We Have Answers To Your Body Piercing Questions

Get Answers To The Most Frequently Asked Body Piercing Questions

Below are the most common body piercing questions:

Where can I get jewelry?

Of course you can buy it at any piercing studio, but if you're seriously considering the subject of this FAQ, that might not happen! Online vendors are your easiest options, but stick to reputable vendors selling high quality jewelry. Unfortunately the easiest way to recognize high quality jewelry is by it's matched high price. If this jewelry is going to be in you for any extended period of time though, the money is well spent.

Where can I get cheap jewelry?

Cheap jewelry is easy to find online. It's not uncommon to see rings and barbells selling for only a few dollars. However, there's a reason this jewelry is so cheap. To generalize, it's been mass-manufactured (ie. made by machine) to a far lower standard than high-quality hand-made jewelry. This is especially apparent on barbells or other threaded jewelry; threads are usually short, rough, and external. In addition, the jewelry is often made of slightly lower quality materials, increasing your chances of an allergic reaction.
All that said, most people can wear low-end jewelry with only the most minor complications. 


Can I make my own piercing jewelry?

Yes, but it will take an investment in tools and supplies. To be perfectly honest, it would be cheaper to just buy. Don't consider making your own jewelry unless you're doing it because you enjoy it.
To make body piercing jewelry you will need first of all access to high quality materials -- even very slight deviations in the grade of stainless steel for example can have a monstrous effect on reactions. You'll need to be able to shape your jewelry, and properly finish it (that probably means a buffer and an ultrasonic). If you're making threaded jewelry, you'll probably need a lathe as well as experience working with miniature taps and dies.

Nothing in body jewelry is outside of the range of someone with basic machining knowledge, and the pieces are so simple that the techniques for making them will be obvious to anyone capable of it. However, if you don't have these skills, not only will you be throwing your money and time away, but you'll likely produce substandard jewelry that will complicate the healing of your piercing.

Finally, I should add that the market for piercing jewelry is already flooded, and attempting to start a new jewelry company at this point would be financial suicide.


Can I use a safety pin as jewelry? That seems really easy?

Sure, using your piercing implement as the jewelry seems like a great idea because it eliminates the follow through, and insertion is very easy. However, the simple fact is that safety pins are not made of an appropriate material. They are not usually stainless steel, and I think it's safe to say they are never made of an implant-grade stainless steel or titanium. As such, your body will probably react, perhaps simply by the surrounding tissue inflaming or even the surrounding tissue bonding to the pin as it begins to rust and break down from the body's chemicals.
Our bodies are very good at attacking foreign substances. Overall, our bodies don't like being pierced and will do what they can to stop you. As such, it's important to use high-grade biocompatible materials that you body isn't going to try and reject like a splinter.


Can I use my old ear-piercing earrings?

Generally no; ear piercing jewelry (ie. the gold hoops and studs that the mall ear-piercing industry uses) are not designed to work in body piercings. They are usually the wrong size both in length and gauge, are often flimsy, and are often made of lower grade materials. It's strongly urged that you make the small investment of decent quality jewelry.

When is it OK to use someone else's old used jewelry?

Used jewelry should never be put in someone else's piercings unless it is "made new" again. That means that it should be fully cleaned, polished, and sterilized again -- essentially going through its last step of manufacturing a second time. If you leave out this step, it is very easy to pass disease from person to person.
Other than that, the only real concern with using someone else's jewelry is that you don't neccessarily know where they got it or what the quality is. (And of course the "gross out" factor of wearing old jewelry... would you wear a used condom if it had been cleaned out first?)


How important is sterilization, really?

Well, how important is not having an infectious terminal disease like AIDs or Hepatitis C? What's more important to you, being alive, or being dead? Death is the realistic worst case scenario.


Can I sterilize by boiling my tools?

Boiling tools is an accepted time tested technique among field medics, but it's far from acceptable as anything other than a "no other options" type solution. You will get partial sterilization if you boil for an hour, but there are many, many microbes that you will not kill. This might be an acceptable way to clean tools and jewelry that have been used on either no one or only on you, but this is definitely not an acceptable way to clean tools that have come in contact with anyone else.
You can take this a notch up by using a pressure cooker (since one could argue that a steam autoclave is essentially just a fancy pressure cooker). However, realize that because a pressure cooker doesn't have the gauges and monitoring ability that an autoclave does, you'll never really know how effective your sterilization cycle was.


What about rubbing alcohol?

