Have you seen any body jewelry that made you wonder whether or not it was safe to wear?
Please add any manufacturer to this list who makes body jewelry that does not seem to meet appropriate safety standards. Our work group is collecting a list of examples for body jewelry review. You can email pictures, too. Your comments will be used in our ongoing project to help inform the public and improve body jewelry quality worldwide.
Piercing
Anodizing Titanium and Niobium Body Jewelry
Sign up for the workshop with Brian Skellie
APP Conference / Online “Anodizing is Awesome!”
Previously Presented at BMXnet, UKAPP, APP, LBP, 2º Congresso Educativo para Perfuradores Corporais da América do Sul – ATPB 2013
1) What is Anodizing?
Anodizing is a process where a coating is built up on the surface of certain metals (titanium, niobium, tantalum, aluminum, magnesium and zinc) by heating, with chemicals, or by electricity. In the case of titanium, the coating that is built up is a layer of titanium dioxide.
Selected freehand piercings
Here is a glimpse of a few piercings I performed during an exhibition for colleagues in New England. I enjoy sharing ideas and techniques with my peers. Let me know what you think.
My goal is an atraumatic aseptic technique: Primum non nocere
All of these piercings were performed without clamps using the STATIM 2000 autoclave, sterilized single use equipment, sterile nitrile gloves, and the titanium jewelry was anodized with the Reactive Metals Micro anodizer.
Preparing nonwoven gauze compresses for drapes Diamond cutout for drape window Simple setup in the Statim 2000 cassette Male nipple piercing without clamps Eyebrow piercing without clamps Tragus piercing posterior to anterior without clamps Aseptic navel piercing with sterile gloves and fenestrated sterile drape. An example of surgical use for a fenestrated sterile drape An example sterile drape
Skin antiseptics for piercing preparation
Thoughts on options for skin cleaning prior to body art procedures.
If a product is not labeled for surgical preparation, it really doesn’t matter how good of a hand and body soap or cleanser it is. It would only be a really strong hand wash product, or possibly aftercare for our purposes.
Choose a product that has claims as a “surgical skin preparation” because “scrub” alone is only the first step as cleaning. A two step “scrub then paint” process is appropriate and advised by CDC. That involves a solvent or detergent scrub to clean followed by the surgical antiseptic to kill microbes to an irreducible minimum level of contamination.
What does the evidence suggest that we use?

- I’ve been using FDA approved skin prep PVP-I, CHG or alcoholic CHG, or alcohol depending on the area, with a preference for sterile products, and keep looking for other safe, appropriate options.
- For oral preparation, an antiseptic mouthwash containing CPC or dilute H2O2 and friction.
I’m still looking for a universal surgical preparation agent, and have not found anything on the market that is both proven and FDA approved other than PVP-I, CHG based products and alcohol. I don’t want to recommend anything unless it is tested and labeled for the purpose.
enjoying conversation with colleagues…
Other than making people shiny, my job is to help my fellow piercers and tattoo artists make their work easier, cleaner and safer
Study finds biofilm on externally threaded body jewelry
A study inadvertently proves that externally threaded jewelry can harbor bacterial colonies in biofilm.
Transdermal piercing re-purposed for medical use
A curious and hopeful article about a transdermal implant modified for a practical palliative use.
In brief: A surgeon saw this type of mod at a piercing studio when taking his children to have their ears pierced, and made a version for helping patients swallow.
Do You Really Need To Wear A Face Mask?
It is well founded to wear a mask during your procedures for your clients safety and your own.
OSHA / freehand piercing?
I prefer not to use the term “freehand” to describe the precise and simple practice of body piercing without the use of mechanical means to grasp the tissue.