In fact, doctors can often inflict more damage on the patient as they fumble to remove studs in the ears, belly-buttons or the genitals.

The survey was published in the Journal of Accident and Emergency Medicine, and was carried out among 28 accident and emergency doctors at the Staffordshire General Hospital in the midlands.

If an unconscious or incapable patient arrives at casualty, very often the jewellery will have to be removed before x-rays or an MRI can be taken.

However, the latest craze for exotic body piercings has left many doctors bemused.

No easy opening

Only six of the 28 could accurately describe the opening mechanisms of the three most commonly-used pieces of jewellery.

These are the barbell stud, which has two beaded ends, and is usually placed on the tongue, a labret stud, comprising a straight bar with a beaded end and an end with a disc, and a captive bead, which is a bead attached to a ring, normally placed in the belly button.

Ignorance about how to remove these things - such as by simply unscrewing the bead, was such that four of the doctors surveyed suggested they might actually cut into the tissue surrounding the jewellery to remove it in an emergency.

The authors of the report also suggested that the trend for ever more extreme piercings bordered on the illegal.