Hi I love body modifications and am currently in high school but I plan to become a surgeon. I have two lower lip piercings (snake bites), stretched ears (12 mm) and a septum piercing I'm planning on also getting my belly button, tongue and both sides of my nose pierced. I know thats a lot but I'm wondering if this will interfere with surgery, will I have to remove them each time or remove them all together or what?
Piercings?
- Thread starter kirareese
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It will interfere with getting into med school.
I've seen probably close to 200 other applicants and none of them had gauged ears or facial piercings besides ears.
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How about worrying about those piercings at the med school interviews first lol
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The latter explains the former.
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👍
Most people, whether they become doctors or not, end up "growing out" of their love for body modifications. And even if you don't grow out of it, it's a simple question - which do you want more: to be a doctor or to have holes in your face?
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Most of the people who evaluate you for "fit" will find face piercings off-putting and distracting at best and frightening or self-mutilating at worst. Any body art that is not visible in a suit is fine.
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Obviously, piercing don't affect your ability to do anything. But humans are associative thinkers-- we place all of our observations into schema, because it helps us survive. Unfortunately, the nose ring / big ear gauge / snakebite face gets filed under "socially immature" or "not trustworthy" or "aggressive." Strive to have a face, body language, and way of speaking that get filed under "intelligent," "compassionate," "collaborative," "trustworthy," "reliable," etc. If you want to go to medical school, you will have to jump through the hoop of human association. Look and act the part!
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Moving thread to hSDN
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Here's a tip for the real world kid: Piercings, tattoos, and other body mods are an excellent way to ensure you never have a career. Contrary to what you and your friends may believe in high school, looks actually do matter and what people think of you actually is important. Now sure, you can always "be yourself" and find people who will "like you for being you", but the question you need to ask yourself is "can the people who like me for being me offer me what I want?"
If you want to become a surgeon, much less actually practice surgery, you're going to need to get rid of the piercings before you get ready to apply to med school.
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Truth. You can seek out close friends who "like you for being you," but if you ever want to positively interact with a diverse population of people and not be relegated to menial jobs, do NOT get any insane piercings (relative to what is socially acceptable) or tattoos.
Now, I think arm tattoos or body tattoos are fine, because they can be covered by clothes and they look cool. Same goes for some piercings, as long as they're not noticeable OR can be removed with ease in the professional setting. But face/neck/hand tattoos and earlobe extensions are stepping over the line for most employers.
You need to understand, OP, that your gouged earlobes and penis piercing hullabaloo may be cool now that you're in high school, but when you entire the real world and hope to compete with others for a relatively normal occupation, you will be perceived in a negative light. It's how our society works, fortunately or unfortunately. And this isn't coming from some 40 year old, been there done that kind of dude. This is coming from someone only a couple of years removed from high school.
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Get rid of them, and don't do any modifications that can't disappear permanently as you get close to your mid college years. May seem cool now, but nobody will think so down the road. Medicine is a very conservative field. Surgery even more so. You have to get through a lot of interviews along the way -- med school, residency, fellowship, job -- where your looks will be your first and lasting impression. Patients will constantly be judging you, and many come from an era when only sailors, gypsies and criminals got body art. And surgeons have to market themselves to referring clinicians, and to patients with multiple choices of surgeons. Also a lot of your grade in the latter years of med school will be subjective, by older people from more conservative generations. You won't get judged on your abilities when all they can remember is your self expressions. It may not be right or fair, but it's life. nobody wants "the girl with the dragon tattoo" as their doctor.
Every time I see someone with permanent body modifications or facial or neck tattoos, I think -- now there's a person who just eliminated themselves from consideration of a ton of job options -- hope it was worth it to close all those doors. Limit your self expression body art and piercings to the areas that will be covered by scrubs and no one will be the wiser, but the rest comes with career consequences.
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Not to be offensive, but I'm sure that someone would find that adcoms, patients, and others would find it strange that their doctor has all these markings on their body.
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Agree with the others of this thread.
At interviews, it is unacceptable. You are applying for acceptance to a professional school, and while I can appreciate individuality, it's unprofessional. I think in high school and college, it's fine. But keep in mind that you'll be asking for LOR from your professors and how they view you matters.
