Your Teen and Body Piercing

My teen wants to get a body piercing. I am not so hot on that. She doesn't realize how dangerous it can be. Expensive too if you get a peirecing in your mouth. Did you know that g your tongue pierced can damnage tooth enamel (and even break teeth) and cause the need for pricey dental work in the future. Also a pierced tongue is more prone to medical complications in general, including to blood poisoning, blood clots hemorrhaging, nerve damage, paralysis, staph infections, methicillin resistant bacteria (flesh eating disease) and toxic shock. Not to mention that horrible clicking sound that some teens make when they are speaking.

So my kid wants her tongue pierced. She has no idea of the true purpose of that (pleasuring men in oral sex.) She just thinks it looks cool. I am saying no because it is too hard for a tongue to heal after a piercing. Piercing your tongue requires a much larger whole then the tiny pinprick that is used to pierce a person's earlobe so it is more like a wound. Also if the tongue is in constant motion (like my daughters) it is not going to heal very fast.

Tongue piercing are the worst when it comes to causing complications in your child's health down the line. However no matter where you get a body piercing on your body there is always a risk. The most common problems are infection, allergic reactions, hepatitis B, HIV transmission, and tetanus.

One of the worst consequences of body piercing can be Hepatitis B. This liver cam starts chronically becoming inflamed. . Hepatitis B is caused by the HBV virus, (hepatitis B virus) although it can also be caused by alcohol and other toxins (poisonous substances). Mostly contaminated needles used for tattooing and piercing provoke hepatitis B. This also sets the person up for a nice case of hepatitis later. Yet another consequence of contracting this virus through a body-piercing needle is cirrhosis. This is scarring that stops the organ from renewing itself as it naturally can. Both cirrhosis and Hepatitis B have no cures but are can only managed by expensive medications for the entire rest of the person's life. It just does not work.

Yet another sometimes-fatal result of body piercing is an HIV infection (AIDS of course!) which can be contracted through a dirty tattooing or piercing needle. AIDS is a deficiency of the body's immunes system that makes it difficult to effectively defend itself against infection. It can take a decade or longer for the HIV virus to develop into full-blown AIDS which makes the personal vulnerable to dying from a very simple infection like the flu. One of 250 Americans is currently HIV positive and does not know it.

The main way to avoid HIV and Hepatitis B is to get your body piercing done at a professional salon that is very clean and that has sterilized needles. Piercing your own cheek, lip, tongue, eyebrow, naval, tongue or ears is NOT recommended for anybody in this day and age so make sure your teen is not going to do a self-piercing behind your back!

Parenting Tips
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Get Rid of Still and Standing Water!

There has been a lot of rain this Spring and if you live in certain areas then there are likely to be big pools of still water where kids play. These pools of water could be in the playground or in the parks. They could be in gutters on the road. It is common to find pools of water in your back yard or near eves troughs that have not been fixed. Still water also collects inside of old flowerpots that have been left out and deflated swimming pools.

Still water, which is also stagnant water is a big threat to public health. Yellow fever is a tropical disease that is spread by the yellow fever mosquito in parts of Africa and South America and the disease is spread by still water.

Yellow fever is not to be confused with Jungle Yellow Fever, which is a disease, spread from monkeys to mosquitoes to humans. Sometimes to make the differentiation the kind of yellow fever that is spread by mosquitoes only is referred to as Urban Yellow Fever. Jungle yellow fever is actually quite rare.

Yellow is much more common and it is spread by mosquitoes from human to human. The yellow fever mosquito that carries the disease is known as the Aides Egypt. These urban disease carriers make their home in still water in cities, towns and villages. Anything that can hold water such as discarded oiled drum and tires makes an excellent breeding ground for the yellow fever mosquito. As it rains frequently in both South American and African jungles they breed constantly in muck and puddles of still water.

There is no predicting whether or not a bite from a yellow fever mosquito is going to lead to a mild or life threatening illness. It really depends on the strains of infection that are around that particular year. The good news is that most cases of yellow fever, although uncomfortable are relatively mild.

Yellow fever gets its name from the fact that it can cause jaundice, which causes the whites of the eyes and the skin to turn yellow. Symptoms of a life threatening infection are high fever, headache, chills, backache, headache, muscle aches and vomiting. Sometimes the disease has a cycle where the person appears to get much better after a few days and then takes a severe turn for the worse, which can lead to shock, internal bleeding, liver and kidney favor. However this strain of the infection that is carried by the yellow fever mosquito is a lot rare.

Unfortunately there is no real specific treatment for yellow fever. People who contract it are advised to rest and drink plenty of fluids. Another essential part of the treatment is the use of mosquito repellents and nets to keep female yellow fever mosquitoes from biting the infected individual and spreading it to another human. Of course a big part of prevention is removing still water form the vicinity.

Parenting Tips
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