Body piercing has seen an explosion in popularity over the past few years. This in turn has lead to a huge increase in the range of body jewellery available, both in style and in materials.

It wasn’t long ago that surgical steel jewellery was the ‘norm’ for body piercings with a small amount of silver and gold jewellery available for healed piercings. However, this has changed and you can buy body jewellery in a huge range of materials that include steel, silver, gold, titanium, plastic/acrylic, glass, bone, horn and even wood.

The range may now be extensive but there is a problem… what type of jewellery is suitable for your piercing? Not all of the above materials may be suitable, especially if your piercing is still relatively new and/or unhealed.

For new body piercings there are only a few materials now recommended. It used to be the case that surgical steel jewellery was the automatic choice for new piercings. However, it has since been found that a very small minority of people can have a reaction to the small nickel content in most surgical steel, so a directive from Brussels has since stopped the use of steel for new body piercings. Although there is a form of surgical steel available that’s nickel free, high production costs and the emergence of newer, more readily available materials have prevented this from becoming popular.

So what is ‘safe’ for a new or unhealed piercing? Titanium is perhaps the No1 choice for new body piercings at the moment. Available simply polished or with a very wide range of inert, anodized or PVD coatings it is our jewellery of choice by far. From belly bars and ball closure rings to labret studs are all available in titanium and at a price almost on par with steel.

Another option, especially suited to those who want their piercings a little less visible, is bioplast or flexible acrylic. Being a form of plastic the material is very inert making it ideally suited for all piercings and with the ability to flex a little it is usually far more comfortable than conventional jewellery such as titanium. The only drawback for some is that it simply isn’t as attractive as titanium jewellery; especially the coloured or gem set titanium pieces.

Although not as pure or inert as titanium or bioplast, sterling silver is also an option for some people on newer piercings although not recommended for brand new piercings or those still ‘weeping’. However, as the vast majority of ‘silver’ jewellery features a surgical steel bar that passes through the actual piercing, with only the detailing being made of sterling silver, most silver body jewellery should be treated as surgical steel for use in piercings i.e. not recommended for brand new piercings or those still with discharge but ideal for anything else.

So what is not recommended for newer piercings? It is important to stress that for brand new piercings, or those still weeping, you should only consider truly inert and ‘safe’ materials such as titanium or bioplast/acrylic and all jewellery should be properly sterilised prior to use. Surgical steel is no longer recommended for unhealed piercings for the reasons stated above. Gold is only ever suitable for completely healed piercings (i.e. usually 6 months+ after the piercing and no weeping or discharge) due to the very high level of impurities most gold carries. Organic materials such as wood, horn and bone should only be used for healed piercings simply because they can carry contaminants and are very difficult to sterilise fully.

As a final word of advice, as with all things body piercing related – if in doubt consult your piercer.