Eye Surround Dermals - Multiple Dermal Body Piercings

Dermal body piercings open up a whole new world of ideas.

Now that you can place a piercing on most areas of your body, the sky can be the limit.

Some people go with just a single dermal piercing as a stand alone, or to decorate a tattoo.

Other people create an entire new look by using multiple dermal's in a pattern.

We have found that most people getting multiple eye dermal piercings will end up with a black eye, while the piercings are healing.

Medusa Body Piercing & Septum Body Piercing

The Medusa body piercing is gaining in popularity.

If you wear the right jewelry, it can really accent the upper lips natural shape.

These is the same style jewelry, as worn in a labret. There is a straight bar with a flat, disc back. The most common gauge is 16 for the Medusa.

Although the septum piercing looks like multiple piercings, this can be a single piercing that holds multiple rings to create an illusion.

Shown are custom made pieces, which we can offer you. The Medusa piece can be purchased on our website. For the septum rings, please contact us.

The model had these piercings done at The Quillian in PA

To Bleed or Not to Bleed

Will your new body piercing bleed?

This really depends upon the individual. Two people can get the same exact piercing and one person will bleed but the other will not.

Some individuals will just bleed slightly and other's will bleed quite a bit before it starts to clot and slow down.

People taking blood thinners are discouraged from piercings, as it is harder for their blood to start clotting and they could loose too much blood.

Here are two images of customers tragus piercings. They both got the same style piercing, but one girl had bleeding and the other had no bleeding.

How to Dress up your Industrial Piercing Barbell

When industrial piercings first became popular, customers just wore a basic 14 gauge, 316L surgical steel straight barbell.

As with normal progression, the barbells started to be offered in different colors. The better quality would be in an anodized titanium (so that it would not loose it's color) and lower quality barbells were titanium plated, but the color would eventually wear away.

Soon customers were able to buy barbells with a decoration on the bar, such as a star. If the customer stayed with a small design, they were able to put the barbell into their piercing. However, as the designs became larger there was not enough room to slip the barbell into place, and some designs just could not be worn.

Today the designs are made independent of the barbell. These are made to slip onto the bar, so that you can wear a steel, titanium or gold barbell & interchange your design. 

To put these new style designs onto the barbell, they can slip all the way to one end. This allows the wearer to select bigger designs and still be able to get the jewelry into the piercing. 

The newest designs also have a rubber setting, to snug the barbell and stay in the spot it has been placed. 

For more example of slide on designs visit Industrial Jewelry

People Like To Be Pierced in Pairs

I find it to be more common that people come into our piercing studio in pairs, or larger groups.

More commonly each person has a different style piercing in mind, but we do have groups that have the same piercing in mind.

If one person is unsure of what piercing they want, they sometimes get the same piercing as their friend. The friend many times encourages them to share in the same piercing experience.

This photo is of two girls that have been friends since childhood. One girl was going to get a Monroe piercing, but decided to get the same piercing as her friend.

Tragus Model

The model is showing a Tragus jewlery design that appears to be more than 1 Tragus piercing. The jewelry has 3 roses, but it is a single Tragus piercing.

Tragus Piercing & Jewelry

With the wide variety of piercings available for the ear, some body jewelry has become interchangeable.

Since the ear has different hills and valleys, jewelry needs to handle a variety of shapes and angles.

Today I am addressing the Tragus, which is at the entrance of the ear. You can see the exact location of the Tragus here: wikipedia tragus link

In America the standard piercing jewelry, when the tragus is first pierced, is a 16 gauge captive bead ring. The ring allows the customer to properly clean the piercing, as it heals.

Once the piercing has healed, there is a variety of jewelry styles that can be worn in this location.

Of course the customer can stay with the captive bead ring, and they can find a rainbow of color options beyond the surgical steel.

Other options, for the Tragus are:

A Segment Ring with No Ball (shown in black with the segment removed): 

Labret Body Jewelry, known for lip and Monroe piercings: 

Helix Body Jewelry:

Tragus Body Jewelry (made only for the tragus):

A Twisty:

Or a straight barbell, with or without a dangle:

For a variety of options, please visit our tragus page

How do I remove my body piercing ring?

