Albany, N.Y. – Ears, belly buttons, noses, tongues, even lips and eyebrows have become so mainstream in piercing that seeing them in public doesn’t warrant a second look.
Now, the struggle to be unique has reached a whole new level with surface piercing. In surface piercing, both the entrance and exit holes lie on the same plane of skin; the stud does not go through muscle tissue or cartilage.
Common locations include the nape of the neck, cleavage, collar bones and the back.
Jeff Roberts, owner of Gates Body Piercing and Tattooing in Troy, N.Y., says: “I think people do it for the shock value. It’s like anything else in life; someone introduces something, and people take it to the extreme.”
While surface piercing has been around for decades, until recently it was done more as experimentation.
“Now that they can be done properly, there are more out there than in the past and the number grows all the time,” says Shannon Larrat, founder and editor of Body Modification Ezine (bmezine.com).
Experts agree the increased demand for these piercings can be attributed to people’s exposure to photographs in tattoo and piercing magazines, and on websites such as Larrat’s.
“People see something that’s not as common and they become fixated on it,” says Rebecca Hatfield, a piercer at Viva Lark Vegas in Albany. She performs about 10 to 15 surface piercings a month.
Surface piercing is done with the same equipment as “normal” piercing – a needle and forceps – and poses an equal risk for infection. However, because of its nature and placement, surface piercings have a higher rate of rejection. Instead of the wound healing, rejection occurs when the body forces the jewelry out from under the skin, like it would a splinter. Rejection often occurs if the jewelry exerts too much pressure on the skin, or if the piercing is in a location that involves a lot of movement or regularly gets bumped by clothing or belts.
While some surface piercings will reject inevitably, risks can be minimized. Hatfield advises against piercing areas that are not fleshy or that involve a lot of movement, such as the hips.
Larrat says the most important aspects in minimizing rejection are the jewelry’s material and shape. Instead of the straight or curved metal bar used in regular piercings, a specifically shaped “surface bar” resembling a staple and made of titanium or stainless steel is best for surface piercings.
Surface jewelry made from a relatively new material called Tygon, a flexible plastic tubing, also seems to be effective in reducing the chances of rejection, says Larrat.
“It is also absolutely essential that a person who wants a surface piercing find a piercer who is very experienced using real surface techniques. … Ideally what you want is a surface piercing from someone who can show you a healed work stood the test of time,” she says.
