Brian W Skellie returns to BMXnet 2023 as a speaker

Brian W Skellie returns to BMXnet as a speaker

I will be speaking and holding workshops at the 17th annual BMXnet event. It has always been an extraordinary experience for sharing ideas and techniques for growth as a professional.
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Brian W Skellie interview on jewelry materials

Brian W Skellie (photo credit John Balk 2022)

Piercing Wizard Podcast August 8 at 8:39 PM   215 – Brian Skellie on mill certificates and material verification. It was a privilege to speak at length about body jewelry materials safety with my colleague Ryan Ouellette of Precision Body Arts in Nashua NH. I welcome your questions and comments. Do you have a complete understanding of … Read more

Biomaterials and trustworthy sources

The Point 86 cover

Why materials from countries without strict quality control requirements are unacceptable for body jewelry Brian W Skellie,  APP Medical Director (published in issue 86 of The Point Journal of Body Piercing) Does it matter where a biomaterial we use comes from? Biomaterials made in the USA and in a short list of countries who maintain … Read more

2016 BMXnet event interview on needles, steel and wound care

Here is a 22 minute interview that I did at BMXnet this year for Russian colleagues.
(In English with Russian subtitles)

  1. The first question was: Can a professional piercers use a catheter?
  2. The second question was about the use of steel for totally healed piercing.
  3. The last question: What way of care is correct for a fresh piercing?

Unrelated, but interesting in light of the recent election and psychohistory:

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/when-newt-met-hari-seldon

seminars | UKAPP 2017

Come to the 2nd annual UKAPP seminars. Sunday 4th & Monday 5th at the Radisson Blu hotel in Birmingham England

See you there to share! I’ll be here just before BMXnet to help my colleagues further their organizational momentum!! It gives us great pleasure to announce the 2nd annual UKAPP seminars. Sunday 4th & Monday 5th at the Radisson Blu hotel just a 2 minute walk from Birmingham Moor street train station This year the UKAPP … Read more

11 Things You Should Know About Piercings

“This article presented some sound information, but there’s still much more to know. When piercings are performed by a trained professional using sterile equipment and high quality jewelry, and appropriate aftercare is followed, the risks are drastically minimized.” — Elayne Angel, APP President

ASTM F136 revision

One of the most commonly used materials for body jewelry, the ASTM F136 – Standard Specification for Wrought Titanium-6Aluminum-4Vanadium ELI (Extra Low Interstitial) Alloy for Surgical Implant Applications (UNS R56401) has been revised to F136-13 developed by Committee F04.12, ASTM BOS Volume13.01.

The new version changes are in section 9. Special Requirements

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Safe steel for body jewelry?

A forum participant asked:

please discuss 316l and implant grade 316lvm grade stainless steel

They added a link to an essay titled
Body Jewelry Materials. Understanding Implant Grade Surgical Steel

The easy answer:

Neither are surgical implant materials. These are engineering specifications.
*AISI and SAE do not establish standards for biocompatibility.

me+.lMore detail: ASTM ? ANSI ? ISO ?

One thing to know is that ISO and ASTM are both international organizations for standards, but ISO is restricted to members of national standards bodies such as ANSI. Individuals or companies cannot become ISO members.

ASTM members are comprised of representatives of both government and stakeholders in related business, such as me. I joined ASTM in the mid 1990’s to represent the needs and learn more about the responsibilities of the body piercing business, and have been able to attend conferences, contribute my research based evaluations and vote for standards that affect us as body artists.

ISO voting is done for the USA by ANSI. ASTM makes recommendations to ANSI. ANSI has typically voted in accordance with the recommendations of the ASTM.

ASTM F04 and ISO TC 150 have merged to facilitate the flow of information.

The 2013 update that my ASTM F04.12 committee just voted to approve for the most common steel alloy for surgical implant is also most the commonly used for body jewelry, F138.

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ASTM F138-13a specifies chemical, mechanical and metallurgical refinements for 316 series steel alloys for surgical implant. It doesn’t really matter if the material is 316L, 316LVM, etc. The material is only acceptable for body jewelry when specified for human surgical implant and validated for this purpose to a peer reviewed scientific standard such as ASTM or ISO provides. AISI/SAE

As an aside: I don’t personally use steel alloy jewelry for initial piercings. I prefer pure unalloyed metals or simpler alloys with a greater margin of safety and less reactivity in the body.

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