Ring opening pliers. A must have tool for opening your captive bead rings.


Ring closing pliers for your captive bead rings.

If you like to change out your own body jewelry, these are the tools that you will want to keep your  your jewelry box.

The ring opening pliers will easily release the ball on a captive bead ring. It only takes a small amount of pressure for the ball to drop off.

If your captive ring is over opened, the ring closing pliers will squeeze it back into shape, allowing it to apply enough pressure against the ball.

Available here

Dr. Piercing's Hole-istic Care contains:

• Saline solution - promotes healing
• Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) - anti-inflammatory relieves pain and increases blood flow, promoting healing
• Panthenol - Pro-Vitamin B5
• Allantion - skin protectant

Dr. Piercing's Hole-istic Care is an all-natural saline-based product with other natural ingredients such as Aloe Barbadensis and Pro Vitamin B5. $7.00: Shop Here

Dermal Piercings with a Dangle Design

Micro Dermal Body Piercings traditionally are a single stone, bezel set design.

Now that the dermal piercing has some history, jewelry designers are getting more adventurous with the styling of the jewelry.

You can have the single stone removed (the footing will stay in your piercing) and replace it with a different design.

You can see, on this image, that our customer has 2 traditional and 1 dangle micro dermal top.

Our New Logo

Steve Johnston has finished the artwork for our new store logo.

T-shirts will be available soon. This image will be on the back of a black t-shirt

Getting Married?

We have some belly button rings that are specifically designed for your wedding day.

Something new, something blue, something borrowed & something in your piercing!

Wedding Belly Rings

Body Piercing Insurance

Before being pierced, you may want to make sure that your body piercer and the shop have insurance. This would be a sign that you are dealing with a more professional establishment and that you will be protected if an unforeseen situation occurs.

It is more difficult and expensive for a piercing and tattoo studio to acquire insurance. Insurance in these industries is considered as high risk. A fly by night establishment will not have this coverage.

Should you be an owner for a piercing or tattoo establishment, we have found that the most professional insurance provider in our industry is PPIB. Here is a link to learn more about them: PPIB

New Nostril Healing Spray by H2Ocean

H2Ocean has come out with a product that is perfect to assist in the healing of a new nostril piercing, or to help heal an irritated existing nostril piercing.

Using a sterile sea salt is the perfect healing solution for a body piercing. This new can design has a nostril sprayer, to properly hit the inside of the piercing. Now the piercing can receive more of the healing spray and allow for a more successful piercing.

If you suffer from allergies, this will also help keep any inflammation and build up down to a minimum for improved breathing. 

How to Properly fit Belly Button Rings

Getting a proper fit on a belly button ring has nothing to do with your body size, it has to do with the angle and depth of the actual piercing.

There are standards in the industry, but your Piercer may have to make adjustments for your navel type. Some Piercers may not work within the standards that are set in the industry, making it more difficult to find jewelry that will fit correctly.

The standards for a navel piercing are 14 gauge for the thickness of the barbell and 3/8" to 7/16" for the length barbell to be worn, once the piercing has healed.

Your piercer will use a longer curved barbell, or a ring for the initial piercing. This is to allow for swelling and to leave room for proper cleaning.

Once the piercing has healed enough to change the jewelry, normally 2 months, it is time to determine the correct size for your navel piercing.

Let's begin with the correct way to measure a curved barbell. With the top ball threaded all the way on, you are going to measure in a STRAIGHT line, not along the curve of the barbell. The two points will be:

#1- Where the top ball meets the barbell on the under side of the ball.(holding the barbell up and down, as if it's being worn).

#2- Where the bottom design, or ball, meets the barbell on the top side of the ball.

Measure in a Straight line from these two points. The two pionts will both be on the inside of the curve.

