A Bradford hospital casualty consultant has warned that people who ignore infections caused by pierced body parts could end up seriously ill.

Felicity Todd, at Bradford Royal Infirmary accident and emergency department, said they see one or two people a week whose pierced body parts have become infected.

And she said like doctors in other casualty departments across the UK they sometimes have to resort to slicing body tissue to get the offending article out.

Miss Todd said the biggest problem is caused by earrings, followed by navel rings.

"A lot of the problems with earrings are when children get the butterflies stuck in their ear lobes," she said. "That tends to be with girls between about eight and 14. Those are fairly straight-forward to deal with. Some of them you can pull out with forceps.

"Sometimes you need to numb the ear with a general anaesthetic and have a dig around in the back of the ear.

"I suppose navel piercing is the next most common problem."

She said newly pierced skin is more likely to become infected than older piercings.

"People should take the stud or ring out at the first sign of any soreness, redness or infection," she advised.

"They should thoroughly clean the area with boiled water and if it does not settle within 24 hours they should seek medical attention.

"If they don't take it out they won't be able to clean it and they could end up with big problems.

"They could end up with a spreading skin infection and end up very sick."

She said pierced tongues are not such a problem because the good supply of blood to the tongue reduces the risk of infection.

A survey has revealed 95 per cent of GPs have had to deal with medical complications arising from the body-piercing fad including severe blood poisoning, uncontrolled bleeding and disfigurement.

Cowboy body-piercers are partly to blame for things going wrong.

Last week a woman in Bristol suffered frostbite in her mouth when her lower lip was pierced and then lost half a pint of blood because the piercer had punctured an artery.

Now the results of the survey by Bury and Rochdale Health Authority in Lancashire has renewed calls for the government to regulate the industry because at the moment outside London, anybody can set themselves up as a body-piercer - even if they have had no training.

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