Let’s have a look at the most difficult of all piercings to heal, a surface piercing.
What Is A Surface Piercing?
Surface piercings are any body piercings that take place on the surface of the body through areas which are not particularly concave or convex, where the piercing canal transverses a surface flap of skin, rather than running completely through a piece of body tissue from one side to another. A surface bar follows the plane of skin, while a standard piercing is pierced through the plane.
Basically this is any piercing that enters and exits the skin on the same side of the body.
Rejection
Surface piercings have the highest rate of rejections out of all other other piercings. Your body sees the jewelry as a foreign object and slowly pushes it out of your skin as it would a splinter. These piercings slowly migrate to the surface of the skin where they eventually get so close to the surface that they rip out leaving a permanent scar. Few surface piercings last more then a few months, although you can maximize your chances of healing several different ways.
To understand why surface piercings fail you must first understand how the body heals itself. Your body views any piercing as a foreign object trying to penetrate its defenses. This happens as soon as the cells surrounding the object get disrupted from their natural life process. Healing a surface piercing is actually just freezing the natural rejection process of your body.
Surface piercings will start to grow out, or reject, from the outer edges slowly in towards the center of the jewelry. Key signs of rejection are redness, swelling, tenderness, and gooey discharge.
Keep in mind that even after years of a surface piercing appearing to be “healed” a simple bump could start the rejection process right where it left off.
Jewelry Types
Surface piercings must be done with the proper jewelry. Never use a straight barbel for this type of piercing as your body will almost instantly reject it. There are specialized types of jewlery specifically for surface piercings.
Surface piercings should only be done with “surface bars”. Surface bars are staple shaped barbels that almost completely eliminate up-pressure on your skin, one of the main causes of rejection. This jewelry can also minimize motion to the piercing which is the second leading cause of rejection.
If the piercing shop you goto does not carry surface bars you do not want them to pierce you. There is absolutely no reason to get a piercing if your body is going to reject it right away eventually leaving a scar.
Long Term Care
Surface piercings are not a “get it and forget it body mod”. Since a healed surface piercing can almost instantly start the rejection process at any time if there is any trauma to the pierced area. This can be caused by something as simple as a bump against a table.
You don’t want to get a surface piercing somewhere that is high motion and will inevitably put undo stress on the piercing. Areas like this include, but are not limited to, the breastplate, wrist, forearms, and legs.
I Still Want A Surface Piercing
If you insist on getting a surface piercing you must do your homework. This is not a procedure for an inexperience piercer. Make sure the shop carries surface bars in stock and take a look at their sample books. If they don’t have sample pictures, or you don’t like what you see, get out of there fast and find a real piercing shop capable of this operation.
17 responses so far ↓
1 Kate // Oct 8, 2008 at 11:58 am
I am thinking about getting a surface piercing on the back of my neck or on my forearm. After it has completely healed, are you able to take out the bar and put it back in like other piercings? Will my hair irritate it? When i pierced my ears the piercer cautioned to keep my hair away from my ears while it is healing, is that going to be a concern with this as well?
2 Curt // Oct 10, 2008 at 2:42 am
Kate,
A surface piecing is a lifelong commitment, where as the lifetime of the piercing is restricted to the initial jewelry. In short, no you can’t change jewelry.
The main concern with hair is the fact that it’s pretty dirty. You will want to keep hair away from any fresh piercing or tattoo to avoid infection. A simple shave before the procedure should be sufficient enough to avoid contamination during the healing process.
3 Nikki // Oct 16, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Hi! I was thinking of getting an anti-eyebrow piercing soon, but I’m only keeping it for two months because I’m starting school and they won’t allow it.
Since I’m only keeping it for two months, I was wondering if a curved barbell was considerable… from some accounts I’ve read of people who pierced their anti-eyebrow with curved barbells (and didn’t knock it or anything), most didn’t experience any rejection at the end of two months. If I do see any signs of rejection before 2 months though, I’ll remove it immediately.
I’ll try to find a piecer who offers Tygon bars, but if I use titanium, and it doesn’t reject by the end of two months, how bad will the scarring be after I remove it?
4 Curt // Oct 17, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Nikki, all I have to say is… If you already know that you are planning on removing this piercing after only two months, don’t bother getting it. 2 months is barely even enough time for the piercing to heal, let alone the fact that you will be putting your skin through even more trauma when you take it out prematurely.
