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Stupid Question, But Piercings/Stretching ears/Tattoos?

I

ImCozzaLewis

Newbie
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Hey, I'm 17, recently diagnosed with Type 1 and i'm new too everything, There's so many things I am confused about, I was wondering, if it still possible to stretch my ears or have tattoos or to get any other piercings?

Thanks for helping. :D
 
No reason why not. I'd have to watch myself with Tattoos, but not through diabetes. I have warfarin to prevent blood clots and if my blood were too thin, I'd bleed excessively. I had a nose-bleed that lasted an hour last year, not nice.
All the very best of luck!
Enjoy!

Mart
 
My daughter was diagnosed t1 in April, 6 days before her birthday. She was desperate to get her cartlidge pierced for her birthday. We just waited a couple of weeks to get her levels steady and her dsn gave us a letter to say she was fit to get pierced. No probs, but we were extra cautious with cleaning it etc. Id like her to get a medic alert tat in a few years, and have read a few threads on here. Most advise good control and be sensible with hygiene/healing :)
 
Hey! We have some information about piercings & tattoos here:

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/tattoos-and-diabetes.html
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/body-piercing ... betes.html

I can give you some anecdotal evidence from someone with stretched ears & piercings that isn't diabetic, but you'll probably want to heed some of the advice from the links above.

Personally, I believe you should take ear stretching as slowly as possible to avoid a 'blow out'. I initially had my ears pierced at 4 years of age and began to stretch them at around 17. I began my stretching journey by getting a metal stretching kit off eBay for about £8 - they say metal is often better as some plastic/metal can be porous and increases the chance of infection, which is obviously something of key importance for someone with diabetes. The first stretch I made was up to 1.6mm - I won't lie, it does hurt. If you feel that a stretcher won't go all the way through, don't force it; that's a sure-fire way to get a blow out. I also wouldn't recommend jumping up a size until you feel the current size is FULLY HEALED (this is crucial) and that you can twist the stretcher around in your ear with little resistance and no pain.

Sorry for the wall of text - I just hate seeing people who stretched their ears wrong and ended up with an infection.

As for piercings, they can be a real pain and a difficult one to get right. Personally, I use Savlon spray in the blue bottle with the pink lid as a daily cleaning solution. If my piercings ever started to get tender, I'd get some sea salt (not table salt, it's far too chemically and harsh) and dissolve it in some boiling water then wait for that to cool to a bearable temperature. Then I'd get some cotton wool balls, dip them in and clean round the piercing with that.
 
I'm type 2 and have a few piercings and tattoos. Never had a problem with any of them. Just make sure you follow the after care meticulously.

Bepanthen is the best for tattoo healings it's a barrier cream rather than a moisturiser.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
I have five tattoos never had any bother with them afterwards never had bother with piercings or stretching ear but does take longer to heal when getting piercings and tattoos but I suppose everyone is different and heals at different speeds
 
I have multiple piercings and 29 tattoos and never had any problem. I have been diabetic since I was 4.

Just make sure you follow the advice sheet about after care.
 
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