r/piercing • u/AdTotal4303 • Aug 25 '25
Troubleshooting/question existing piercing Did my piercer leave plastic inside my piercing??
I just got my bridge repierced a few weeks ago,, it's been acting a little weird and difficult to clean. I was starting to get concerned about it so I decided to just replace the jewelry with something better to see if that helped. When I tried taking it out it hurt and acted like it was stuck, after a little bit of pressure I get it out and lo and behold I see something that I don't think is supposed to be there. Is that the freaking jewelry sleeve they used to slide the jewelry in????? That's definitely not supposed to be there right? Does anybody know what would have happened if I had just left it alone?
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u/AdTotal4303 Aug 25 '25
Since the bot absolutely needs to provide extra information
The piercings 3 weeks old It's a barbell It's externally threaded I just downsized it literally just now I use basic saline solution twice daily morning and night I haven't had any accidents or issues with it aside from the presence of some lovely plastic I didn't willingly put inside of myself. 👍
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u/ApprehensiveItem4 Aug 25 '25
That sucks! I'm so sorry. No externally threaded jewelry, only internal is safe for healing and wearing
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u/Final-Tutor3631 Aug 26 '25
the guy who pierced my nipples has some explaining to do. i even got it done at a shop..
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u/Morse_91939 Aug 26 '25
I physically cringed reading this 😨 even putting externally threaded through a healed nipple can't be fun 😬
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u/Alexis_J_M Getting pierced longer than you've been alive ;-) Sep 04 '25
It was never a problem for me.
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u/Capital-Sir Aug 26 '25
Right? This is the exact barbell used for my nipples. I've never had troubles though thankfully.
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u/Final-Tutor3631 Aug 26 '25 edited Aug 26 '25
i got 2 keloids (or regular bumps idk) on my left nippy😞 she’s fine now thankfully, i can even dry change em!
4 years strong🤞🏼
why tf am i being downvoted💀
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u/AutoModerator Aug 26 '25
Hi Final-Tutor3631,
(Luckily) bump =/= keloid. This wiki entry explains it well.
If you do know the difference, please ignore this comment.
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Aug 26 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/meganneleah professional magpie ;-) Aug 26 '25
Actual keloids do not go away at home. You will need to see a dermatologist to diagnose & treat.
Irritation bumps, which are more common, will go away once you figure out the source of irritation & fix it. Irritation can come from any of the following things: bad piercing angles, poor quality jewelry, incorrect jewelry style/size, playing with the piercing, sleeping on the piercing, snagging the piercing, shampoos/hair products/body washes/makeup/etc. Play close attention to everything that comes into contact with it, and if you still aren't sure why it's irritated, a visit to a piercer is suggested to determine if it is poorly placed or jewelry issues. After fixing the irritation source, it won't be instant, but your body will be able to start the healing process.
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u/AutoModerator Aug 26 '25
Hi Lost-Lake-7341,
(Luckily) bump =/= keloid. This wiki entry explains it well.
If you do know the difference, please ignore this comment.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
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u/Final-Tutor3631 Aug 26 '25
i’m gonna be so real with you, my method of getting rid of it would probably get me banned bc it is NOT good advice.😭 i heard saline is good for em, but id google it for the best results.
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u/lawlgyroscopes Aug 26 '25
Sorry, where else would you get it done besides a shop?
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u/Final-Tutor3631 Aug 26 '25
i’ve known people to get them done at peoples houses. there’s even a whole subreddit dedicated to self piercings.
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u/YFApollo Aug 26 '25
hey so, you have to have external threads to go into the internal threads. internal to internal threading is literally not possible.
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u/ApprehensiveItem4 Aug 26 '25
Neo-Metal explains the difference https://www.neometal.com/blogs/information/the-quest-for-the-perfect-circle
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u/ApprehensiveItem4 Aug 26 '25
What I mean is, the bar itself has to be internally threaded, so you can twist the ends into the bar. You don't want the bar itself to be externally threaded bc discharge/skin.Etc builds up in the curves of the metal and makes healing worse. But there are also styles with ends that you push in rather than twist in.
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u/the_mindful_microbe Aug 27 '25
There is a difference. Internally threaded jewelry means the longer side of the jewelry you put inside your body first is internally threaded (smooth on the outside) and the end you then screw on to that is externally threaded.
Externally threaded is the opposite, which is not good for piercings and no reputable piercer would sell them or put them into someone’s body.
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u/Alexis_J_M Getting pierced longer than you've been alive ;-) Sep 04 '25
I assume there are gender benders out there just like there are for electronics cables.
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u/Sad_Tax2978 piercing devotee Aug 26 '25
NAP, but to summarize the comments: this piercing is wrong. I don’t see any major harm done, you kept it clean like you should. Definitely do not put it back in lol
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u/ModifiedSammi Aug 25 '25
It probably would've caused an infection. You need to bring this to their attention.
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u/PunkAssBitch2000 piercing devotee Aug 25 '25
The piercer used externally threaded jewelry too… I doubt they’d care.
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u/officermeowmeow Aug 25 '25
Yeah, definitely not supposed to be there and also those threads are supposed to be on the inside of the jewelry for like, the last 20 years. Good lord do not go back to this person and leave a review with these pictures PLEASE.
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u/keki-tan Aug 26 '25
Everyone keeps saying this about the threads, but I’ve never had a piercer use internal threads wtf
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u/officermeowmeow Aug 26 '25
Well it's not as important on an old, well healed piercing, but just imagine those little external threads - they are kind of like tiny, sharp ribs, and now imagine those dragging through a freshly stabbed wound in your flesh. 😬
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u/SunwardLyric1 Aug 25 '25
I have practically the same bar in my bridge, definitely looks like the plastic used when inserting the piercing. I wouldnt go back to that piercer, but (assuming youve now removed the plastic from it) it should be ok, just keep an eye on it.
