There are many popular body piercing places, some more common than others. Here's some more about piercing locations and tips on where to go to have your piercings professionally done.
Body Piercing Places
If you can name a body part, there's probably someone who's tried piercing it. The human body offers a number of great piercing places, so let's take a look at some of the most popular.
Ears
The ears are the most common of all piercing places on the body, worn by men and women, young and old. Even infants have their ears pierced without problems.
Ear piercing is most often done in the soft tissue of the lobe, but piercing can also be done in the tougher cartilage surrounding the outer ear. Cartilage piercings are a bit more painful and take slightly longer to heal than the standard eight weeks for a lobe piercing.
Nose
Nose piercings are also incredibly popular, although they are not always welcomed in the work place.
Typical piercing places on the nose include the outer side of the nostril and the septum that divides the nostrils. This piercing may take six to twelve weeks to complete healing.
Both invisible studs and septum retainers can be used to camouflage a nose piercing until you're ready to insert your real jewelry.
Eyebrows
Not as commonly seen and ear and nose piercings, the eyebrows can also be used for piercing places. Most often the piercing is placed through the outer edge of the eyebrow and secured with either a barbell or ring.
Lips
The lips offer a variety of piercing opportunities. You can pierce the actual lips or the tissue that directly surrounds them.
Barbells, labrets and lip rings are the types of jewelry most often used in lip piercings, but great care should be taken with their placement so the teeth are not damaged.
This type of piercing can be very delicate and takes at least six week to heal. During this period, you'll need to avoid smoking, kissing and other forms of oral affection in order to avoid infection.
Tongue
Tongue piercing is one of the most painful and risky of all piercings. The placement must be exact in order to avoid nerve damage, and post-piercing infections are nearly unavoidable.
After the initial piercing is completed, the tongue usually swells up for a few days, so the first jewelry used is larger than what you'll need once the swelling subsides.
As with lip piercings, you'll need to abstain from kissing and smoking, and keep up a rigorous oral hygiene routine to help healing along.
Tongue piercings are among the hardest to heal, sometimes taking six months to a year.
Nipples
Nipple piercing is a delicate procedure that must be carefully performed to avoid permanent injury.
Nipple rings are the most popular type of jewelry worn in these piercings, but great care must be taken to keep them from catching on clothing and ripping the tissue.
Navel
Navel piercings have risen in popularity over the last ten years and are best shown off when worn with swimsuits, low riders and crop tops.Usually it's the tissue around the rim of the navel that is pierced, and drop jewelry hangs in front of the navel itself.
Genitals
Less common than other styles are genital piercings. These piercing places are generally created to wear ball-type jewelry to increase sexual pleasure. Some barbells come equipped with a vibrating device that can be turned on and off with a simple twist.The risk of infection at a genital piercing site is high, so you must avoid sexual contact until the piercing is completely healed.
Piercing Shops
Once you decide on a piercing place, you need to know where you can go to have it done.
If you just want a basic ear piercing, you can easily have it done at your local mall. Claire's and Piercing Pagoda are two of the largest piercing/jewelry chains in North America and should be easy to locate.
For many other types of body piercings, you'll likely have to go to a specialty piercing studio. Many tattoo shops offer body piercing as a sideline and may be able to give you suggestions about where to go if they don't provide the service themselves.
Your family physician may also provide body piercing, so it doesn't hurt to check with him/her either.
Conclusion
No matter which piercing place you choose or where you go to have it done, be sure that whoever is performing the piercing is a trained professional who practices sterile procedures. After all, it may seem like just a piercing, but you're putting your health on the line every time you have one done. It's well worth a little investigation beforehand to make sure you'll be in good hands.
External Links
- Local.com helps you locate piercing studios in your area.
- SafePiercing.com is the home page for the Association of Piercing Professionals.
