Safe steel for body jewelry?

May 12, 2022October 30, 2013 by Brian Skellie

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.

More 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.

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.

APP Conference soon!

May 4, 2013 by Brian Skellie

CONFERENCE IS ALMOST UPON US! THE CONFERENCE ADVANCED (ONLINE) REGISTRATION WILL SHUT DOWN AT MIDNIGHT ON MAY 17TH, PST ANY CHANGES TO YOUR REGISTRATION SHOULD BE MADE BEFORE THEN (OR WILL HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL WE ARE ONSITE IN LAS VEGAS) BANQUET DINNER SPONSORED BY INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH BODY JEWELRY; ANATOMETAL, INC.; LEROI, INC.; AND KAOS SOFTWEAR THURSDAY JUNE … Read more

Titanium body jewelry

January 17, 2022March 8, 2013 by Brian Skellie

What Titanium materials are best for body jewelry? My articles at https://jewelry.piercing.org/ and https://brnskll.com/shares/titanium-standards-why-not-g23/ explain that the two most effective Titanium standards are alloyed ASTM F136 and pure ASTM F67, the most common being the former as it is stronger, harder and easier to polish. Both are used for permanent surgical implants.

Returning jewelry(explants) to clients

March 2, 2022January 25, 2013 by Brian Skellie

Do not buy or sell used body jewelry brnskll dot com

An interesting observation on safety issues raised in returning contaminated items such as jewelry to clients, as voiced by this medical professional’s concerns for their patients. It is evident that infection control measures should be carefully considered when previously worn jewelry or other contaminated personal items are to be returned to a customer.

Please regard the discussion in the comments below

Question

I am an OR nurse and recently started a new job in a prestigious orthopedic hospital. At the request of a surgeon or patient when implants are removed we have been cleaning and flashing them and returning them to the patient in a plastic bag.

[NOTE: Flashing is an outdated term for sterilizing items unwrapped for immediate use]
https://brnskll.com/shares/flash-faq/

How to relate a certificate of tests (Mill Certificate) to an appropriate standard

April 12, 2022December 14, 2012 by Brian Skellie

Learn how to relate a certificate of tests (Mill Certificate) to an appropriate standard for body jewelry biomaterials

OPTIM 33TB protocol

June 30, 2015October 4, 2012 by Brian Skellie

OPTIM 33 TB is a One-Step Cleaner Disinfectant with no hazardous ingredients.

For the modern body artist, OPTIM offers a number of advantages for cleaning and thorough and safe disinfection in one minute for:

Temperature sensitive Body jewelry materials for healed piercings
Such as wood, horn, stone, bone, certain polymers
Break the chain of infection for MRSA, VRE, HCV, HBV, HIV, Mycobacteria and other pathogens for non-critical items that can not withstand the heat of an autoclave.
Tattoo machine frames, coils, springs, clip cords
Mayo trays and other work surfaces
Exam tables, massage tables, tattoo chairs
Display cases
Furniture in your waiting area including fabric covered items.
Suspension rigs and equipment

Learn about piercing bumps

December 14, 2020September 1, 2012 by Brian Skellie

Have you noticed some sort of raised bump at the exit point of your piercing?

This could be due to a number of sources of irritation or infection that can result in overgrowth of scar tissue when the healing process is disrupted. There may be a single, simple solution though it commonly may take a combination of protective measures to help this turn out well.