SURFACE ANCHORS BMXNET - Association of Professional Piercers

From The Editor
Elayne Angel
Medical Liaison
Yucatan, Mexico
This issue of The Point marks a noteworthy milestone for the Association of Professional
Piercers: it is our fiftieth! Having been the editor during both of my prior board terms, I have
enjoyed a long affiliation with the publication. This perspective makes me truly impressed
with how far The Point has come in recent times, thanks to the vision and hard work of my
co-editor, current APP President, James Weber. He’s taken our newsletter and turned it into
a full-fledged journal.
This seems like an apt time to address everyone who has been involved in any aspect of
the production of this publication since its inception. Thank you one and all for your time,
energy, and dedication. To date, we have a legacy of 50 printed periodicals that chronicle the
development of our industry, which is an accomplishment we can feel proud of.
Even though piercing has been in the public consciousness for many of those years and has
fallen from the realm of the sensational, that hasn’t stopped the media from trying to shock
the public with it. A recent episode of the TV show “The Doctors” contained a segment about
surface anchors in which they were described as permanent piercings put in by individuals
who knew nothing about human anatomy. They falsely claimed that the only way the jewelry
could be removed was by a doctor with a scalpel.
What’s even more disturbing is
that I was asked to appear on the
show as a piercing expert (they
contacted me through the Web
site for my book, The Piercing
Bible). But it didn’t happen, in
part, because they didn’t want
me to have any visible tattoos or
piercings. I guess they didn’t really
want an authority, since they
weren’t genuinely interested in
providing facts.
The APP penned a response that was submitted to the show’s Web site, where the offending
clip appears (http://thedoctorstv.com/main/procedure_list/1199), and sent to the uninformed
doctor, but that won’t undo the damage that their propaganda has already done. For those
who are interested in facts on this hot topic, we have an article in this issue about surface
anchors by APP Vice President Didier Suarez, who is renowned as a pioneer in this particular
type of piercing. Additionally, there’s an update about the regulations on surface anchors.
In keeping with the mission of the organization to disseminate factual information, the
APP has added two brand new brochures to our educational offerings. One is “Body Jewelry
for Initial Piercings” and the companion is “Body Jewelry for Healed Piercings.” These are
certain to prove useful in many piercing studios. Our “Picking Your Piercer” pamphlet has
recently been updated and redesigned to match our new look. On page 17, you’ll find an ad
for all of the available APP brochures. You don’t need to be a member to distribute them.
Another group working to educate about safe body art has recently been formed. Learn
about the “Be Smart with Body Art” campaign on page 28. There has been lots of education
going on around the globe lately. In this issue there are reviews of the 4th Annual Mexico
City APP Seminars (page 20) and the BMXnet conference that was held in Essen, Germany
(pages 15 and 18).
But that’s not all; you’ll find a number of other articles on a diversity of piercing-related
subjects inside, so turn the page and start reading! P
THE POINT
The Quarterly Journal of the Association of Professional Piercers
APP BOARD MEMBERS
President: James Weber
Vice President: Didier Suarez
Secretary: Bethra Szumski
Outreach Coordinator: Eric “Sque3z” Anderson
International Outreach Coordinator: Danny Yerna
Medical Liaison: Elayne Angel
Membership Liaison: Eduardo Chavarria
Treasurer: Paul King
APP Administrator: Caitlin McDiarmid
The Association of Professional Piercers
is a California-based, international non-profit organization
dedicated to the dissemination of vital health and safety information
about body piercing to piercers, health care professionals,
legislators, and the general public.
Material submitted for publication is subject to editing.
Submissions must be in a digital format, and should be sent
via email to medical@safepiercing.org.
The Point is not responsible for claims made by our advertisers.
However, we reserve the right to reject advertising
that is unsuitable for our publication.
Editors: James Weber and Elayne Angel
Assisting Editors: Kimberly Zapata and Jennifer Heimburg
Art Direction: Jon Loudon
Advertising: info@safepiercing.org
Front & Back Covers: Photos by Photo by Nilz Böhme
(nilzboehme.de). Front Cover: Marc from Copenhagen Body
Extremes (bodyextremes.dk) at the 2009 BMXnet conference,
in Berlin Back Cover: Shibari workshop at BMXnet, taught by
CoCo Katsura (myspace.com/cocotokyogoddess)
Unless stated otherwise, content of this
issue of The Point is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works License. To
view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Association of Professional Piercers
1-888-888-1APP • www.safepiercing.org • info@safepiercing.org
Donations to The Point are always appreciated.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
IN THE OFFICE
president’s corner
surface anchors
surface anchor regulations update
bmxnet conference
BMXNet Conference 2009
app educational seminars
in mexico city
2257 regulations
making piercing a lifetime career
be smart with body art campaign
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12
15
18
20
24
26
28