Is it ok to wear second hand pierced earrings?

Ken-Dodds-Hairy-Knodule

juno wrote:

You do need to autoclave them. A pressure cooker is not as good as an autoclave!

A pressure cooker is just as good as an autoclave. They reach 120degrees and stay there.

I have plenty of piercings and I'm an amateur mycologist so sterility is incredibly important for me. Pressure cooking an item of body jewellery for 30mins is perfectly fine.

A pressure cooker IS an autouclave, albeit a lot smaller. Most brands of pressure cooker are only supplied with weights upto 120degrees/15psi, which is high enough to sterilise - it will just take a little longer than an autoclave at 130degrees/30psi.


To the person saying boiling water is enough - don't be ridiculous. 100degrees is nowhere near hot enough to insure sterility. Unscrupulous bodyjewellery suppliers have been shut down for using boiling water and surgical spirts as sterilisation practice.

There is a huge difference between sanitisation and sterilisation. Boiling water and chemicals merely sanitise. See http://www.chaseunion.com/documents/safety/sterile1.htm


As I said earlier - lots of people do use earings that have been used by others they don't know and they are fine. I personally wouldn't until I had sterilised them (especially because of the high instace of candida overgrowth of the skin in the uk due to everyone taking antibiotics ;> ).

rygon

Most germs are killed at 120degC. so a temp of that is needed. With using hot water you arent going to kill all bugs, and more importantly may cause them to increase

Hereward

rygon wrote:

Most germs are killed at 120degC. so a temp of that is needed. With using hot water you arent going to kill all bugs, and more importantly may cause them to increase

Sorry to go off on a tangent, but most hospitals, and bottle sterilisers, just use steam to sterilise items. Are you suggesting that bottles used for baby food, and hospital equipment should be avoided because they are not sterile?

Ken-Dodds-Hairy-Knodule

Hereward wrote:

Sorry to go off on a tangent, but most hospitals, and bottle sterilisers, just use steam to sterilise items. Are you suggesting that bottles used for baby food, and hospital equipment should be avoided because they are not sterile?

A steam steriliser as is used to 'sterilise' baby bottles does NOT sterilise.

100deg isn't sufficient to sterilise. Water under pressure reaches 120 / 130deg - that level of steam DOES sterilise.

No hospital will use steam to sterilise equiptment - it uses autoclaves. (I don't know what they use to sterilise baby bottles in hospital).

Hereward

Ken-Dodds-Hairy-Knodule wrote:

A steam steriliser as is used to 'sterilise' baby bottles does NOT sterilise.

100deg isn't sufficient to sterilise. Water under pressure reaches 120 / 130deg - that level of steam DOES sterilise.

No hospital will use steam to sterilise equiptment - it uses autoclaves. (I don't know what they use to sterilise baby bottles in hospital).

I assume then Advet are lying then:

Good hygiene is most important in the care of newborn babies. Poor cleaning of breast and bottle feeding equipment can lead to tummy upsets and diarrhoea. To help you protect your baby AVENT recommends steam sterilisation, electric or microwave - based on the hospital method - the safest, fastest, easiest way to guarantee the destruction of all household germs.

AVENT Electric Sterilisers use the intensive heat of steam to kill all household germs in express time

http://www.avent.com/uk/en/sterilisers.php

Sorry to sound confrontational, but I am genuinly interested.

Ken-Dodds-Hairy-Knodule

Hereward wrote:

Sorry to sound confrontational, but I am genuinly interested.

I've absolutely no idea what advent are doing. Goto your local uni/college (or even school if you have children) and ask the science tutors about sterilisation. You could probably find the answers on the internet but there is so much junk on it I'd prefer to ask someone preofessional.

A bottle steriliser reduces organisms to safe levels (sanitises) (some would argue not safe enough for a baby - but that is upto someone else to argue :> ).

Baby milk powder isn't sterile anyway - bacteria in it can lead to meningitis and babies have died from bacteria in the powder. see HERE.

Only liquid infant formula is recommended for babies under one month old, premature or sick babies of any age in many countries. (well, obviously breast feeding is recommended over anything else - but if you can't breastfeed for some reason (mother not producing milk/mother died/mother more bothered about the shape of her breasts than baby) then liquid formula should be used over powdered formula.

hollydays

off topic but latest advice on bottle feeding,formula can be found on the dept of health site.Explaination about bacteria in milk also.

super41

I should get some new hooks/posts for the earrings then you won't be worried about giving them to your cousin. I've seen them available on Ebay.

cafcfan

Buy new posts- probably much easier and less time consuming then any of the above cleaning methods. Most craft stores will sell them- if no local craft shop alternatively buy a cheap pair of new earrings and cannabalise the posts-

Chemgirl

It was probably me asking for new posts on freecycle, but I got no replies!! I've seen them for sale and they are cheap but I only want 1 pair and once you've paid for p+p it's not so cheap, I'll have to find some where local (I don't drive so hobbycraft is out, and I'd rather go to a local shop) , there's a jewellery shop down the road, I think they make their own jewellery so I'll see if they'll sell me a pair and hopefully I'll be able to attach them!!
I don't own a pressure cooker, I'm not sure the earrings will withstand the pressure, but I'll know for future reference.
I'm impressed that I've managed to stir up such a debate;)