I honestly don't know the answer to this one. I have a body piercing and I don't know if I will have to remove it before surgery. I know I can go through airports but I don't know about ORs. Thanks

most (all?) hospital you have to remove all jewlery & piercings.

They will probably have you remove them. I remember in my pre-surgery appointment I was told to wear no glasses, rings, or any other forms of jewelery. Body piercings would fall into the "other forms of jewelery" category.

I have quite a few ear piercings and tongue ring and I was told to remove all body piercings before surgery. I would assume that your surgeon will most likely require the same. If they don't specifically tell you I'd pick the more cautious option.

Oh, and contacts. I wear the kind you can wear for a month straight and I had to switch to glasses for the few days pre/post op.

I know you can't wear jewelry during surgery ... anyone know when you can put belly ring back in?

Thanks. I was afraid of that. I think there's a plastic spacer-type ring I can use so it doesn't close before I can put it back.

Suggestion: Take it out at home before going to surgery. Otherwise, it has to be checked in and put in a secure place, often the Security office. Then you have to go through the hassle of going to the place it has been held and checking it out when you leave the hospital.

Good idea! I usually give my jewelry to my husband to keep for me ......

I could not wear any jewerly,makeup,lotion,deodorant, I even had to take my nail polish off finger nails and toe nails.

Any thing not natural ( other than surgical metal in you) has to corne out.

What happens if you can't get rings off due to gaining weight? Also, what about acrilic fingernails?

Since the location of the piercing was purposely avoided, I'm assuming it's in a *special* place and I'd say... take it out. Especially if a nurse is going to be inserting a catheter...

They will make you remove the plastic spacers too. I had surgery on my elbow several years ago and had a 1 month old nostril piercing. I didn't want it to close up, so I bought one of the plastic ones and had that in the morning of the surgery. They made me take it out, and 6 hours later, I could not get it back in. Had to get the piercing redone Just be prepared for that possibility.

In the case of rings that WON'T come off, we are able to tape it to your finger so it doesn't cause a burn. With any jewelry that remains on your body, there is a risk of burn, so it's safer to just remove it. As soon as you are awake enough to put it back in, you can. I've seen patients put piercings back in as soon as they opened their eyes. Plastic spacers are not a risk for burn, but can still be ripped out of the skin by accident, so it's safer for EVERYONE to just remove it.

That's what I thought but wasn't sure.... thanks for the info