The Ultimate Guide To Dermal Piercings

When you get a dermal piercing and hear your piercer refer to it as a single-point or microdermal piercing, you can rest assured that it's the exact same thing. The names may sound a little intimidating, but this piercing isn't as scary as you might think.

Dermal piercings are designed to appear like it's part of the skin. This look is achieved by creating a piercing that has no exit point. Yup, a dermal piercing is one-sided, so to speak. "It's actually a single point piercing that is anchored to hold tight to the surface of the skin with a beautiful gemstone or flat piece of jewelry on top," professional body piercer Jessie Darling tells Byrdie. The anchor Darling refers to is the jewelry's base (which is around 6-7 millimeters long), which is strategically placed just beneath the skin.

This can seem, erm, a little invasive, but when professional body piercer Lynn Loheide explains it, dermal piercings sound a lot less scary. "They are pierced using a piercing needle to create a small pocket in the skin, and the base is inserted into this pocket," they tell Elite Daily. "The base is about the size of a grain of rice, and the piercing process itself is often very easy."

Dermal piercings are semi-permanent, lasting anything from 3-7 years. So keep in mind that it won't last forever and that you'll more than likely need to have it redone at some point.