze over a recently vacated piercing until the blood clots.

Slapping pierced areas after the needles have been removed can be pleasurable for those into pain; I have seen one woman achieve orgasm this way. See safety note about microbial blood spray below. Slapping increases the likelyhood of bruising.

Cold/Ice may reduce bruising immediately afterwards. Heat increases the chances of bruising. After a day or so, heat may reudce the longevity of bruising by encoraging the reuptake of blood. Wetted aspirin tablets or crushed aspirin and visine used toghether reportly reduce bruising.

Some people like to inject sterile injectable saline solution into the breasts for temporary bresst enlargement. I don't know too much about this practice.

I once was accidently pierced by a 16 pin DIP integrated circuit. Ouch. Autoclaved IC's, or alluminum socket collet carriers, could be used for an intersting piercing effect. There is some concern about the metals, however, particularly if you are sensitive to certain metals.

Cuttings

Safety

• Be careful about penetrating into internal organs. There have been many cases of accupuncturists accidently piercing the lungs. Also avoid bones.
• Don't reuse needles except on the same person. Do not reuse them on the same person in a later session unless they have been autoclaved in the interim. The points of hypodermic needles will quickly get dull; you can reuse them maybe five times.
• The Hepatitis B and C visuses (HBV and HCV) can be transmitted by extremely small amounts of blood, too small to be perceptible. The chance of Hepatitis transmission due to a needlestick injury is about 20%. Hepatitis is not killed by chemical sterilizers - autoclaving is necessary. There is a vacine for HBV; it is recomended that people doing play piercing (as well as other BDSM actvities) be vacinated. The vacine does not work on 20% of people and takes six months to be effective. There is no vacine for HCV so don't get cocky just because you have been vacinated.
• HIV can also be transmitted by blood but it is much more easily killed. It apparently takes about two drops of blood to transmit HIV. The chance of HIV transmission due to a needlestick injury is about 1 in 200. Chemical sterilizers such as alchohol, providone iodine, and maybe hydrogen peroxide will neutralize HIV in about 20 minutes of expose. Even exposure to air can kill HIV but body fluids may protect the virus.
• If you use floggers or other toys on an area of skin that has been exposed to blood, you can contaminate your toys. You can not adequately sterilize leather floggers. I only use floggers which can be autoclaved for this purpose (see construction section for info on autoclavable floggers).
• Large piercings (such as large fleshhooks) can cause subcutaneous emphysema.
• Almost any disease can be transmitted by blood, including may you might not think about because they are not normally considered STDs. Some of these diseases can be fatal, incurable, and/or seriously debilitating.
• It is a good idea for both the piercer and the piercee to be tested for HBV, HCV, and HIV.
• If the top accidently sticks themselves with a needle that is inserted in the bottom, precautions should be taken against blood born disease transmission. Cutting the base off the needle with a pair of wire cutters or possibly EMT shears and then pulling the needle out using hemostatic forceps so that the potentially infected point is not drawn back through the bottoms body. If you are going to withdraw the needle the same way it was inserted, at least partially disinfect the tip with lots of alcohol and providone-iodine and let it stay wet at least ten minutes. If the top was pierced to the point of drawing blood, it might help to deliberately induce bleeding to wash out the wound and apply alchohol and/or betadine. The top should take care not to bleed on the bottom. Change gloves before proceeding.
• Slapping areas of the skin which have been covered with blood can result in microbial blood spray. Cover these areas with anti-bacterial wet wipes before slapping.
• Asparin and other analgesics/pain killers can thin the blood and/or interfere with blood clotting. If these medications have been taken with the last few days, uncontrolled bleading may result. People with hemophilia or other conditions which affect blood clotting are at risk of uncontrolled bleading.
• It is probably a good idea to avoid major arteries and viens and major nerve bundles. Generally, no such precautions have been taken in play I have witnessed. I have seen piercings which hit a nerve; these were more intense than other piercings but did not have any permanent ill effects; if a piercing severed a bundle of nerves, permanent neurological problems might result.
• Used needles should be disposed of in a "sharps container" (availible at most drug stores). You can dispose of a sharps container at many drug stores, needle exchanges, or hospitals; these places should have a no questions asked policy. Gauze, prep pads, wipes, glvoves, and other contaiminated materials should be disposed of properly. If no sharps containers are availible a plastic soda bottle (mark it well, please), may be used.
• If you leave the needles in for a pierod of time after the piercing (particularly if the bottom is going to move around other people in the general play area), you should at least cover the protruding tips of the needles with bandage tape.
• Avoid the area over the spine, particularly for perpendicular piercings.
• Have a supply of absorbant material handy to soak up blood. Do not use non-sterile material directly over areas which have been or will be pierced.
• Clean the pierced area and any area of skin which has come in contact with blood thoroughly with alchohol and betadine afterwards. Cleaning with lots of water may also help dilute pathogens.
• It is not at all uncommon for people to have an emotional crash the day after the piercing. This is the low that follows the high. The bottom may need additional aftercare at this point and might not be able to function normally (such as at work) during the crash. The bottom should be warned about this in advance.
• If you use lancets with a lancet launching device, remember that the launchers are intended for use only on a single person. The launvher can be contaminated by blood.
• Regular lancets used their full length (without a launcher) make a fairly large hole and can cause significant bleeding so be prepared for this. Ultrafine lancets will probably cause less bleeding.
• If you are into licking blood (vampirism), there is a significant risk of the person licking catching a blood borne disease. There is also some risk of infecting the bottom. I don't know a lot about these practices and the safety precautions appropriate. Even with the most stringent safety precautions, this is high risk behavior. Some precautions do come to mind. Brushing your teeth (or even worse, flossing) within four hours before play or shortly after play increases the risk of open cuts in the mouth. Any other sores, leasions, or cuts in the mouth increase risk. Swishing strong alcohol around in the mouth before and after exposure may reduce the possibilty of transmission of diseases. Chloraseptic sore throat spary could also help. The combination of alcohol and phenol (the active ingrediant in chlorseptic) is more effective than either alone. Swishing water around in your mouth and spitting it out could also reduce the risk. Having the blood "doner" tested for HBV, HCV, and HIV prior to play would reduce risk. Being immunized against HBV before hand is a good idea. Engaging in this kind of play only with poeople whose sexual, drug use, and medical history are known and with whom you are fluid bonded is a good precaution. Blood could be autoclaved before drinking. Again, even with all of these precautions, this is high risk behavior.
• The hollow center of hypodermic needles can harbor blood and pathogens.
• I have been told that latex gloves start to break down when exposed to blood. Gloves which have been exposed to blood should be changed after 4 minutes of exposure.
• Many play parties have rules prohibiting or governing play piercign. Ask before you proeed to avoid trouble.
• Many people have latex allergies (or allergies to chemicals or donning powders used on latex). If this is the case, nyplex or vinyl gloves may be used.
• Many people are allergic to metals such as nickel. Although gold is inert, it is normally alloyed with other metals for strength and/or to reduce cost; these other metals can cause problems. Surgical grade stainless steel tends to cause less problems than other grades of stainless steel and other metals. Sewing needles are sometimes used for temporary or permanent piercings; this is not a very good idea, even if they are sterilized because of the possibility of adverse reactions to the metals involved.
• On a related note, if you do knife play that involves cutting or scratching, you should be concerned about blood borne diseases. Use a knife which can be autoclaved. I use a Gerber Chameleon II one hand opening knife made frmm stainless steel and nylon. This knife has been autoclaved many times. I recommend placing two stacks of two quarters each in the channel where the blade is normally stored because the handle can deform slightly causing the blade to bind when opening and closing.
• Wartenburg wheels and vampire gloves are likely to pierce the skin and precautions similar to those used for play piercing can be appropriate.
• If you do not have an autoclave, you can have things autoclaved at a professional piercing or tattoo parlor. You can use a pressure cooker to autoclave things, there is some more info on this elsewhere on this web site. Autoclaves (or pressure cookers used as autoclaves) should be properly maintained, operated, and spore tested. Spore testing is availible from www.sterilizers.com for about $10/month or $5/week. If the material will survive the heat, you could do dry heat sterilization in an oven at 350 degrees F for at least an hour.
• For temporary or permanent piercings of the nipples, it may be a good idea to try to avoid the milk ducts as much as possible. Fortunately, there are many milk ducts so even if you damage or clog some, breast feeding should still be possible.
• Special piercing needles are used for permanent piercings. These needles then guide the point of the jewelery through. Lo grade jewelry often causes problems. Piercing jewelry may be at risk of snagging during flogging and may need to be covered with tape, bandages, or pasties. Proper cleaning and sanitation is important for weeks or months after a permanent piercing. In many cases, nipple piercings will migrate until the hole is forced off the end of the nipple.
• Piercing guns are sometimes used to pierce ears or for other permanent piercing. This practice is no longer considered even remotely acceptable and you should avoid any piercing salon that uses them.
• Sharps may rust or corrode if autoclaved, exposed to water, moisture, or bodily fluids, or if chemical sterilizers such as bleach or alcohol are used.
• Blood poisening could be an issue.

