Overview
Body Piercing
Body piercing, a popular and ancient form of body modification, involves creating an opening in the body to insert jewelry or cultural adornments. This practice has deep cultural, aesthetic, and personal significance and has evolved with various techniques to suit different preferences and cultural norms.
What is Body Piercing?
Body piercing is the practice of creating an opening in a part of the human body to insert jewelry or adornments. It can be temporary or permanent and serves various purposes, from personal adornment to cultural expression. The techniques related to body piercing include:
Gauging or Stretching
Gauging involves inserting increasingly larger diameter jewelry into a piercing site every 4–6 weeks to expand the hole. This method is common in various cultures, such as lip stretching to accommodate large discs. Over time, heavy adornments can also significantly stretch the skin.
Pocketing
This technique involves embedding the ends of a semicircular adornment into the skin, leaving the middle part exposed. It creates a unique look where part of the jewelry remains visible while the rest is embedded under the skin.
Microdermal or Transdermal Piercing
Microdermal piercing involves embedding an anchor under the skin, which has small holes through which tissue grows during healing. Jewelry is then screwed into the anchor, making it a semi-permanent adornment. This method is sometimes referred to as anchoring.
Who Undergoes Body Piercing?
Body piercing is practiced across diverse cultures and has been for thousands of years. Its prevalence in Western societies varies, influenced by individual motivations such as the desire to feel unique, aesthetic appeal, eroticism, conformity, rebellion, or self-control.
The incidence of body piercing is highest among young adults and women. It is often associated with increased risk-taking behavior and identity exploration but not necessarily linked to psychopathology or low self-esteem. Traditional forms and uses of body piercing continue globally, often integrated into religious customs and cultural ceremonies, where they hold spiritual significance.
Traditional therapeutic uses of piercing include scarification and acupuncture-like piercing. For example, in Ayurvedic medicine, left nasal piercing is thought to reduce the pain of menstruation and childbirth. However, piercings placed in specific points have also been blamed for ill health and infertility.
In certain cultures, such as Maori and Pacific Islander communities, piercing techniques and adornments vary significantly. Bone and other traditional materials are commonly used. Infection control measures are crucial in all cases, and culturally competent medical management is essential when dealing with complications from traditional piercings.
Additionally, body piercing is sometimes performed surgically for functional purposes. For example, magnetic tongue barbells can be inserted in individuals with tetraplegia to assist with tongue-operated assistive technology.
