Due to the recent rise in popularity of body art, more and more medical professionals are coming into contact with it on their clients.

Unfortunately, some of these clients have had adverse reactions to the procedures or, in some cases, the procedure was performed in an inappropriate manner by an inexperienced practitioner or themselves. Consequently, they may have had to seek medical attention. It has been my personal experience as a licensed body piercing practitioner with many years of experience. Quite often, problems with body art procedures are misdiagnosed by medical professionals and consequently clients are misinformed on how to properly treat these problems, possibly causing further harm or scaring to the client. In my opinion, the reason this happens is that although they may have the best of intentions and vast knowledge in their professions, most medical professionals simply have not been trained in this area.

I must also admit that I have seen cases that prejudice or ignorance that have led to clients being misinformed and potentially causing more harm. This is not acceptable.  As professionals from any background, we should practice tolerance and acceptance and not let our personal opinions cloud our judgment.
Our number one concern should be public safety. That being said it is the intent of our course to educate non-piercing professionals that may come into contact with problematic body art procedures and will need to diagnose and prescribe treatment for them.

This course will also teach familiarization with the tools used in body art procedures so if removal of body jewelry becomes necessary, it can be done in a safe manner.

To properly diagnose and treat problematic piercings. You should have a comprehensive understanding of how piercings are performed and how they heal.

1. You will have a comprehensive understanding of how piercings are performed.
2. You will have a comprehensive understanding of the proper materials to be used in piercings, as well as the complications caused by the wrong materials.
3. You will have a comprehensive understanding of how piercings heal.
4. You will have a comprehensive understanding of healing problems.
5. You will be able to properly treat healing problems and infections.
6. You will have a comprehensive understanding of how body jewelry functions.
7. You will have a comprehensive understanding of the tools used to insert and extract body jewelry.
8. Should it become necessary to remove jewelry, you will know how to do so in a manor that is safe for both you and your client. The removal of jewelry portion will be directed more to those medical professionals working in incarceration situations, as under normal circumstances where infection is suspected the jewelry would not be removed.
9. You will have a comprehensive understanding of when it may or may not be necessary to remove jewelry for medical procedures.

Also, each student will mock up several of the most common piercings. The purpose of the mock piercings is that upon doing your consultation with your client, if you have first-hand knowledge of proper procedure you will be able to determine where and how the problem began. I also believe that if you have been on both sides of body art you will have a much better understanding of it. Finding the source of the problem is extremely important. If a practitioner is responsible for the problem, they should be stopped. Or, if the client has not followed aftercare instructions given by a practitioner, the blame should not be placed on the practitioner as is so often the case. If a determination is made that the practitioner is at fault, then it should be your ethical obligation to report the incident to local health officials. If a determination is made that the client is at fault, it should be your ethical obligation to educate them on proper aftercare or treatment if necessary and not judge their actions.