Supplies

Hypodermic needles are difficult to procure in many areas due to rediculous laws. These laws are largely responsible for the transmission of HIV among IV drug users; it is quite possible that the HIV epidemic would have died out of its own accord if these stupid laws did not occur. Without these laws, the incidence of HIV transmission might have been low enough to not reach critical mass. These laws jeopardize the health of everyone, not just IV drug users.

In Virginia it is legal for adults to posses hypodermic needles if they is no evidence of illegal drug use. It is also legal, I believe, to sell or purchase needles. Pharmacies in virginia and other states often have more restrictive rules regarding the sale of needles and syringes. In Virginia, you can purchase needles at pharmacies but you are required to sign a control log; purchasing significant numbers of needles might attract attention from law enforcement. You do not need a prescription. Many mail order medical suppliers are reluctant to sell needles, particularly if either the seller or the purchaser is in one of the states with regressive laws.

In Virginia, you can purchase hypodermic needles without hassle from farm or veterinary suppliers (such as Southern States) with out a prescription, having to sign a log, or other hassles. These sources are likely to be less problematic in other states as well.

If you store or carry blood glucose meter, test strips, lancets, lancet launcher, and possibly insulin vials in the same place as your needles and syringes, you are likely to have less problems if you are searched by law enforcement or border police. First aid supplies stored/carried in the same place will probably also reduce suspicion.

Surgical Scalpals are availible from eperimental animal laboratory suppliers, such as Kent Scientific with minimal hassle. I understand they have expired so they may not be completely sterile although they are probably sterile enough if cleaned with alcohol/providone-iodine before use. Almost everything else they sell is absurdly overpriced. American Science and Surplus has some non-sterile scalpals for sale at the time of this writing if you have an autoclave availible.

Some snake bite kits, such as those sold at Walmart, have several suction cups (for cupping play), a sterile scalpal blade, and an ampule of providone-iodine solution.

Links

• Here is a page with more information on play piercing.
• An article on Safe Tattooing has infromation that is also relevent to temporary or permanent piercing.
• Body Modification
  Yahoo has some links to suspension sites including TSD, The Body Modification Ezine , and flesh + spirit (at BME/World)

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