Both men and women alike are embracing their creativity by getting piercing’s. Having a piercing is a displaying of one’s self along with their creativity to the world, of for their personal and private amusement. There are many areas of the body which can be pierced such as the tongue, eyebrow, nose, ears, and lip, all of which are common and popular areas of the body to pierce.

A piercing is a hole penetrating through the designated area of the body, typically with a needle or piercing gun. Once the piercing is created, it is than ready for body jewelry to be placed through it. Although there are many benefits of having a body piercing, as with any positive thing, there comes negativity.

Although having a piercing is an increasingly common and popular thing, not many people are quite as intrigued by the signs of a piercing, especially in the work world. Many jobs and companies do not allow their employees to have a visible sign of a piercing. Fortunately, there is an alternative to having to remove your piercing.

Once removed, the piercing, especially if it’s a new piercing, is very likely to close. In the event of having your piercing prohibited, instead of taking it out and risking the chance of having your piercing hole close up on you, you may find it very beneficial to buy piercing retainers.

Piercing retainers are objects which purpose to replace the visible jewelry in your piercing. Piercing retainers are typically clear or flesh colored. This is so they will not be seen by the naked eye. Thus, allowing your piercing to remain in tact for your job without the employer ever knowing about it. This prevents the piercing from closing.

Another reason men and women alike wear piercing retainers, is if they are going somewhere where the piercing would be inappropriate to some, such as a funeral or perhaps a wedding. Instead of taking your piercing out, piercing retainers can be placed in the piercing and alleviate the concerns of the visible piercing without allowing the piercing itself to close.

Many teenagers in school use piercing retainers as well. Several schools prohibit the visible signs of a piercing on the school’s premisses. Instead of losing your piercing that you may have payed a nice amount of money to receive, purchasing affordable piercing retainers to replace your piercing is a common and effective option.

An all too common problem associated with a newly pierced piercing is that fact that it easily and quickly closes upon the taking out of the body jewelry. To prevent this from occurring, industrial piercing retainers can be purchased. They serve many purposes, all of which are affiliated with the overall satisfaction of your piercing.

Unique to the human species, body modification – the practice of altering some part of the body for religious, cultural, spiritual, ornamental, or sexual reasons – has been practiced in some form or another for as long as 30,000 years. For instance, Aboriginal Australians put incisions in the penis and elongated the labia.  The pre-Egyptian Nubians elongated their skulls and made tattoos. 

One form of body modification, ear piercing, has existed constantly since ancient times.  However, from the 1920s until the 1960s, it became unpopular within the United States.  In the 1960s, women began to embrace the practice again as well as men in the hippie and gay communities.  The punk subculture also adopted the practice.  Today ear piercing (single and multiple) of either or both ears is very common among Western women, and fairly common among men.  This popularity has made it more acceptable.

In the modern Western world, people pierce many parts of their bodies including:

• Ears – The kinds of piercing for the ear include: anti-tragus, auricle, conch, daith, industrial, industrial (via rook), orbital, lobe, pinna, forward pinna, rook, scaffold, snug, tragus, transverse lobe, vertical tragus, and weaving.

• Oral – The kinds of piercing involving the mouth include: the cheek, lower lip, lower fraenum, Madonna, Medusa, superior fraenum, tongue, and labret.

• Surface – These piercings include the ankle, brooch, earl, eyebrow, nape, neck, third eye, and webbing.

• Genital (female) – The clitoris, hood, inner labia, outer labia, and triangle, are the piercings that involve the female genital area.

• Genital (Male) – The apadravya, dydoe, fraenulum, kuno, lorum, palang, Prince Albert, pubic, reverse PA, hafada are the piercings that involve the male genital area.

• Nasal – The nostril and septum are the areas of the nose that are pierced.

• Abdominal – Both the female and male nipples can be pierced.

As the list above indicates, depending on where the piercing is located, the public will never see it.  But, what happens when you have an eyebrow piercing or auricle piercing in the ear and you work in a conservative office environment or attend church?  These are not exactly the traditional lobe piercing that is so widely accepted in American culture.  What if you must have an x-ray in a place where you have a piercing? You may be forced to take your jewelry out of your piercing, yet you will not want the hole or holes to close, especially if your jewelry must be removed for an extended period of time. In this case you may have to consider using piercing retainers.

Piercing retainers are used in place of your jewelry, but are discreet enough that they are barely noticeable. Because piercing retainers are made out of acrylic, they can be worn during x-rays and operations.  These piercing retainers are also excellent for school, work, or other environments where your piercing may not be accepted.

Body piercing is becoming a more accepted form of body modification in our culture; yet, some forms of piercing are not widely accepted or cannot be worn in certain situations.  This is when piercing retainers can be very helpful. They are small and clear, so they are barely noticeable.  They will keep your piercing open; and they can be worn during certain medical procedures.