Body piercing appears to be quite trendy these days. We see people young and surprisingly old, male and female, everywhere with body piercings of some kind. Although piercings used to be limited to the ears, today there isn’t a body part that you can name that someone hasn’t already pierced!

So what about if you want to be part of this trend, but simply can’t bear the thought or the pain of being stuck with the needle and getting pierced or dealing with an opening in your skin that could possibly get an infection. Well, you might be able to have the gain with no pain, because there are other ways to embellish, express yourself, or be “cool” without actually piercing your body.

Today there is much body jewelry available that is non-piercing. Just look around; you can start with the Internet. You might be surprised at all the vast selection which is available. These pieces can be applied and made to adhere for a lengthy period of time. Put on correctly, they look no different from the real thing. Some people choose to wear this kind of jewelry for a very special occasion in order to add a bit of drama to their dress. And some people wear these any day of the week just for fun. There is non-piercing jewelry for the ears, arm, belly, lips, leg, foot, ears, nose, and even other more private parts of the body. Much of today’s non-piercing jewelry use 24K which improves the look and adds to the value of the piece. Obviously, other metals like sterling silver are available as well.

How do pieces work? What keeps them on?

Magnetic studs have a thin magnet that is placed behind the ear, between the lip and the gum or inside of the nose. These magnets are washable, and the magnetic attraction is strong enough to keep the jewelry piece well in place.

Spring action hoops are another kind of non-piercing body jewelry. This spring action works for rings that are meant to be worn on the lip, ear, belly, or nose and definitely looks quite similar to a genuine piercing.

Tongue balls are also available in some places. These act as a small suction cup which is pressed on the tongue and firmly adheres to the surface of the tongue.

You may want to think about actual body piercing long and very hard before you make your decision. This procedure is not always without risk. It must always be done properly, the biggest risk being an allergic reaction which might be caused by the metal, or from the cleaning products, or from any of the other products you might use when cleaning your piercing, soap or isopropyl alcohol. On the other hand, not cleaning your piercing can lead to some serious infection.

Any body piercing must be carefully nursed in the beginning and carefully “maintained” forever. Even the chlorine from a swimming pool can be risky for a piercing, as it can cause the skin near the piercing to dry and flake off. Other risks include excess scar tissue, bacterial infections, keloid formations, protozoan or parasitic infections, trauma, or viral infections. In lip and tongue piercings, you also risk certain kinds of gum erosion.

If you aren’t interested in dealingwith all of these possibilities, or if you know your own body to be of a hypersensitive nature, but sill really want the “look”, the most sensible choice for you would be non-piercing jewelry. Putting any one of these kinds of non-piercing body jewelry on is not at all painful, and they are all very comfortable to wear. Another big advantage for this kind of jewelry is that they are temporary. So, if you should decide that this is not the style for you, there is no hole in your body left behind. Most importantly, non-piercing body jewelry is quite safe. So, before you decide to put that hole somewhere on your body, just try to consider your options.