Trends, prevalence and complications of ear and nose piercing practices among undergraduate students of afe babalola university

Background: The practice of ear and nose piercing is an age long cultural practice mainly for cosmetic and religious reasons and female gender are mostly involved. Culturally, parents especially mothers do it for their children until about few decades ago when the trend seems to be changing from what was a mere cultural practice among the primitives now becoming a vogue among young people and unusually males and celebrities getting more involved as well. The attendant complications associated with this practice may be very devastating if dire caution is not put into place hence the reason for this study seeking to assess the trends, prevalence, and complications of ear and nose piercing among undergraduate students of AfeBabalola University, a University in the South-West Nigeria. Methodology: The study employed a descriptive cross sectional design, using multistage sampling technique. A self-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 391undergraduate students of AfeBabaloa University based on the required sample size. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with significance set at P<0.05. Result: Results revealed majority of the respondents were between 20-25 years. The prevalence of Ear and Nose piercing was 58%. Majority of respondents pierced their earlobe, with 91.3% having 3 or more piercings. Respondents reported complications such as bleeding (57.2%), infections (66.4%) and severe pain (66.4%) on the pierced site. Only few had piercing done by a professional, as most of the respondents did the piercing themselves in unsterile environment. The prevalence of Ear and Nose piercing is high among undergraduate students of Abuad. Conclusion: The prevalence of ear and nose piercing among undergraduates is very high and by inference among young people with imminent risks. There is therefore urgent need to embark on aggressive health education campaign in schools from nursery to university level and the general populace to grave complications of this new trend in this practice. All the stake holders most especially the ndividual, parents, professional body piercers and the government to work together to ensure safety standard in the shops where these practices are done. The government through the health sector must all be readily available to handle complications of this practice whenever they arise.