body piercing
Enable an agent to recognise a body piercing as an intentionally created opening in body tissue, record its configuration and reported condition, and identify decisions requiring consent or professional assessment.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
recalled by Codex without web access - no source was read
Researched by: Codex
Purpose and description
Enable an agent to recognise a body piercing as an intentionally created opening in body tissue, record its configuration and reported condition, and identify decisions requiring consent or professional assessment.
A body piercing is an intentionally created opening through body tissue, usually skin or mucosa, made to accommodate jewellery; the term also denotes the procedure that creates it.
It can be Distinguish and label individual piercings using anatomical placement and opening configuration.; Link an installed ornament and compare documented dimensions while flagging unknown compatibility.; Build a dated history of creation, stretching, jewellery changes and reported condition.; Compare observations over time and flag changes for professional assessment.; Record wearer intentions and prepare questions for a qualified practitioner without prescribing an intervention..
Distinguishing features
An intentional tissue opening distinguishes a piercing from a clip-on ornament that attaches without penetrating tissue.
An intended relationship to jewellery or an ornament anchor distinguishes the covered sense from an accidental puncture or a medical access opening.
The tissue opening and the installed ornament are distinct: changing jewellery does not by itself establish a new piercing.
An anatomical location alone is insufficient to identify an instance because several separate piercings can occupy the same body region.
The model describes the resulting physical modification, while the act of creating it belongs to an activity model.
Scope
+ Anatomical location, side, placement and tissue traversed
+ Opening or tract geometry and relationships between entry and exit points
+ Relationship to installed jewellery or an ornament anchor
+ Creation history, modification history and reported healing state
+ Observed condition, wearer intentions and assessment needs
- Step-by-step piercing procedures and practitioner technique
- Piercing needles, equipment and sterilisation systems as products
- Jewellery design, manufacture and retail independently of a piercing
- Diagnosis and treatment of infections, injuries or other conditions
- Tattoos, scarification and unintended puncture wounds
- The wearer's broader identity or cultural affiliation
Characteristics
- Anatomical placement
- Body region, anatomical landmark, side and local placement; unknown permitted Identifies the piercing without relying solely on informal style names.
- Tissue traversed
- Reported or professionally assessed tissue description; unknown permitted Distinguishes placements that look similar externally but involve different tissue.
- Opening configuration
- Paired openings with a connecting tract, single visible opening with an anchor, other, uncertain Separates configurations whose ornament relationships and assessment needs differ.
- Recorded tract diameter
- Millimetres, with date, method and evidence source; any gauge notation retains its stated convention Supports dimension comparisons without treating jewellery size as a verified tissue measurement.
- Installed ornament
- Linked jewellery or anchor record; absent or unknown permitted Connects the tissue modification to the specific object currently occupying it.
- Reported healing status
- Healing, reported healed, uncertain, or under professional assessment; dated and attributed Prevents elapsed time or appearance alone from being treated as proof of healing.
- Observed local condition
- Dated observations of discomfort, swelling, discharge, bleeding, skin integrity or placement change; not assessed permitted Preserves evidence for review without converting observations into a diagnosis.
- Wearer intention
- Retain, change ornament, modify, retire, undecided, or not recorded Keeps proposed actions aligned with the wearer's expressed wishes.
Also called
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 5 bundles · 9 layers · 15 findings · 23 questions.
Anatomical identity Identifies the physical piercing and resolves ambiguity between site, style and individual instance.
Piercing names can describe styles or body regions rather than uniquely identifying the tissue opening.
Site and tissue
Records anatomical placement and the evidence for tissue involvement.
Placement identification
The model must distinguish a local piercing name from documented anatomical placement.
- Which anatomical landmark, side and local position identify this piercing? definition
- Who identified the tissue traversed, and was that identification observed, assessed or inferred? provenance
Opening and instance boundaries
Separates individual tissue modifications from shared jewellery and neighbouring modifications.
Tract instance
The model must identify which openings belong to one piercing and which belong to distinct piercings.
- Which visible openings and documented tissue path constitute this piercing? definition
- Does one ornament connect multiple distinct piercings, or occupy a single piercing configuration? boundary
Ornament and tissue interface Describes the relationship between a tissue opening and its installed jewellery or anchor.
Recognising the piercing's state requires distinguishing the body's opening from the object occupying it.
Installed configuration
Links the ornament and records how it occupies or connects to the piercing.
Ornament relationship
The model must capture whether an ornament passes through a tract, uses an anchor or is absent.
- What jewellery or anchor is present, and how does it relate to the tissue opening? definition
- Which ornament components contact tissue, and where are their material specifications documented? provenance
Dimensions and fit evidence
Separates measured dimensions, nominal product sizes and attributed fit assessments.
