Dermal anchors allow body jewelry to go where no piercing has gone before! Back in the day, if you wanted jewels on your skin, you had to settle for stick on types. Perhaps you went so far as to use some kind of adhesive to stick rhine stones onto your body. Either way, your jewels were temporary, and no matter how much you loved those sparkling gems upon your skin, they were going to come off. Even if you tried hard to make super-glue work, it wasn’t going to escape the almighty shower.
Dermal anchors are literally tiny anchors that get implanted into the skin, after a small hole is created by a piercer. The hole will be created with either a piercing needle, or a dermal punch. The dermal punch is the preferred method because it results in a faster healing time. Many people say these are less painful than actual piercings. Despite the look of pictures you may see online, dermal anchor jewelry is really, really small. The part of the anchor that gets implanted into the skin, known as the “foot,” is flat, and some designs have holes in this area. This part of the process is regarded as the most painful, however it is over really quickly.
You can definitely expect a good amount of bleeding, more so than with traditional piercings, but it will eventually stop. Bruising afterwards, and the days that follow is normal, and will pass. The part that protrudes from the skin is a small barrel, with a hole, which allows you to screw in the decorative part of the jewelry. This is the really fun part. You can use so many different accessories here, and get quite creative with the gems, spikes, bead balls, stars, even skulls!
If you are considering this procedure, here’s what you need to know about it. First of all, please understand that there is no guarantee about the longevity, or even permanence of dermal anchors. They are implanted jewelry, and always extremely high grade materials such as titanium and surgical steel will be used for safety. Considered a foreign object, there is a very high rejection rate of dermals, as the body will do everything it can to push them out, quite similar to a splinter. Some parts of the body are just not suited for these implants, as the threat of body movement, or objects bumping into them will create trauma and immediate rejection. Consider an area that wouldn’t exactly be bumped can also be risky because unknowingly in your sleep you may be moving in a non-conducive way. Then there is also the risk of possible migration to consider, as the body attempts to reject the dermal jewelry. So, as you can see, there is quite a bit of devotion involved with getting dermal piercings done.
Never, ever, ever consider having this process performed by a novice, or any piercer who does not have sufficient experience with these. It is a delicate endeavor, and only an experienced professional piercer will know the proper way to do it, with harming your tissue and possible even nerves. If not safely done, you do run the risk of infection, and in the worst case possible, losing the jewelry inside of your skin from an improperly created hole. If this occurs, a trip to the ER, and having the jewelry surgically cut out from your skin will be necessary, and this is seriously no fun at all. In addition to an unpleasant experience, it will also leave you with a considerable amount of scarring.
Before you have it done, here are some questions to ask your piercer:
How many dermal anchoring procedures have they done?
How they perform the procedure, and what technique use (with full explanation of this technique)?
How did they learn this technique, and from whom?
How many dermal anchors have they removed, and at which point during the healing process were they removed?
What is their success rate? Can they show pictures of recently done dermal implants, as well as properly-healed examples?
Some people have gone really far with this intense form of body modification. There really is no limit to the possibilities available for creative expression when it comes to body jewelry. Designs, in true artistic fashion, have been created on the vast expanse of skin on the backs of willing enthusiasts. Pointillism on your body, anyone? Some of the great places people have accented with these sweet gems include along the cheekbones, as cleavage enhancers, on the arms, stomach, hands, and on both the front and nape of the neck.
So, like any form of body piercing and modification, being educated and in the know is the best way to be before you jump into anything. Even for impulsive piercings and modifications like dermals, you should never get anything done without being fully prepared. Now, recent years have bestowed upon us yet another epic advancement in the capabilities of body jewelry to further our cravings. While previously impossible to implant jewelry into the skin, dermal anchors have now changed the way we can decorate the body’s largest organ. Similar to surface piercings, these can definitely be considered as a similar alternative because they allow you to wear body jewelry in areas not easily pierced.
