What's Normal: Feeling The Jewelry Through Your Skin

Among the bevy of questions I often am asked about piercings, one of the most interesting ones is this “Hey I can feel the bar of my piercing through my skin- is that normal? Is it rejecting? Is it migrating? What's going on?!” And this is actually an incredibly perceptive question, one I think is worth answering much more in-depth. So today we will be talking about the phenomenon of being able to feel your jewelry through your skin, when it's normal, and when it's a red flag. Let’s jump in!

Skimming the Surface

Most often when people ask about being able to “feel the bar through my skin” they ask this about piercings that fall under the 'umbrella' of surface piercings- Bridges, Navels, eyebrows, etc. Now when we say surface piercing, there are usually two distinct things piercers are trying to describe.

Surface Piercing- A piercing that travels along the surface of the tissue where it is pierced. Unlike piercings such as earlobes or nostrils which have a distinct front and back and are pierced through a distinct piece of tissue, surface piercings are through subtle ridges, or flat along the surface of the skin. Because of this, these piercings can be more prone to migration and rejection.

Surface Piercing- A type of piercing done just through the surface of the tissue, usually in a flat low movement place, specifically with surface style jewelry- surface bars or surface anchors aka microdermals.

When we are discussing the surface nature of piercings where you can often feel the jewelry, we are usually referring to the first one. If you’d like to learn more about the concept of what makes a surface piercing you can check out my blog post about it here.

Essentially the piercings pass along the surface of the tissue, and inherently because of this, it’s easier for us to feel the jewelry through that skin. With say an earlobe piercing there's simply so much tissue around the piercing that you don’t often feel it passing through the skin. When you remove jewelry you may be able to feel the channel of the piercing, but with jewelry in you usually do not notice it, at least not in the same way you do with other placements. When we compare this to say a bridge, this piercing sits right below the surface of the skin, without other tissue around it, making it much easier to feel that barbell through the skin. The same goes for navels and eyebrows. I can absolutely feel the barbell of my bridge piercing throuhg the skin, and despite this, it's been happy and healthy for many years now.

So please rest assured that this is perfectly normal for you to be able to feel these piercings through the skin. I know it can seem a bit intimidating or stressful to be able to, but it is an entirely normal experience.

Rejection and Migration

Now if we are talking about feeling the jewelry through the skin, we do need to talk about rejection and migration. I have a whole blog post here that goes into this in-depth, but this is the process by which your body pushes piercings out through the surface of the skin. And this is much more common in surface piercings than any others.

While feeling the jewelry through your skin is normal with a number of healthy surface piercings, in some situations it is a sign of migration or rejection occurring. As migration happens, it pushes the jewelry through the skin closer to the surface. That does mean it becomes easier and easier to feel the jewelry through your skin, and in some instances even see the barbell beginning to surface through the tissue.

Here we see a nipple piercing that has migrated out to a shallower placement

Now I wish I had a surefire way to tell you how to determine the difference between a healthy, normal amount of feeling the jewelry through your skin, and a sign of migration. Unfortunately, I do not, as this can be a difficult line to discern sometimes and usually requites a professionals imput. Some things you can watch for include

-Irritation bumps on the piercing

-A V shape opening on the piercing channel, that is growing larger over time

-hyperpigmentation across the length of the piercing channel

-Seeing the bar through the skin

If you notice any of these factors, or if you are just concerned about your piercing in general, please follow up with your piercer. We can do an assessment and see if there is potential migration or rejection occurring, or if your piercing is fine. But you will need to see a trained piercer to determine the difference! And helping with the healing of your piercings is part of our job- so use your piercer as a resource!

I know that for many clients realizing they can feel the jewelry of their piercing can sometimes be startling or stressful, so I hope in writing this I can soothe some of those concerns. While rejection and migration are a risk, it’s still perfectly normal in many instances to be able to feel your jewelry, and not inherently a sign rejection is happening. Happy healing!