While we last
compared dermal piercings to surface piercings, we’d like to take some time to go a little more in-depth into what you should know and look out for when you’re getting a dermal piercing.
Dermal Piercing process
Although dermal piercing can be done with a standard needle, we recommend a
biopsy punch as it is considered to be the safer and less painful solution. The overall level of intensity that you experience during a dermal piercing is tied to three main factors: the area being done, your pain tolerance and the skill of the artist.
Area being done: The simple fact is that certain parts of your skin are more sensitive to piercings than others. In general, piercings involving cartilage (ear or nose) tend to hurt more because you are piercing through tougher tissue. As well, certain kinds of soft tissue such those found on your lips or nipples tend to have more sensitive nerve endings, which can translate into more pain.
Pain Tolerance: Pretty simple, the more pain you are comfortable with, the less intense the dermal piercing will be. If you’re worried about the pain, what we’ve found to work well is to distract yourself during the process, by sucking on hard candy, drinking an energy drink or chatting with your piercer (as long as you’re not interfering with their work).
Skill of your artist: We covered choosing the right piercing artist in one of our
previous posts, but to summarize, make sure that your artist is experienced with dermal piercings specifically. Dermal piercings involve a different technique than normal piercings and require specialized training to be done safely and effectively.
Healing and Aftercare
Just like other types of piercings, dermal piercings require a healing and aftercare period before fixtures can be attached. The advantage of a dermal piercing however is that, since they are single point piercings, they often result in less scarring and very often take less time to heal than a standard surface piercing.
You have to be careful for the first 6-8 weeks to avoid “pulling” or “catching” the piercing on a piece of clothing or other object. This can unsettle the piercing and may lead to rejection or in the worst case, tearing.
Make sure that you ask your piercing artist about the proper aftercare that should be taken once you get you’re piercing done, it’s important to ask this question before you get started so that you can have a better idea of what the whole process will involve.
Dermal Jewellery
Jewellery for dermal piercings is comprised of two parts, the anchor and the top. As the anchor is embedded in your skin, it should be composed of high quality materials to ensure its longevity and hygiene. At Chronic Ink, our piercing artists use high grade titanium as the anchor as it's long lasting and resists corrosion.
The top of the piercing, besides requiring compatibility with the anchor, can be whatever you want! These fixtures can be made from titanium, gold, silver, steel and many other different kinds of materials. They can also contain jewels beads and other accessories.
One of the best parts is that they are very often interchangeable. As long as the anchors are compatible, a dermal piercing top can be moved around to different piercings as you see fit!
If you’d like to learn more about dermal piercings or if you have a specific question, feel free to
drop us a line!
