The Rocket

Issue date: 9/21/07 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Nate Daymut Freshman Aaron Leddon said his lip piercing didn't hurt when he got it done. [Click to enlarge]

"You don't need any more holes in your head!"

Chances are that a lot of the people with a body piercing could say that they have heard this advice before.

But despite this guidance, they go ahead and get something pierced anyway.

In fact, according to a study involving 766 body-pierced college students given by Rutgers University Health Center and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, 69 percent of these students with a piercing got it between the ages of 18 and 22.

This means the majority of students in the survey got their piercing sometime during their years in college, a time when many students acquire a certain sense of freedom and try things that may help express their personality.

For Aaron Leddon, a business major, this meant getting his lip pierced.

"I've wanted to do it for about two years now," said Leddon, 19. "I had some extra money and just decided to do it."

Leddon said that he likes how it looks and it goes along with his personality. He also said he doesn't mind what older people may think of his lip ring.

"If they are going to judge me on only that, then I don't really care," Leddon said.

Others, like Ashley Rice, 19, a sophomore exploratory major, let the disapproval of a family member lead to the removal of her piercing, which was a lip stud.

"I saw a girl that had it on Facebook and I thought it was really cute, so I literally went and got it done an hour later," Rice said. "But my older brother didn't like it and made me take it out."

Rice said the thing she liked most about it was the fact that not everyone has a lip stud and how it made her just a little bit more unique.

For SRU students who want a piercing, one local piercing shop is Micky's Tattoo Studio, located on Route 422 in Butler.

Quinn Long, an employee at Micky's, does most of the piercing and said an average day consists of piercing anywhere from five to 10 people.

Continued...

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