When selecting the type of piercing jewellery for your next body piercing, it’s important to take into consideration the material the jewellery is made of.
When you’re picking out what jewellery you’d like at your local tattoo shop, your choice in material type will likely be between
titanium or stainless steel, very rarely, you may see gold being offered as well.
You should also know that the materials used will have an effect on the price & style of the jewellery, as well as how long it takes to initially heal, the likelihood of infection / allergic reaction, and how long the jewellery will last.
Titanium vs Stainless Steel Piercings vs. Gold
Stainless steel has always been a popular choice for body jewellery. It is generally less expensive than titanium, and will not damage easily. Unfortunately, stainless steel also tends to contain Nickel, an element that is known to cause allergic reactions when worn on the skin.
Often when people believe their piercing is infected, they may actually having an
allergic reaction to the metal in the jewellery. Even high grades of surgical steel can be impure causing reactions when they are worn.
Titanium is much lighter than other metals, which puts less strain on the tissue while it is healing and on an ongoing basis. The time it takes to heal, and the likelihood of infections or allergies decreases significantly when you choose titanium over stainless steel, because the jewellery is putting much less strain on your body. Titanium also does not rust or tarnish, so it can be worn for as long as you like.
Titanium jewellery is available for all piercing types, from standard ear lobe piercings, to micro-dermal piercings, so make sure you check with your piercing artist to see if they have titanium jewellery.
On rare occasions, you may see different types of high grade gold’s being used in piercings, but as they are a soft material, they can be damaged easily. Any damaged areas in the piece of jewellery could provide areas for bacterial formation, or irritation as movement in the tissue occurs.
What is Titanium G23?
Titanium G23 is a specific type of titanium, which is starting to see wider user in the piercing world. Titanium G23, is an especially high quality form of titanium, which has an extremely high purity rating. This means that there is a very small likelihood of finding impurities such as nickel in a piece of jewellery that is made from this kind of Titanium.
Less impurities means that there is a greatly reduced chance of infection and a lower chance of tearing due to the lightweight nature of titanium G23.
If you’re worried about either infections or tearing, then you may want to consider using titanium G23 for your next (or first) piercing.
We’ve begun to use Titanium G23 at
both of our studios, so if you’d like to learn more about the different types of piercings materials and the best option for you, feel free to
drop us a line and we’d be happy to go through your options.
]>>
