Piercing Rejection and Migration.

Two of the more common and undesirable outcomes of piercing are piercing rejection and piercing migration.

Piercing migration occurs when your jewelry moves from its original position, and settles and eventually heals in a new location.

Piercing rejection occurs when the jewelry is completely expelled from the body.

Piercing migration occurs for a few reasons:

• When unsuitable skin is pierced
• Not enough skin is pierced
• Jewelry may be too small in diameter
• Jewelry may be too thin in guage
• Jewelry may be of poor quality.

These problems are more common if you piercing is done by an inexperienced piercer.

Piercing migration and Piercing rejection may also occur if:

• You use harsh aftercare products – read more about piercing aftercare here for more detailed information.
• You follow poor health habits
• You experience physical or emotional trauma during the healing phase.

Sometimes your body may reject a piercing for no apparent reason. Sometimes placing a foreign object through your skin is the simple reason the piercing is rejected. Make sure to see an experienced piercer when getting your piercing done and be sure to follow piercing aftercare guidelines strictly. Piercing migration or piercing rejection will be much less likely in these conditions.

If you have ant comments or questions, feel free to comment below.

It’s Worth It!

By Brittany, from La Puente, CA

I have wanted my belly pierced ever since Britney Spears debuted her newly pierced navel in 2000 at her televised concert in Hawaii.

I gave it a lot of thought off and on over the years, and started thinking seriously about it in July 2009. In September, I finally decided to go ahead with it.

I had my then-boyfriend do the piercing, which I regret. Instead of doing it quickly and getting it over with, he went really slow because he was scared he’d hurt me. Well, it hurt A LOT more than I thought it would. We did use a sterile piercing needle and a 7/16″ titanium barbell. I have allergies to metals, so I decided to go with titanium.

I took care of it with daily saline soaks. After about two months, I noticed some problems with it migrating. I was worried it would reject, so I removed the jewelry. There was a lot of blood that came out of the piercing when I took out the jewelry- I think I tore some skin while removing it. After doing a bit more research on rejection, I decided to try a shorte, 3/8″ barbell instead. The longer one was moving around too much, causing the migration.

Now, 4 months later, my piercing is mostly healed. The migration has seemed to slow down, although I keep a close eye on it. It also migrated slightly to the left, so its not quite centered, but its not like anyone sees it except for me, anyways.

I was worried it wouldn't look good because I'm overweight, but I love it. Everytime I look at it in the mirror, it seems like its a part of me, and I don't regret it. It was a personal decision, I did it for me. Its not something that anyone knows about unless I tell them, and that is empowering. I like the navel piercing for that reason. I'm 21, so while my parents couldn't say no, its not something they need to know about because they would disapprove.

Overall, even with the problems I encountered, I definitely love this piercing, and it was definitely worth it. It made me feel closer to my childhood idol, and while that may sound silly to many, it means a lot to me.