Piercing Risks: What Are the Dangers of Piercings

In this article, I’m going to talk about what are the common risks when you’re getting a new piercing that may be there. Understanding the risk of piercing is essential for anyone considering getting pierced, as it helps you make informed decisions about your piercing health.

Piercings Infection Risks

There is always a piercing risk of infection if you do not properly take care of a piercing or you don’t have a strong immune system or both. The situation is this: it is an open wound during the whole healing process.

If you don’t take precautions to make sure that you are not contaminating that piercing on a regular basis, you can get an infection which may require medical treatment.

Worst case scenario is that you don’t get it treated and it gets into your bloodstream, turns systematic, and that could be a life-threatening situation.

The piercing infection risk can be minimized through proper aftercare, but it remains one of the most significant piercing health risks to be aware of.

Piercing Scarring Risk

There’s kind of a misconception that has always been about piercing where people think “I don’t like it. I can just take it out and everything just goes back to normal.”

The problem with that is anytime you’re doing a piercing, you are permanently changing your body. The more and the longer that piercing is in there, the more it heals, the more it’s likely to have visible scarring.

Some piercings are more prone to this than others. Like for example, lip piercings can generally look like they’re open decades after they’re pierced. Other ones not so much so. But you do need to take into account that there is a possibility of scarring.

There is also the piercing risk of additional scarring if there’s a problem with the piercing, including if the piercing rejects or migrates or you get a bump or hypertrophic scarring or something else goes on.

So, it’s always a piercing risk.

A lot of times, basically good aftercare will solve this problem. And getting piercings that you know are going to heal and piercings where your anatomy works with that piercing. That’s one of the reasons why it’s important to find somebody who’s experienced at what they’re doing to pierce you.

Risks of Allergic Reactions

We try to minimize this piercing risk by only stocking biocompatible materials, things like titanium, implant grade titanium. That’s been certified that it is in fact what it is. It’s an alloy.

But if you’re allergic to metals or materials, a lot of times, especially with that initial first piercing, you may not have a clue that you’re allergic to nickel until you actually get pierced.

And it will present itself in much the same way an infection will. So, it’s kind of hard to diagnose that that’s exactly what’s going on.

It’s important that you find somebody that handles quality jewelry and takes extra time to make sure they certify that the manufacturer is actually selling them jewelry that’s biocompatible. This helps prevent body piercing complications related to allergic reactions.

Rejection

Rejection is always a piercing risk. What rejection is is where your body says, “No, it’s easier for me to push this jewelry completely out instead of trying to grow this tunnel thing that you want.”

This is common in piercings that are more shallow and not inside the body or don’t have two sides. Or piercings like surface piercings which have an extremely high risk.

Dermals have a high risk of rejection over a period of 10 or 15 years, sometimes more like six or seven.

It is always a piercing risk that for one reason or another, if your anatomy is not correct or your body simply just doesn’t want to tolerate the piercing, that it will reject and push the jewelry out and you won’t have a piercing anymore.

Tearing and Ripping

If you’re not careful, jewelry can get caught on clothing, bedding, towels, something or other, and then rip out of the body. This piercing risk is preventable with proper care.

This will usually cause scarring and require that you remove the jewelry.

Contracting a Virus or Infection from a Foreign Pathogen

Worst case scenario would be hepatitis C or HIV or something that’s a deadly virus that can greatly affect your health in the long run.

We limit this as a piercer by practicing cross-contamination prevention. Also by using only sterile equipment. And properly sterilizing it between each usage. And all those things that go into making sure that we do the piercing as safely as possible.

It is always a slight piercing risk whenever you’re getting pierced or you’re puncturing the skin that you could contract one of these.

The piercing HIV risk is extremely low when proper sterilization procedures are followed. Your best advice I can give you is find somebody that’s experienced with a good reputation and understands the risk and takes precautions to make sure those things don’t happen.

Excessive Bleeding

This could be a case because you have a pre-existing health issue or you’re on a medication that doesn’t allow your blood to clot. Some piercings, if they’re done really close to blood vessels, can do this.

Venoms or tongue piercings done more off to the side can be more prone to this. These are closer to those big blood vessels you see on the underside of your tongue.

Understanding tongue piercing risks is particularly important due to the vascular nature of the tongue. But excessive bleeding can require medical treatment. It can require that you abandon the piercing.

It is a piercing risk you want to consider and some piercings are more at risk for this than others. Talk to your piercer about it.

Also, if you’re on blood thinners or you have a pre-existing medical condition like you’re anemic, you want to discuss it with your doctor before you get pierced. Maybe backing down a little bit on the dosage.

Or if it’s a situation where it’s just balancing things out, it may not be a problem. But talking to your medical professional is your best bet if you think you’re going to be at risk of that.

Lightheadedness or Passing Out

This is caused by anxiety. Usually everybody thinks it’s from the pain of the piercing somehow makes you do this. It is from just the anxiety, nervousness, and the fear of the unknown that we all have. It’s survival instinct.

Basically what happens is your body starts draining all the blood from your brain into your muscles. You start to feel kind of dizzy and lightheaded. And it can lead to you passing out.