At interviews, it is unacceptable. You are applying for acceptance to a professional school, and while I can appreciate individuality, it's unprofessional. I think in high school and college, it's fine. But keep in mind that you'll be asking for LOR from your professors and how they view you matters.
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That's way too much. Snake bites especially would never, ever, ever fly. Period. And this is coming from a body mod enthusiast.
I have gauged ears, but they are small enough that my jewelry just looks like large post earrings in a very modest earthy color. I have tattoos, but they are all kept covered. I have a septum piercing, but I keep a retainer in at work. I would never consider coming to work with my septum out or tunnels in my ears.
As much as those of us with body mods love to rail against how we shouldn't be discriminated against because of our choices, the fact of the matter is people WILL JUDGE YOU. Doesn't make it right. But it IS a fact.
If you plan to keep any of your mods, keep only those you can cover or hide.
I have gauged ears, but they are small enough that my jewelry just looks like large post earrings in a very modest earthy color. I have tattoos, but they are all kept covered. I have a septum piercing, but I keep a retainer in at work. I would never consider coming to work with my septum out or tunnels in my ears.
As much as those of us with body mods love to rail against how we shouldn't be discriminated against because of our choices, the fact of the matter is people WILL JUDGE YOU. Doesn't make it right. But it IS a fact.
If you plan to keep any of your mods, keep only those you can cover or hide.
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I second this. I have a nose piercing, a tongue piercing and gauged ears (small). I use clear retainers when I'm not in "casual" environments. I removed *all* of my piercings and put modest studs in my ears prior to my recent professional school interview. Now that I've been accepted, the tongue piercing has got to go - *so* not appropriate for professional school.
Nose piercings are sometimes viewed as acceptable in certain work environments, as long as you keep it modest with a stud.
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No interviewer will give you the time of day if you can't show up with a professional appearance.
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Well, I won't be as subjective as other commenters here. It all depends on where you live. For example, here in Europe (Croatia specifically), I know a couple of excellent med school students who have face piercings (one of them on my year has a lip piercing), and I myself want to get black snake bites and black septum. I plan on being a cardiothoracic surgeon, and am currently preparing for the med school entry exam (on the biology exam I made a stupid mistake because I thought the pancreas secreted ptyalin (seeing how both ptyalin and pancreas amylase are by chemical composition the same alpha-amylase), where actually ptyalin is only alpha-amylase in the mouth because ptyalon is greek for saliva or something. Also, another mistake was that I wrote CO2 was mainly transported by carbaminohemoglobine, because I thought the HCO3- anion can't pass through the erythrocyte membrane, where it is created, due to its charge, whereas it's actually transferred by chloride shift (I didn't know that at the time). But I'm getting off topic. I still had about 90/100 answers correct on that exam.)
As far as I can tell, the difference between here in Croatia and abroad is that here the process goes like this: there is a percentage which decides on whether you get into med school or not. 10% Croatian matura exam, 10% English matura exam, 4% Math matura exam, 22% 4-year high school GPA, 54% med school college entry exam. (matura exams are like SATs)
The difference is there is no "med school entry interview". You just need to show your knowledge and your looks don't matter if you love medicine. 😍
That is what most physicians today forget - you have to love what you do, don't do it for money or fame, do it because it makes you happy. It may sound idealistic, but I truly mean it. I have always found human body fascinating, and not being able to study medicine because of face piercings would be a type of a discrimination. For example, it is like here in Croatia, an old hospital chief said that as long as he is in charge, no woman will ever be a neurosurgeon. I find that disainful and sexist. And the same thing could be said about piercings. There are many successful tattooed and pierced physicians around the world, but if you feel like you would be judged by others and it makes you sad (I've always been judged by my peers for my good grades, so I learned not to care, now I have a girlfriend and am about to go to med school, and they'll work at McDonalds 😀), if you feel like you would not be accepted, then maybe lose stretched ears and wear transparent retainers while at school?
I guess I feel both lucky because I don't have this problem and bad for you, but it's kind of funny how the USA usually thinks Europe is traditional and old-school, while it's actually okay for us future young doctors here in Europe to wear piercings. 😀
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This thread died in February. Although there was absolutely no need to respond to this thread, your point is intriguing.