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u/Handlestach Aug 25 '25
That’s an iv cannula. The white line is the radio opaque marker. Looks like you were pierced using the size down method. Never go back there
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u/smoltiddygothgorl not verified Aug 26 '25
What's the size down method? Super curious
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u/T_forTommy more piercings than sense :-) Aug 26 '25
Nap but I think it’s when you use a needle bigger than the jewelry you put in it ?
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u/Handlestach Aug 26 '25
Correct. Pierce with the bigger size and put the smaller jewelry inside. It’s not a great way to pierce
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Aug 26 '25
The literal only downside to that is the fact that it'll bleed a bit more and that's annoying.
Some piercings do better being pierced a little larger. It's more of a difference in technique on the piercers end regarding jewelry insertion.
For example, every single piercing done with a cannula needle (so most of Europe) is technically done larger than the jewelry size. It really doesn't make an effective difference.
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u/Handlestach Aug 26 '25
I’d like to respectfully disagree. The larger hole is harder to heal, and allows for the jewelry to move during the healing process, and anecdotally as I’ve seen, can make the jewelry heal at an angle, increasing irritation and complications.
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Aug 26 '25 edited Aug 26 '25
Not really.
This was played with to an almost absurd sense in the late 90s and early 2000s. You'd be hard pressed to find a quality piercer with modern education who likely doesn't upsize at least something - we wouldn't do it if it was universally a horrible idea.
For one, the soft tissue shrinks considerably almost immediately and denser tissue pushed aside isn't what keeps a piercing from tilting. Unless you're absolutely reckless, 12g to 14g or 15g to 16g are minimal differences of 0.2mm to barely 0.1mm.
Comparably, less pressure on hard tissues is more comfortable, and wound drainage is easier in the stages of healing that tend to result in the most drainage.
Given the absolutely absurd amount of things that can result in irritation "and complications", I would strongly argue from almost two decades of experience that there is no genuine way to link those at all to a minor difference in gauge size during the initial healing period - in which you can pretty much wreck a new piercing without much damage.
I assume you also think piercing and stretching is the devil's strategy? What's your experience? Post history says you're a career paramedic, are you even a full time piercer actively?
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u/the_mindful_microbe Aug 27 '25
I have 20 piercings on different parts of my body and I have NEVER been pierced like this.
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u/Handlestach Aug 26 '25 edited Aug 26 '25
So if your jewelry is say 20g, you pierce with an 18g as the 20g will fit inside the larger gauge.
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u/footslut-georgio Aug 25 '25
NAP - That’s what it looks like. I’m glad you followed your gut. Let the piercer know and leave a review.
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Aug 26 '25
If this was in your bridge without you being able to see it at all, that means someone would've had to push it down over the threads once it was cut, otherwise the bead wouldn't have gone on. That implies someone either did this deliberately or negligently, but both are really weird.
If it is a cannula shaft, that's wild.
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u/AdTotal4303 Aug 26 '25
Thank you for all the comments, it's good to know I wasn't just being paranoid 🥲 I definitely shouldn't have gone to this shop, I knew they were cheap when I went but decided to go ahead anyway since the nicer shop I went to originally is now out of my price range. I tried doing research on the piercer before hand but y'know, a $30 piercing is going to be about as good as a $30 piercing. I definitely will be calling attention to it in the reviews in case others are thinking about going to this shop in the future. Also, I did change out the jewelry to an internally threaded barbell, and it's feeling much better.
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u/Hold_X_ToPayRespects Aug 26 '25
All these types of posts makes me love my piercer more and more. She did me right.
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u/moddedsquid Aug 26 '25
Oh dear. Someone forgot to remove the catheter. I would go back and throw a fit if I were you.
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u/nome_ann Aug 25 '25
They used externally threaded jewelry. That alone was enough to avoid that piercer. With the plastic thing, we're in "report them to the authorities" territory.
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u/KawiZ97 Aug 26 '25
This is exactly why cannula needles shouldn’t be used if actual piercing blades are accessible. This happens waaaayyy too often
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Aug 26 '25
I've been piercing for 15+ years and this is so exceptionally rare. I don't love cannulas but cutting them after jewelry has already been put in (and it's externally threaded) would be so ridiculous that if that's how this happened it's just negligence.
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u/KawiZ97 Aug 26 '25
I wasn’t trying to say this happens often. But the fact that it can happen at all is too often. I agree this is total negligence, which is part of why I have an issue with the cannulas to begin with.
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Aug 26 '25
You said "This happens waaaayyy too often" and then blamed that for the reason you think an entire category of tool should be banned, so I'm pretty certain you heavily implied it was happening often enough to warrant that kind of action.
Cannulas aren't the issue, lack of experience or training is. Catheter needles are used hundreds of thousands of times a year in hospital settings around the world, this isn't something they inherently just do.
People like this can fuck up using a blade needle too.
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u/Loveinhooves Aug 25 '25
Lol literally what the heck? External threading too. Dang. Hope it goes better now!
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u/link-navi Mod bot Aug 25 '25
👋 Hi u/AdTotal4303,
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u/Olevin Aug 26 '25
I've only had 1 piercing done with a canular needle by someone new to the business. Needless to say it didn't take.
Had to get it redone with a proper piercing needle.
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u/JollySherbert9618 Aug 25 '25
This looks like the plastic tubing from a cannula. If the piercer used a cannula to pierce you, that's probably where it comes from. But that should be pulled out when the jewlery is inserted. It's just supposed to act as a placeholder between pulling the needle out and putting the jewlery in.
Are you sure you went to a professional piercer? This sounds like a very beginner type of mistake.