Metric Conversion: 5/16"=8mm, 3/8"=10mm, 7/16"=11mm, 1/2"=12mm, 9/16"=15mm.

Do not fit the curved barbell to have no barbell showing. You need to have some barbell displayed, as this allows air to the piercing and prevents the jewelry from trying to pull into the piercing. You should have about 1/4" of barbell showing.

You may need to experiment with a few sizes, to find your best fit. Here is the basic rule of thumb.

Shallow Piercings = 5/16" (8mm)

Standard Piercings = 3/8" (10mm) or 7/16" (11mm)

Deep Piercings = 1/2" (12mm)

Very deep Piercings = 9/16" (15mm)

Most shops only sell the standard length, because most manufactures only produce the one size. Our shop has a large selection of all lengths, because we manufacture many of our designs.

You can find a large selection of the 5/16", 1/2" & 9/16" length curved barbell designs Here

Nose Piercing Receiving Tube

When doing a nostril piercing a tool is required to catch the needle on the inside of the nostril.

Most Piercer's will use a receiving tube, which is made for this application. A receiving tube can be made in plastic, glass or stainless steel.

The plastic tubes are disposable, as they would melt in an autoclave machine for sterilization.

The glass or steel can be used over & over again, as they can be properly sterilized. Glass can break, if dropped, which is an obvious drawback. The steel can be more expensive but the most reliable.

Some Piercer's will use a cork to catch the needle. The cork can only be used a single time and can be a less comfortable method for the person being pierced.

Man Tattoos His Eyeballs

Some States Do Not Regulate Teenager Piercings

Here in New Hampshire we have some strict guidelines to follow for piercings on a minor.

We are required to have a parent or legal guardian present, with a photo identification. The minor also has to bring their birth certificate. We then verify that the adult photo id matches the name on the birth certificate.

New Hampshire requires that we photo the photo ID and the birth certificate for our files. The insurance provider also requires a minor release form be filled out and signed.

The parent is then required by New Hampshire to be in the room during the piercing.

Shockingly Iowa has NO regulations on teenager piercings and there are a dozen states that also do not abide by rules and regulations on age, permit process OR inspections.

Needless to say, parents are outraged by Iowa being so lax and not doing anything to protect their children from the dangers of an improperly run piercing studio (since no rules are in place to protect the public).

For a full article about the parents being up in arms please visit WCF Courier

Hooked on Body Suspension

This photo shows Kat with 4 Tuna Hooks freshly pierced into her skin. She is preparing for her 7th body suspension.


Kat's body is swimming with endorphins. Dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin — she knows them by name, and she knows their effects. In fact, she’s become rather addicted to them.


In addition to the rush, Kat does body suspensions to overcome her fears.


Kat said that the first hook does not cause her pain, but her back muscles start to tighten up. This makes each additional hook harder to receive.


You can read an entire article written by Ryan Burns and see a gallery of her body suspension at The Journal 

What is a Correct Belly Button Piercing?

Measure in a straight line, not along the curve

There are industry standards for a belly button piercing, but not all Piercers concern themselves with how your after market jewelry will fit.

The standard size belly ring is 14 gauge. This is the thickness of the bar. A large selection of jewelry is available in this standard gauge. If you are pierced with a thinner or thicker needle, you will only have basic steel barbells to select from. Any professional piercer should pierce for a 14 gauge barbell.

The length is more tricky for the Piercer. The end result can be based on the distance of the piercing and the depth of the piercing. Ideally a 3/8" or 7/16" curved barbell will fit properly in a healed belly piercing.

Now, when I say the proper length is 3/8" or 7/16" (only 1mm difference for these 2 length), I do not mean for the barbell to be completely inside of the piercing. There should be some barbell showing, to allow the piercing to breathe and to provide room for sitting and stretching.

A fresh piercing will either use a circular barbell (best for cleaning the piercing) or a curved barbell that is longer than the standard, allowing room for swelling and cleaning.

Three most common problems: too shallow a piercing, a crooked piercing, or too deep an angle, making the belly ring pull into the belly button.