Posted on 09/24/2007 10:11:33 PM PDT by SoldierMedic
EVERETT, Wash. -- Cindi Reedes heard doctors tell her the same frightening words three times in eight days: Her teenage daughter's chances of survival were slim. It would take a near-miracle to save her from the aggressive infection ravaging her body.
The only cause doctors could guess at was the tongue piercing 18-year-old Lacey Filosa got without her mother knowing about it.
For weeks, Lacey wavered at the edge of death, kept in a drug-induced coma to give her struggling body every chance to heal. A tube kept her breathing. Operations to cut out the infection were needed nearly every day.
No one can say with certainty what triggered the infection.
Doctors suspect it was linked to a tongue piercing Filosa had gotten in Everett, a type of piercing popular with young adults. Their theory: Bacteria commonly found in the mouth and saliva possibly entered Lacey's bloodstream through the hole punched through the girl's tongue. Once inside, they flourished, triggering a firestorm of infection.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattlepi.nwsource.com ...
Same here. I never found women with pierced tongues to be appealing. Ditto for pierced eyebrows.
diamond stud earings and nothing more for me.
So male tongue piercings are appealing? I'm here to tell you they are disgusting too.
It’s bad news when an infection goes really septic - a truly awful way to die. My grandfather says that sulfa drugs were the only thing that pulled him through his emergency appendectomy back in the 1910’s - otherwise he would have never have made it due to the gangrene.
I always thought that this was going to be a problem. The human mouth is rife with little critters.
Bacteria commonly found in the mouth and saliva possibly entered Lacey's bloodstream through the hole punched through the girl's tongue.
That's their story and they're sticking to it...
At one point, Lacey had 16 tubes in her upper body to help drain away the infection. Tests showed the bacteria ravaging her body were types commonly found in the mouth.
My grandfather also gargled with Listerine just about every day of his life and lived to be 95 when he succumbed to prostate cancer. Otherwise, he was almost never sick and swore that Dr. Lister knew EXACTLY what he was doing.
This girl probably wouldn't have had this trouble if she had done a couple of mouth rinses of Listerine before she had her tongue pierced.
The grossest ones are the studs below the lower lip. They look like they need better eating habits. I’m like, take a hanky and brush that dreck away.
The story I have read previously had a brain abscess caused by
the tongue piercing. I have had that one bookmarked in case any of my children completely loses his/her mind and starts talking about piercings. Now I have another to add to the file.
I am glad this girl survived.
Mouth piercings, in general, do nothing for me. I have seen some rather attractive women mangle their faces with all manner of hardware. I feel like asking them why they want to abuse what G-d gave to them.
I don’t really mind tongue piercings in certain ladies, it mainly depends on how well they take care of it. Same thing with the lip. Tongue and nose are not appealling, however.
I used to have my cartilage pierced, and I sometimes miss it. I had a corkscrew shaped bar that I would play with. Someday I may take a catheter and just re-do the hole.
Indeed. She is fortunate that she has kept her life. Maybe, she’ll decide to not puntcure other areas of her mouth.
Uh, my opinion differs.
Yeah, except they didn’t have sulfa drugs until 1935.
Pierced cartilage! Those can be rather painful. I have known a couple women who had that done and changed their minds after a while.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.