Just Say No to Magnetic Tongue Studs

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Magnetic tongue stud

Is it really worth the risk?

A fashion craze almost cost a teenage boy his life after he swallowed the magnetic tongue studs he was wearing.

Michael Delaney, 15, was only hours from death and needed surgery when the studs, which are much more powerful than ordinary magnets, began making holes in his digestive system.

The metal decorations, usually from three to five millimetres across, are worn on either side of the tongue, held in place by their magnetism so they look like a piercing but without the hole.

But they can react with stomach acids and cause lethal internal damage.

If they end up in different parts of the intestine the powerful magnets in some studs can make holes in the soft tissue as they are drawn back together.

Last night Michael’s family issued a warning to youngsters to be aware of the danger if they were to swallow the studs, which are freely available in Britain.

They are popular because they allow teenagers to look as if they have had a piercing without incurring the wrath of their parents.

Michael swallowed his on the* bus to school but thought nothing more about it until a fortnight later when he began to have crippling stomach ache.

He was admitted to hospital as an emergency with suspected appendicitis.

Surgeons had to cut into his bowel in three places to retrieve the studs and later told him he had been only four hours from dying.

If you MUST have a tongue piercing, which has its own risks e.g. broken teeth, stay away from these type of studs.

This fashion statement is really not worth the risk to your health.

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