Rubbing alcohol will disinfect and to some extent sterilize. However, most of the microbes we worry about (things like Hepatitis) aren't going to be killed using rubbing alcohol. Rubbing alcohol might be a marginally acceptable way to clean your own supplies, but if these supplies have been handled by or used on anyone else, alcohol isn't going to cut it. That means that if you use a pair of clamps to pierce a friend, that alcohol isn't going to get rid of their cooties.

What about bleach?

Bleach is far a more powerful anti-microbial agent than alcohol. Drug treatment clinics regularly advise addicts to immerse their syringes in a thinned down bleach solution. However, they are starting to move away from this because the bleach kits often don't kill Hepatitis, and sometimes don't even kill the relatively fragile AIDS virus.


If it's new jewelry, do I have to sterilize it?

In theory new jewelry is not contaminated and could be put in after disinfection. Realistically, rubbing alcohol should be enough (remember though, if you put alcohol on acrylic you will break it)... but...
While the above is true in a perfect world, there's nothing saying that the jewelry isn't seriously contaminated. For example, how do you know that the machinist who made the jewelry doesn't have Hepatitis C? How do you know that they didn't cut their hand the day they were making your jewelry? How do you know that some of that blood didn't get on your jewelry? The odds may be slim, but do you really want to take the chance?


Do I have to sterilize my tools if I'm only working on me?

The odds of new tools being contaminated is probably less than the odds of new jewelry being contaminated, but you should always take into account that even though the odds are slim, it's definitely possible. Low level should be adequate if the tool has never been used on anyone (including you).
Certain bacteria can encase themselves in a protein coat, forming a spore. This bacteria is then extremely difficult to kill and may resist autoclaving. As such, after the tools are used, if you plan on re-using them on yourself (or anyone else) clean them thoroughly.

If the tools are being used on anyone other than you, they absolutely must be autoclaved or be subjected to a high-level chemical sterilization process. Always remember that while you do have the right to do stupid stuff to yourself and put your own life at risk, you don't have that right if it's someone else's life. If you work on a friend and something goes wrong, you can be held criminally liable, even if they agreed to the piercing.


What is cross contamination?

If your hands are clean, and you touch something dirty, then your hands are dirty. Think of it as cooties. Cooties will spread to anything they touch. As such, if you touch something that has cooties, you'd better wash your hands (or change gloves if you're using gloves) before touching anything clean.

How can I sterilize my workspace (and why do I have to)?

A 5% to 10% solution (one tablespoon of bleach to one cup of water) can also be to disinfect potentially contaminated hard surfaces and clean off blood. A 1% solution (one tablespoon of bleach to one quart of water) can be used for general cleaning. As with most chemical cleaning agents, discard it after 24 hours as that's its effective lifetime.
It is important to take this step because in an uncontrolled environment things will sink to the lowest common denominator. To generalize, your procedure will quickly become as dirty and contaminated as the most dirty thing you come in contact with during the procedure, even second-hand. For example, if you put your clamps down on a dirty counter, they are then totally dirty as well and will contaminate anything they come in contact with.


How do I know where is safe to pierce?

If it's a piercing that has a cultural history, you can be pretty sure it's safe even when you barely understand the relevant anatomy. That is, if this piercing has been done for thousands of years, it's probably inside the range of what can be attempted by an amateur. This includes the basic ear piercings, nose piercings, lip piercings, and many of the basic genital piercings.
(more coming soon)


Can I get in legal trouble for piercing myself?

Realistically, no. However, if you present a profile that makes doctors (or your parents) believe that you are a danger either to yourself or to others, you might find yourself committed against your will. If you are also a cutter (ie. if you scar yourself), you should keep this risk in mind.

Can I get in legal trouble for piercing someone else?

If your area has laws about piercing (age requirements, autoclave requirements, etc.) you will be required to meet these laws. If you don't, you can and will be charged. In addition, if something goes wrong during the procedure, you could be criminally charged with anything from simple assault on up to murder.


How is piercing my friends different than piercing myself?

You are putting them at risk instead of you. Once you have multiple people involved, contamination risks rise dramatically. If you pierce your friends at home you are putting them at undue risk. My official answer is, and probably always will be "DON'T DO IT".


How can I safely pierce my friends?

You can't. Setting up a studio at home where you can safely pierce your friends is a venture that requires at least a thousand dollar investment, if not far more. There is no way for you to reasonably do this. If you want to pierce your friends, become a piercer.