I have worked with and closely followed 2 women with pierced nipples.  Both
did not remove the rings until preg. was confirmed -- about 3 months into
the preg. with the 2nd woman.  Both were primips.  Mom #2 had had her left
nipple pierced twice.  The first time there was a problem of some sort.  The
2nd time, the piercer (Bear, the ubiquitous body mechanic here in Austin)
told the woman that he would not repeat again due to risk of scar tissue
build up.  The 2nd piercing also didn't "take" and the ring kept getting
irritated and rejected.  So she removed.  About that time discovered she was
preg.  Wonder if the hormones and breast changes of early preg. interfered
with the piercing?  Probably did.  Anyway, holes healed up fine, just like
they did in the first mom.  By the time baby was delivered, both had normal
looking nipples.  Mom # 2 was esp. worried about her situation due to the
probs and 2 piercings.  She has a family hx of late onset lactation.  I met
her mom (African American) and she told me her milk never came in until Day
6, and it was the same with HER mother.  My client's milk came in early Day
6, and while she had some probs. with engorgement, these were managed in the
normal way.  I performed test weights after feeding on the breast she was
concerned about to "prove" to her that milk was coming out of that nipple.
It looked as normal as could be to me.  I followed Mom #1 for 3 months
during which she experienced normal lactation and no unusual problems.  Mom
# 2 was fine at 3 wks pp.  I will make a contact with her again soon to see
how she is doing and share any new info I learn.

My experience suggests that this is not much of an issue if the piercing was
done by someone careful and clean.  Both these mothers, as soon as they
began to view their breasts as vehicles to protect their babies, suffered
regret and remorse for having done the piercing.  They needed reassurance
that things would prob. be ok, and I felt the extra help they got with early
management prevented them from doing what I often see women do:  blaming
problems on some freak "factor" instead of garden variety stuff such as poor
positioning, which is usually all that is really wrong.

Barbara

Barbara Wilson-Clay, BS, IBCLC
Private Practice, Austin, Texas
Owner, Lactnews On-Line Conference Page
http://moontower.com/bwc/lactnews.html