My good friend just had surgery, not wls...but he has six rings in his toung and they made him take out every one, except the one in the webbing under his toung. The only hole that closed was his nipple ring. He is a piercer soooo he redid it, no big woop. I only have my earrings and nose ring. I had a belly ring done a few weeks ago, but desided to take it out because I knew they would want it out for the surgery. I will get it redone...OH YEA I WILL GET IT REDONE! Okay guys..have a great night and I will talk to you soon! Hope

I have a tonuge piercing and I am not concerned about that closing during surgery but I have my nipples pierced also and they close very quickly even after almost 3 years. I dont know why....does anyone know if you can have acrylic barbells in during surgery?? as long as there is no metal? I will ask my surgeon when I see him tomorrow for my upper gi but just thought i'd ask here! Thanks hugssssss Krista

ok here it goes.. Retainers! There u go that's ur answer! I had my labret retainer in the day of surgery - Surgeon said he didn't care it was up to the anesthesiologist. He the anesthesiologist said "he didn't care as there was no way I could swallow the piece". Or he could have me tape it b4 I went out.. ( have a nip piering too but I had it for about 6 yrs and it wont go up unless its 3 weeks or more ) This is what I did to ensure that. The normal piece that u put on the inside.. I put that on the out side and put the O ring inside real tight.. so if I did swallow anything I would just swallow the O ring. Woke up in recovery with all my piercing.. all ok.. and the surgeon's assistant made it a joke when she saw me in my hospital room. By asking if everyone was ok.... Pointing to my lip... retainers can get gotten on Ebay or at the mall - Hottopic/Clair's/Spencers ECT -

I agree EBAY is the way... There is a seller on there named MedicDan. I have purchased from him many times for retainers for labrets and other items. It's a great way to view different types that normally wouldn't be in ur area, and purchase in bulk too.

If you've had your tongue ring in for 4 years, don't worry about it. I've left mine out for a month before it closed. The thing with tongue rings too is that it only closes with a very thin layer of skin on the ends, not in the middle so it really never closes too badly to the point of not being able to get it back in. So in that aspect it's a lot different than say, something else on your body.