Body Piercing Glossary

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Karat

• A measure of the proportion of gold in an alloy.
• Expressed as the number of parts of gold in 24 parts of the alloy.
• Also called "carat".
• Jewelry will often be stamped with the number of karats of gold e.g. the stamped label "18k" denotes the jewelry is made from 18 karat gold.
   
  • 9 karat gold has 9 parts gold to 15 parts other metals
  • 14 karat gold has 14 parts gold to 10 parts other metals
  • 18 karat gold has 18 parts gold to 6 parts other metals
  • 22 karat gold has 22 parts gold to 2 parts other metals

Keloid

• Keloid is excessive scar tissue occurring around piercing holes.
• Hard and smooth with a poor blood supply and does not bleed easily.
• More common in persons with darker skin.
• Attempting to surgically remove keloid can sometimes make the problem even worse.
• Only a physician should treat keloid.
• Often confused with granulation tissue which in contrast bleeds easily.