Cool Cat Tattoo and its piercers conform to Floridas super-stringent laws on piercing.
We comply with all medical, sanitary, privacy laws and do business in a very professional manner.
Our Powerline Road Shop has a couple of artists that pierce as well as Sean who pierces part time but is a full time great guy!!
Our beach shop is very proud to host Michael Owens as a dedicated piercer who is learning to tattoo. Mike had a lot of input for Florida's piercing statutes and works very closely with the Broward county Department of Health.
Mike was trained at The Gauntlet, in NYC in 1995.
All of our piercing equipment and initial jewelry is autoclave sterilized, and dated.
All needles are single use. We have private facilities for piercing, as our clients comfortability is of the utmost importance.
You must be 18 to be pierced in our shops, but according to state law a minor 16 and above may be pierced, excluding genitalia, with the parent present. The minor and parent MUST have proper ID and submit a notarized document proving the parental relationship.
Contemporary piercing procedures
Permanent body piercings (as opposed to play piercings) are performed by creating an opening in the body using a sharp object through the area to be pierced. This can either be done by cutting an opening using a needle (usually a hollow medical needle) or scalpel or by removing tissue, either with a scalpel or a dermal punch.
Contemporary body piercing studios generally take numerous precautions to protect the health of the person being pierced and the piercer. Tools and jewelry are sterilized in autoclaves and non-autoclavable surfaces are cleaned with disinfectant agents on a regular basis and between clients. Sterile, single use gloves are worn by the piercer to protect both the piercer and the client. Commonly, a piercer will use multiple pairs of gloves per client, often one pair for each step of setup to avoid cross contamination. For example, after a piercer has cleaned the area to be pierced on a client, the piercer may change gloves to avoid recontaminating the area with the gloves he/she used to clean it.
Surgical stainless steel and titanium are ideal materials for initial jewelry in a fresh piercing.
Piercing guns
Piercing guns are commonly used in retail settings to perform ear piercings. They work by blunt force trauma due to the fact that the needle used is normally dull and are designed for piercing the earlobe only. In many states it is against the law to pierce the cartilage with the piercing gun because of the damage the device can do to the tissue. The sheer blunt force of the piercing gun shatters the surrounding cartilage from the entry point of the jewelry and over time can cause the whole ear to deform, commonly known auliflowering. Piercing guns have also been found to be a less hygienic way of piercing due to the limited cleaning quality of the plastic the gun is usually made of. Piercing with a piercing gun causes microsprays of plasma and blood, which are then unable to be cleaned in an autoclave system. Cross contamination can then spread pathogens such as HIV and Hepatitis A, B, and C.
Many professional body piercers discourage the use of these instruments. The autoclaving of piercing guns is impossible, because the plastic used in their construction would be melted if autoclaved. Even though they are occasionally and wrongly used for other purposes, ear piercing instruments are designed for earlobe piercing only.
Internally threaded jewelry
A number of piercing shops exclusively use jewelry that is internally threaded. That is, the ball-ends of the jewelry screw into the bar, rather than the bar screwing into the ball. Though more expensive and difficult to produce than externally threaded jewelry, piercers who use internally threaded jewelry advise that since the bar that is being inserted into the skin has no sharp threads on the end, it will not cut or irritate skin; this allows for safer healing.
However, in today's world of body piercing, most manufacturers of quality body jewelry agree that if externally threaded jewelry is going to be used, it must have a tapered end on it so that at the very least, the threads can slip into the back end of the needle, thus protecting the pierce's tissue from being threaded during the initial piercing.
The healing process and body piercing aftercare
A new piercing will be sore, tender or red for several days up to three weeks. Complete healing normally takes several weeks or more. Below are more specific healing time estimates. During this period, care must be taken to avoid infection. Touching—or, for genital and oral piercings, sexual activity—is usually discouraged.
Primary healing usually takes about as long as is listed below; the jewelry should not be removed during this period. The healing time should not be rushed. Very often a piercing that seemed to be healed will start to have problems when it is handled roughly, exposed to mouth contact or unwashed hands before it has truly healed.