If you are prone to this, always mention it to your piercer before you get done. They can take a little bit extra precautions. This ensures that you are in a safe position and you’re not going to fall and hurt yourself.

In most cases, this piercing risk is not really a life-threatening situation or anything that we’re really going to be angry about or frustrated or anything else. We’re used to it.

We know how to keep you in a safe flat position or what have you to make sure that you don’t hurt yourself.

Just vocalize when you’re feeling lightheaded and let us know so we can get you into position where we don’t have to worry about you falling and banging your head on something.

Job Loss or Inability to Participate in Activities

This is one of those ones that I’ve seen greatly reduce over the years. That’s job loss or the inability to participate in school activities, sports, organized sports, organized activities that have a dress code.

Some piercings, if they’re visible or even those that aren’t visible, present a piercing risk depending on what the job is, depending on what’s going on with the sport, they may not allow you to have that jewelry in while you’re active in doing it.

It might be a situation where you’re told to either take it out or go home. So it’s always best to do your research beforehand.

I know somebody else on the team may have it and nobody cares. The reality is that they may have just gotten away with it. And once there’s two of you, you both are going to end up getting told to take it out.

Social Interaction and Prejudice

This is another piercing risk I’ve seen greatly reduce over the years. There was a time if you had a tattoo or a piercing that was visible, especially if you were portrayed in the media in any way, shape, or form, it was usually a drug dealer, drug addict, or criminal.

There’s a lot of people out there that still kind of believe these things. Or that you’re a Satanist because you have a septum piercing. It’s silly.

We all know this and slowly these piercings are becoming more and more acceptable as time goes on. But there’s always going to be somebody that has something to say. They’re going to treat you differently than you would be treated if you didn’t have that piercing.

So, it’s something you want to consider, especially on extremely visible piercings or piercings of large sizes or what people consider more extreme piercings.

For some reason, anything gets pierced on the nose these days or even an eyebrow, people are kind of like, “Yeah, it’s just a piercing.” They’re kind of almost at the same level as like an earlobe piercing.

But for one reason or another, if you have lower lip piercings, you’re a weirdo. I don’t understand that. And maybe over time, as more and more people get that piercing, it may decrease. But it’s something you want to consider and be prepared for.

And generally, most people, I’ll tell you, they’re just curious. The rest of them, they’re just jerks and you don’t need them in your life anyway. Just send them to the forbidden zone.

Additional Risks for Oral Piercings

Now, there are piercings that have additional risks. Oral piercings would be one of those.

Enamel Erosion, Gum Erosion, and Softening of the Bones

There is a possibility that piercings, regardless of how well they’re done, how well you take care of them, can damage tissue, bone around them.

The tongue piercing risk includes potential damage to teeth and gums over time. You always want to take that into consideration. Because in most cases once that starts, there’s not really a way to reverse it without spending a buttload of money at the dentist.

The other problem is that a lot of people will be like “I don’t want to give up my oral piercing even though my gums are receding.” Sorry, there’s no magic jewelry.

There’s no special cream or anything else that’s going to stop that or reduce that happening further. The only option you’re going to have is abandoning those piercings. These piercing problems are common with oral piercings and should be carefully considered.

Swelling

Swelling is a natural reaction your body has to a piercing. It’ll increase in size. Some piercings swell a lot, some swell very little to a point where it’s not even really noticeable.

Jewelry has to be sized to adjust that. Oftentimes we ask that you downsize at a later time to something shorter in order to alleviate other problems like migration and getting caught on things.

But initially swelling can be a factor, especially with things like tongue piercings where it swells up to almost twice its normal size. It can impact eating, it can impact your diet, it can impact talking, everything else.

And precautions are going to need to be taken to help reduce that swelling and cut back on the likelihood of excessive swelling.

And it might involve it swelling beyond the length of the jewelry and having to go and get another piece of jewelry put in to allow for that additional swelling.

Swelling is just a piercing risk when it comes to piercings. Some more so than others, but it’s something you want to consider beforehand.

Jewelry Impacting or Engulfing

This is a situation where swelling or for one other reason or another your body finds that it can grow tissue around the jewelry. This is common in mouth piercings.

Where suddenly the lip or the inside of the lip will start growing tissue over that flat disc. And totally engulfing it in your body. Where the only way it can be removed is basically to be cut out.

This piercing risk is something that if you start noticing it happening, you do need to contact your piercer and possibly have a jewelry change or abandon the piercing.

It is a possibility and it’s one of those things we don’t know until we do the piercing how your body’s going to react to it.

Is Body Piercing Safe?

So, is body piercing safe? Yes, when done properly by an experienced professional who follows strict safety protocols. While there are piercing side effects and risks involved, most can be minimized through proper piercing risk assessment, choosing a reputable piercer, and following aftercare instructions carefully.

Conclusion on Piercing Risk

Every piercing comes with some level of piercing risk, but knowledge is your best protection. By understanding what can go wrong and how to prevent it, you’re setting yourself up for a smooth healing process.