Young man dies from tongue piercing
Haaretz Newspaper from Israel brings a story of an 18-year-old Israel Defense Forces soldier who died this Sunday from an infection he received from a tongue piercing.
The soldier had been hospitalized in serious condition for over a month in Rambam Hospital in Haifa after he developed 14 abscesses in his brain from bacteria that spread from the piercing in his tongue.
The manager of the emergency room at Rambam, Dr. Yaron Bar-Lavi said that during the course of the soldier’s treatment, he began taking medication to deal with spasms that had been caused by the abscesses.
Over the last two days, doctors discovered that the medicine had caused serious problems with the soldier’s liver and led to the decline in his condition and eventually his death.
Back in 2003, Richard Martinello and Elizabeth Cooney published a brief report in Clinical Infectious Diseases Journal entitled “Cerebellar Brain Abscess Associated with Tongue Piercing“. They presented a case of a previously healthy adult who had a solitary cerebellar brain abscess diagnosed. This infection occurred 4 weeks after the patient underwent a tongue piercing procedure that was complicated by an apparent local infection. The clinical history, abscess culture results, and lack of an alternative explanation suggest that infection of the tongue piercing site was the source of the cerebellar abscess.
While brain abcesses present a very rare tounge piercing complication, local infection, pain, bleeding, edema, inhalation, dental trauma, contact lesions, oral interferences and endocarditis are more common. So think twice before getting one.
February 8th, 2009 at 11:59 am
lol WTF no one dies from tongue piercings
April 3rd, 2009 at 5:55 pm
well this could really happen…i got one .. the only problem is you have to know with who to get it….i recommend with one that has expireince and have had good comments about them..dont just do it with someone because its chea…
June 8th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
i think it could really happen but i am about to go get my tongue pierced here in 2 months.. and im not scared at all.. i have so many friends that have theirs done and they all havent had problems with it.. you just have to know how to take care of it.. DUH!!
July 7th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
LAwl he probaly did it himself.. or some that sucked piercing
no wonder it efected…
November 2nd, 2009 at 7:07 am
LOL..i got mine done lyke about a year ago..nd its totally fyne..take care of it though
February 1st, 2010 at 12:39 pm
I don’t know what to think…I mean, I had mine done at 14 (im 26 now), I was a chain smoker, pot smoker, drinkin alcohol, and just didn’t take care of it. I never got an infection. I think something was up. he mustve been really dirty….idk.
February 1st, 2010 at 5:58 pm
aww now im scared to get q pearcinq i wanna qet one both know dat i already read this im scared & i think if i qo & qet it done is qonna hurt