You've seen them at the checkout counter, in supermarkets and health food stores, in head shops, and around town: employees who wear nose rings, or piercings in the center of the nose, through the nasal septum, or through the thin piece of cartilage underneath the septum that separates the right and left nostrils.

When recently scoping out a new dental office, to my complete and utter amazement – shock actually – two of the front office staff, both females, sported nose rings. Call me whatever you want, but at that juncture, I didn’t seek to learn anymore about the practice.

Too Prevalent, Too Risky

What prompts a person to have a bull-like nose ring? Even if the chances are low, why risk incurring an infection, a septal hematoma (broken blood vessels), an allergic reaction to the metals in the piercing, or scarring? Why risk developing a blood disease, including hepatitis B and C, HIV, and tetanus, from an unsterilized needle? Why risk bumping into something and hitting a nerve, potentially causing permanent damage? And how, exactly, does one effectively handle a runny nose?

How long before the advocates of “anything goes” seek to normalize nose rings so that no one should be aghast when someone in a public position has one?........

© Townhall