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Maybe she was just using the search function to express an opinion she had on the matter.
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This shouldn't matter, but it absolutely does. You are going to have a hard time getting into med school and an even harder getting into the traditionalist field of surgery with all that **** on your face. It just doesn't give a professional appearance, at the MOST one small nose piercing. Not to mention you'll probably find yourself inadvertently flying toward the MRI machine whenever you walk past radiology.
Survivor DO
Survivor DO
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http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071023114946AAb2L8Z (most materials piercings are made of, such as surgical steel or titanium, do not have ferromagnetic properties, thus they wouldn't interfere with an MRI. I'd be more worried due to tattoos, I remember mythbusters doing an episode about tattoos and MRI but I can't remember the outcome)
Also, to repond to another poster who said "society sees* them as cr@p", in that case, since earrings are also a body piercing, we should ban all doctors from wearing them, right? Great analogy.
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Also, to repond to another poster who said "society sees* them as cr@p", in that case, since earrings are also a body piercing, we should ban all doctors from wearing them, right? Great analogy.
Um, no. That is a ridiculously misguided claim you're making and whatever intelligence you were trying to boast in your earlier post is obviously failing you. Traditional ear piercings are entirely different from other facial piercings in that they have been commonly accepted in western society for decades. An overwhelmig number of females have them. You can't dispute that. Maybe someday we will feel the same way about other facial piercings, but until then, somebody somewhere is going to pass judgement on you--particularly in the health professions. If you want to keep arguing that no one will care about your body modifications, fine, but I can tell you that this is not true.
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I am not talking about ear piercing. Those are commonly accepted in societal structure. Now facial piercing such as lip, tongue, nose ect. are not as commonly accepted. I just don't think the risk outweighs the benefits of having them in/on. And as others said, it looks cool and stuff now, but as you mature and get wiser, you will realize that having all those body piercings was a fail. But that is of course my opinon, you are entitled to your opinions.http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071023114946AAb2L8Z (most materials piercings are made of, such as surgical steel or titanium, do not have ferromagnetic properties, thus they wouldn't interfere with an MRI. I'd be more worried due to tattoos, I remember mythbusters doing an episode about tattoos and MRI but I can't remember the outcome)
Also, to repond to another poster who said "society sees* them as cr@p", in that case, since earrings are also a body piercing, we should ban all doctors from wearing them, right? Great analogy.
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I'm not sure that's true.
IMHO most Americans see Europeans as relatively more liberal.
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What would you guys feel is overly doing it on the ears? Also, how do you feel about non traditional hair colors? I recently found an entertaining (and surprising) blog about a young woman with hot pink hair, who got accepted to med school, went through med school and became a doctor like that! I thought that was very unique. Her blog is titled, "Dr. Psychobabble."
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Don't count on being that woman. Medical school admissions is competitive as it is, I can't imagine why anyone would willingly put themselves at a disadvantage over something as inane as hair color or piercings.
As for ear piercings, many girls I met at interviews had multiple ear piercings, but you want to keep them simple and non-flashy. All the piercings I remember seeing were rim or lobe.
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Those are considered fairly inexpensive watches and I doubt anyone would call them flashy.
What you want to stay away from is ostentatious shows of well such as a $3000 Rolex or Piaget. You watch face should not be oversized or have a fancy band. Honestly a Timex with a cheap leather band which is simple and classic is fine.
I also agree with the above in regards to hair color and piercings. My ex had long hair largely because he and I preferred it on him. He caught a lot of flak for it during medical school and residency but he made sure to cut it short for residency and fellowship interviews because he respected the fact that waist length hair in medicine could be enough to color others opinion of him and would overshadow his achievements.
The same goes for dying your hair pink or having multiple tattoos or piercings. You're just putting yourself at a disadvantage. It's the game you have to play to get the results you want. I was told that I needed to "nerd it up" for my American Board of surgery oral examinations and I did just that.
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I personally would suggest leaving out all but the simple studs in the earlobes for interviews .
The above of course is assuming you are female. If you are male, no piercings whatsoever. At least not any that are visible.
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Agreed, for interviews very minimal or none at all.
-Nothing in excess is usually the best route to go.
-Nothing in excess is usually the best route to go.
