Bacterial infections in patients with nipple piercings: a qualitative systematic review of case reports and case series

Abstract

The main objective of this review is to identify the most frequently isolated bacteria in patients with infections related to nipple piercings in case reports and case series. In addition, the aim is to describe clinical manifestations and antecedents. There is a protocol of this review. The terms “bacterial infections”, “nipple piercing” and their synonyms were considered. Pubmed/Medline, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science core collection and Ovid/Medline databases were searched until November 15, 2021 without date or language restrictions. Two authors extracted the articles and three other authors performed the selection, first by title and abstract, and second by full-text revision. Discrepancies were resolved with yet two other authors. Quality was assessed using the Joanna Briggs checklists. Finally, data extraction was realized. A total of 1,531 articles were extracted, of which 20 articles were included, and one article was added by hand-searching. The final number of articles included was 21, all of them with acceptable quality of evidence. Twenty-seven patients were considered (23 women and 4 men), aged between 15–60 years old. The most frequent bacterial genus in case reports and case series was Staphylococcus (n=10), and the most frequent species was M. fortuitum (n=6), although etiology seems to be diverse. The breast was the main affected organ, and the most frequent findings were fluid collection, pain, erythema, granulation tissue and swelling. The suspicion of infection by this bacterial species could be taken into account when it is associated with nipple piercings; however, larger studies are required to give a conclusion based on the evidence.