Body piercing a rage in Chennai

C Suresh, owner of a chic body piercing boutique at a popular hangout here, vouches for its popularity, says his parlour bustles with a good number of clients on most days.
"The process is cheap and not so painful. We use a gun like device.It is sterilised and protects people from infection," he says.

"About 40 customers come to my shop every day," he says, adding he has about 100 varieties of ear, nose and naval rings.

"A few years ago, there used to be apprehensions about even getting a nose pierced. Now girls are in a hurry to adorn their navels with fashionable studs."

While navel piercing has been in vogue for some time now, tongue piercing is yet to catch on. RamaKumar, a student of the famous Loyola College says students usually prefer ear and eyebrow piercing. "Some even prefer multiple piercing of their ears."

There are about 50 body piercing parlours in the city, to cater to these youngsters.
Dermatologist Dr Anand says a variety of claims have been made about unsafe injections causing adverse effects, including allergic reactions to the needles.

However, most parlour owners claim they use only disposable and safe imported gunshot needles, which totally dispels fears of diseases like AIDS and Hepatitis spreading through body art.

With women, ear, nose and navel piercings sells the best. "Women are more hung up about eyebrow piercing. But what is quite interesting is that some men think luck will favour them if they get their ears pierced" says R Gayathiri, an IT professional.

Most parents are still not comfortable with this unconventional trend. Lakshmi Iyer, a mother of two, says "I am strictly against piercing done only for the purpose of flaunting it. It makes one look bizarre."