Scar tissue is forever and piercings shouldn’t be considered a short time investment.
5 Missie . // Oct 21, 2008 at 6:25 pm
So i got my hips pierced it’s sweet i love them there in a high motion area so its a huge risk that im scared of. its a huge risk cause i can easly bump them soo i donnu. its been just over a weeek now. it’ll be 2 on friday. is redness n tenderness still ohkai to have?
6 Curt // Oct 22, 2008 at 11:00 am
Missie,
2 weeks is still very early in the process and that tenderness and redness is common.
Try to minimize movement and trauma to the piercing. Good luck with the remainder of your healing process.
7 ashley // Nov 9, 2008 at 2:17 pm
missie,
i’ve had surface piercing on my hips for over a year now and they still look great. barely any rejection has taken place. mine were swollen and tender for a month or so but after that they have been no hassle for me. good luck!
8 amanda // Dec 9, 2008 at 3:09 am
I got a lower back surface piercing done 2 weeks ago. ( with a tygon). when i went to check up on it, the piercer changed it to a bar bell. i only have one concern …its so uncomfortable and i feel like my skin is gonna rip when i stretch. is this normal?
9 Curt // Dec 9, 2008 at 9:17 am
amanda,
If you feel pressure when stretching that is not a good sign. Any kind of pressure will make a surface piercing agitated which is not good for the healing process. If you feel that you had better results with different jewelry I would go back to the other jewelry. Everyone is different and only you will be able to tell what is right for your body.
10 Melissa // Dec 18, 2008 at 2:23 am
I just got my eyebrow pierced and I am a bit worried about rejection and migration. I can feel the bar through my skin. Is that normal or does that mean its rejecting? It was done with a curved barbell and I can feel it when i run my finger along my eyebrow.
11 Curt // Dec 18, 2008 at 10:40 am
Melissa,
You will feel the barbel underneath the skin with any eyebrow piercing. The piercing is not very deep. To tell how much it is migrating or if it is rejecting, you need to take notice to where your skin stops in relation to the barbel. As an eyebrow piercing grows out more of the barbel will be exposed. The best way to tell how much your piercing is migrating keep tabs on your barbel to skin ratio.
12 Nichole // Dec 30, 2008 at 9:15 pm
i’ve been thinking about getting either my sternum or right under my belly button pierced. if i get one of those 90 degree angled barbells, what’s the liklyhood of rejection?
also, i had my hips pierced, but i didn’t have the right barbell, and they got rejected. now i have too awful scars.
if i decide to take out my chest piercing/below my belly piercing before if starts getting rejected, will it also leave scars?
13 alex // Dec 30, 2008 at 11:58 pm
so I got my hips done 4 days ago and they seem to be healing fine but they are still sore and slightly red around the holes..is the redness normal? oh and besides the spray they gave me is there any other way to keep them clean?and this may be a silly question but can I go tanning with my newly pierced hips?
14 Curt // Dec 31, 2008 at 11:52 am
Nicole,
Depending on the trauma you inflict on your skin, scarring is always a possibility. Once you take out the piercing be sure to add some antiseptic ointment to the wound to speed healing and deter infection.
alex,
A surface piercing will be red around the edges until the rejection process halts. This could be a few weeks or even a few months, depending on where your piercing is located and the amount of movement or pressure the piercing sustains.
Can you go tanning? Sure, but I would take great care not to burn your skin or you could suffer even more complications.
15 alex // Jan 2, 2009 at 2:54 pm
curt ,
thanks so muchhh for the info I appreciate it =)
16 Vee D. // Jan 3, 2009 at 12:07 pm
In a few weeks I wanted to get my right index finger pierced. The other day I was “shopping around” for prices and one of the piercers told me that getting my finger done is risky because of the movement of the finger. He also said that regular surface piercings have a 50% chance of reject whereas on the finger you have a 90% chance of rejection. After I was done talking to him I pinched the skin on my index finger and flexed it. The skin only tightened a little but other than that the skin stayed in between my fingers. Is this piercing to risky? Should I think about getting a different piercing instead?
17 Curt // Jan 3, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Vee D.
Try more like 100% chance of rejection. You can’t get your hands pierced, there is simply too much movement and pressure to the piercing. If you do manage to get it to heal it will soon grow out, eventually ripping the rest of the way leaving a nasty scar.
I’m sorry, but a hand piercing should not be considered an option. If you insist on modifying your hands, get a tattoo.
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