Dimension comparability
The model must preserve the origin of size records and avoid inferring fit from nominal diameter alone.
- Which tract and jewellery dimensions are documented in millimetres, and how was each obtained? measurement
- Who assessed the current fit, and what observations or unresolved measurements support that assessment? provenance
Piercing history and condition Tracks physical changes and attributed observations across the piercing's existence.
Creation, stretching, jewellery changes and closure can alter how the same piercing should be understood.
Creation and modification history
Records dated events affecting the opening and preserves uncertainty about continuity.
Physical history
The model must distinguish initial creation from subsequent modification or recreation.
- What evidence records when this piercing was created and subsequently stretched, altered or re-pierced? provenance
- If the site closed and was pierced again, should the records describe a new instance linked to the earlier one? boundary
Healing and local observations
Separates reported healing status from dated observations and professional conclusions.
Condition evidence
The model must retain who reported a condition and when, without treating a symptom label as a diagnosis.
- Who described the piercing as healing or healed, on what date and with what basis? provenance
- What changes in discomfort, surrounding tissue, discharge or ornament position have been recorded over time? measurement
Wearer intent and action boundaries Connects proposed changes to wearer wishes, contextual constraints and appropriate assessment.
Actions affecting a piercing affect a person's body and cannot be selected from object condition alone.
Intent and authorisation
Records the wearer's requested outcome and the scope of any authorised action.
Requested piercing change
The model must separate a preference about appearance or retention from permission for a physical intervention.
- Does the wearer want to retain, alter or retire this piercing, and what outcome have they requested? action
- What specific action has the wearer authorised, and what remains undecided? boundary
Context and professional review
Records situations requiring placement-specific advice or assessment before a change is selected.
Review before intervention
The model must identify unanswered questions relevant to an intended jewellery change, modification or removal.
- What upcoming activity, procedure or equipment requirement creates a question about this piercing or its jewellery? action
- Which unresolved condition, fit or removal questions require assessment by a qualified piercing practitioner or healthcare professional? action
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Check these first
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- No sense was supplied: this description primarily covers the resulting tissue opening, while acknowledging the procedural sense; the PHY.OBJ classification should be checked.
- The listed kinds are common anatomical groupings, not an exhaustive or mutually exclusive classification.
- Standards and regulatory scope are recalled rather than verified; applicable editions and local requirements need checking.
- Which of these check these first hold for the sense of body piercing this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Kinds and varieties
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Earlobe piercing
- Ear cartilage piercing
- Nasal piercing
- Oral or perioral piercing
- Navel piercing
- Genital piercing
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of body piercing this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Standards and regulation
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- ASTM International ASTM F136 specifies wrought titanium alloy for surgical implant applications and is used as a material specification for some piercing jewellery; it does not certify the finished jewellery or procedure.
- The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Bloodborne Pathogens Standard applies to covered workplaces with occupational exposure to blood.
- Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of body piercing this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Personal adornment
- Expression of identity or affiliation
- Cultural or religious traditions
- Ritual practices
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of body piercing this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Local infection and potential transmission of bloodborne pathogens through contaminated equipment
- Bleeding, tissue trauma and tearing
- Allergic contact reactions to jewellery materials, particularly nickel
- Migration, rejection or embedding of jewellery
- Scarring, including hypertrophic scars and keloids
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of body piercing this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Age restrictions, consent requirements and practitioner licensing differ between jurisdictions.
- The cultural significance and social acceptance of particular piercing sites vary between communities.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of body piercing this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Body jewellery - Jewellery is the object worn in or attached to the body; a piercing is the tissue opening or the procedure creating it.
- Body modification - Body modification is the broader category of intentional bodily alterations; piercing specifically creates an opening for jewellery.
- Tattoo - A tattoo introduces pigment into tissue rather than creating an opening intended to hold jewellery.
- Dermal anchor - A dermal anchor uses a base beneath the skin with a single exposed attachment point, whereas conventional piercing jewellery passes through a tissue channel with entry and exit openings.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of body piercing this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
What the second pass must settle
- Does the registry intend this entry to cover the physical modification, the practice of piercing, or both, given its PHY / PHY.OBJ assignment and missing definition?
- Should single-point dermal anchors and related modifications fall within this entry, and what authoritative terminology defines their boundary?
- Which anatomical naming system can reconcile common piercing names with precise placement without implying tissue involvement from a style name alone?
- Which evidence-based, site-specific criteria should support healing-status records and escalation for professional assessment?
- What identity rule should govern a piercing that closes, is stretched substantially or is re-created at the same site?