A wrist piercing is a

piercing Body piercing, which is a form of body modification, is the practice of puncturing or cutting a part of the human body, creating an opening in which jewelry Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry ( U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal ...

through the surface of the

wrist In human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as (1) the carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand; "The wrist contains eight bones, roughly aligned in two rows, known as the carp ...

, first popularized by Jon Cobb in

PFIQ ''PFIQ'' (''Piercing Fans International Quarterly'') was a magazine published by Jim Ward from 1977 to 1997. It was the first publication about body piercing. Ward pioneered the field of body piercing and operated The Gauntlet, which was the firs ...

. Wrist piercings are a type of

surface piercing Surface piercings are piercings that are found on flat parts of the body, giving a double-pierced look that sits flat against the skin. A surface bar follows the plane of skin, while a standard piercing is pierced through the plane. Standard pierc ...

. They carry a high rate of rejection and migration,The Point #33
''A Statistical Look at Surface Bars'' unless they are properly measured and placed. The piercings may be rejected if they are not installed properly; due to the location of the piercings they are easy to irritate, and regularly catch onto clothing or other objects. People with wrist piercings are advised to put on short sleeved t-shirts, singlets so as to prevent the surface barbell from catching onto the threads of the clothing. Also, wrist piercings can only be done with a special tool (to hook the other side of the surface barbell upside) and thus, it is of high difficulty for it to be home-made. Piercers would also advise that, after getting a wrist piercing, the person is to soak and moisten the wound with mild salted solution so as to disinfect the area, preventing bacteria from entering the unclotted wound. The span of a wrist piercing ranges approximately from as short as 2 weeks to 6 or 7 months.

Wrist Piercing Jewelry

As with all surface piercings, wrist piercings require special

jewelry Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry ( U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a w ...

to minimize the risk of

piercing migration Piercing migration is the process that occurs when a body piercing moves from its initial location. This process can be painful or go unnoticed, until it has progressed. Given enough time, a ring may migrate entirely outside of the skin, althoug ...

and rejection. Both

surface bar Barbell style piercing jewelry is composed of a straight bar with a bead on each end, one or both beads unscrewable for removal and/or changing of the beads. Often one of the beads is fixed, either via epoxy or welding, so that only one bead ...

s and

barbells A barbell is a piece of exercise equipment used in weight training, bodybuilding, weightlifting, powerlifting and strongman, consisting of a long bar, usually with weights attached at each end. Barbells range in length from to above , althou ...

with bars made from flexible material, such as

tygon Tygon is a brand name for a family of flexible polymer tubing consisting of a variety of materials to be used "across a range of specialized fluid transfer requirements". The specific composition of each type is a trade secret. Some variants have ...

Teflon Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene that has numerous applications. It is one of the best-known and widely applied PFAS. The commonly known brand name of PTFE-based composition is Teflon by Chemo ...

, are commonly used as both short and long term jewelry in wrist piercings. More appropriate is

titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resista ...

, which is less likely to irritate surrounding skin due to its lack of

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow ...

. A quality piercing is done in two steps with different bars: one with long rises used at time of piercing to allow for initial swelling, and a second bar with shorter rises and balls a few millimeters from skin to be inserted months later once healing has taken place. Other jewelry includes specially made and bent barbells, which may be made by the piercer or can be ordered from a dealer.

References

{{Body_Piercing Surface piercings