Full healing starts after primary healing is complete and usually takes about as long as primary healing, during this period the skin thickens and starts to gain elasticity. An additional "toughening up" period takes place after full healing is complete, this "toughening up" period also takes about as long as the primary healing time. During "toughening up" the skin remodels itself developing an internal texture in the fistulascar-like internal surface.
Approximate primary healing times:
Head
* Monroe piercing: 6-12 weeks
* Bridge: 2-3 months
* Cheek/Anti-Eyebrow: 3–6 months
* Ear cartilage: 6-12 months
* Ear lobes: 6-8 weeks
* Eyebrow: 6-8 weeks
* Tragus: 6–12 months
* Lip / Labret: 3–4 weeks
* Nostril: 2-3 months
* Septum: 2-3 months
* Tongue: 4-6 weeks
* Frenulum: 6-8 weeks
Torso
* Female Nipples: 3-6 months
* Male Nipples: 3-6 months
* Navel piercing: 4–6 months
* Hand web: 1 year
* Surface: 6–8 months
Female Genital Piercings
* Clitoral Hood: 2-4 weeks
* Clitoris: 4-6 weeks
* Christina piercing: 3–4 months
* Fourchette: 2–3 months
* Isabella: 2-3 months
* Labia Minora: 2–3 months
* Labia Majora: 2–3 months
* Triangle: 2–3 months
Male Genital Piercings
* Ampallang: 4–6 months
* Apadravya: 4–6 months
* Dydoe: 4-6 months
* Frenum piercing: 2-5 weeks
* Guiche: 4–6 months
* Prince Albert: 2-4 weeks
* Reverse Prince Albert: 2-4 weeks
* Scrotum: 3–4 months
* Foreskin: 2–3 months
* Pubic: 10-12 weeks
* Lorum: 1-3 months
Over time, after the piercing, the resulting wound is allowed to heal, forming a tunnel of scar tissue called a fistula. When the piercing has fully healed, the initial jewelry may be changed or removed for short periods.
Behavior that promotes healing
* Revisiting the piercer for an evaluation at any time, if needed;
* Practicing good hygiene.
* Following the recommended aftercare guidelines;
* Taking sufficient supplement tablets of iron and zinc.[citation needed]
Behavior that hinders healing
* Contact between the new piercing and another person's skin or bodily fluids;
* Excessive and unnecessary touching of the piercing, especially with unwashed hands;
* Failure to take proper aftercare measures;
* Smoking and drinking alcohol (in the case of oral piercings, if not cleaned properly and rather close to the time of drinking or smoking);
* Exposure to irritating substances such as cosmetics, perfume, lotion, some topical ointments, etc.;
* Immersion in chemically-treated pool water, or natural water (i.e. lakes, rivers, streams, and oceans) which contains bacteria, protozoa, and parasites;
* Cleaning with tea tree oil, as it keeps the wound open;
* Lack of sleep or low health.
Changing of initial jewelry to allow for swelling
For some piercings (in particular tongue piercings) changing the initial jewelry is an essential step. In the case of tongue piercing this is because the initial jewelry is significantly longer than the jewelry for a healed piercing, to allow for swelling.This should be changed down about 7 to 10 days after the initial piercing. Most piercers will include this piece of jewellery in their price and ask you to return.
Discharge on the jewelry
During the primary healing process, it is normal for a white or slightly yellow discharge to be noticeable on the jewelry. Provided there is no pain or swelling, it does not usually signify an infection. The discharge is composed of dead skin cells and blood plasma and may be a little difficult to remove as it can become solid very quickly. Another name for such discharge is "lymph" which is a fluid produced by the body's lymph nodes. This tends to be a regular occurrence in the healing of a piercing as well as long as there are no signs of pain or swelling.
Removal
Proper removal of piercings is rather simple. Carefully remove the jewelry making sure not to pull or irritate the piercing. Once removed the piercing should heal on its own, although it may leave a hole, a mark or a scar. It is not advised to remove jewelry when there is an infection present, and doing so may result in trapping infectious waste in your body if the hole closes, causing an abscess. Once the infection has passed, then it is safe to remove the jewelry if it is no longer desired. In some cases the jewelry may need to be removed by a professional
