Did you hear about the world’s most modified man?

Anthony Loffredo has made significant changes by transforming his body to look like a black alien. His modifications include removing part of his nose, fingers, and upper lip. The 32-year old fanatic also has piercings covering his entire body.

Unfortunately, the extreme modifications are starting to take their toll. Anthony now reports having trouble speaking and carrying out specific daily tasks.

Are you thinking about transforming your look? Then safe piercings are the way to go. By planning things out, you’ll be able to avoid getting in over your head as Anthony did. 

Whether you’re looking to get a superficial ear lobe piercing or you’re looking for something more extreme, it helps to know what you’re getting into.

What piercings are safe and which ones aren’t? Read on to find out.

What Piercings Are Unsafe?

What type of body piercings should you stay away from together? For starters, you’ll want to avoid horizontal tongue piercings.

Vertical tongue piercings are perfectly fine, but the horizontal positioning presents health complications. The piercing could damage your blood vessels or nerves since the piercing has to go through your tongue muscle. You could wind up losing sensation on the tip of your tongue or, even worse, having a partially paralyzed tongue.

The safer route would be to get a vertical tongue piercing between the 2 muscles. You’ll also want to be aware that oral piercings usually come with a lot of bleeding. So whenever you get any oral piercing, there will be a heightened risk of infection or injury to your teeth or mouth.

Dermal piercings can also be problematic. Microdermals or dermal anchors are studs that go directly into your skin.

For instance, you could have microdermals on your lower forearms or cover the back of your hands. They’re lovely looking, but they come with a high risk.

If the piercing gets caught on your clothing, you could rip it out of your skin. Dermal piercings are also known for causing excessive scarring and can even cause keloids to form. If you have any autoimmune condition, like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, you should probably avoid dermal piercings altogether.

Super Safe Piercings

What are safe piercings can you get without having to worry? You’re nostril, belly button, and earlobes are the safest areas for you to pierce.

Why is an ear piercing so safe? Your fleshy earlobe can heal relatively quickly, and as long as you keep it clean, you shouldn’t have any problems.

When looking at an ear gauge size chart, you’ll notice the sizes can get quite large. One of the reasons is that your earlobe is very easy to stretch.

Nostrils also have a quick recovery. And the bleeding will be minimal. When you get your nostril pierced, the piercing will go through the cartilage, so you won’t have to worry about it being easily ripped out.

As far as your belly button goes, the skin above it is usually relatively thin. You’ll be fine as long as the piercing doesn’t go too deep into the belly button itself.

If you want a safe non-traditional ear piercing, consider getting your upper ear pierced. It’ll be more painful than piercing your lobe, but it’s still reasonably safe.

The risk of infection is low, and it’ll be easy for you to heal as long as you keep the newly pierced area nice and clean. Nipple piercings can also be safe, but these will be a more sensitive piercing location. As long as you refrain from touching the piercing site frequently and you keep it clean, your nipple piercing will be able to heal pretty quickly. 

Choosing a Piercing Location

Even if your best friend swears they can give you a piercing without complications, say no thanks! If you care about your body, you’ll only go to a trained professional for whatever type of piercing you’re getting.

However, don’t just go to the first piercing shop you find. Be sure to look around to find a piercing location that has excellent customer reviews, and friendly staff members. Reputable piercing shops will go above and beyond to maintain cleanliness while also helping you make the right piercing choice.

Mistakes to Avoid with Body Piercings 

We’ve been mentioning how important it is to keep your piercing clean. But if you’re not careful, you could wind up over-cleaning and causing problems that way. We suggest cleaning your piercing about 2 to 3 times a day, but not anymore.

Overcleaning means that you’ll be irritating your skin and drying it out. This won’t only make your piercing look ugly, but it can also prolong the healing process.

Instead, follow the exact directions that your piercer gives you for your aftercare, and don’t alter the plan.

Are Small Bumps Bad?

Are you noticing small bumps around your piercing? Don’t worry. Piercing bumps can occur for several reasons.

Your skin may be having a slight reaction, causing the raised bumps. Instead of hopping on the internet to find out what the bumps are all about, reach out to your piercer to let them know about it.

You’ll likely just need to wait it out, and the bumps will go away on their own.

Crusty Solutions

You should also avoid twisting your piercing jewelry. In the past, people believed that twisting would help get rid of any crusties or prevent them from growing in the first place.

However, twisting the jewelry is a bad idea. You’ll be irritating your delicate skin while it’s trying to heal. Instead, use a lint-free cloth to keep crusties away and gently wipe them off.

Stay Safe and Pierce On

Now you know how to get safe piercings, that you can cherish. Since there are so many different piercers in the industry, start looking for one local to you today. Remember to read a few customer reviews and give them a call to get a feel for what their staff members sound like.

If a friendly voice doesn’t answer the phone, keep calling until you find the right shop. As you work towards transforming your look, we’d love to help with more tips. See what the rest of our blog has to say.