the claims

I’ve seen a few posts doing the rounds on social media – and depressingly, some from other piercers – claiming that piercings can have some health benefits.

These claims have varied from specific piercing placements aiding migraines, helping with anxiety, easing the symptoms of fibromyalgia or arthritis, improving pain associated with PCOS, and even helping with weight loss. So, some pretty intense claims.

These are conditions that have extreme impact on people’s lives. If there’s even a small chance, no matter how remote, that something might bring relief, many people will do little short of anything to give it a try.

But…do any of them actually work?

Where do these claims come from?

These claims seem to come broadly from two places.

One is contemporary acupuncture, and a belief that these piercing placements will stimulate acupuncture pressure points on the body and give relief.

The other seems to be a pretty white-washed version of Ayurvedic texts, one of the ancient Indian medicinal texts.

Others I really couldn’t find a reliable source for, past some vague claims. Some do cite these Ayurvedic writings to “treat” conditions only understood or named in the last couple of decades though.

Could they work?

Well, probably not.

Acupuncture involves pricking the skin, not piercing straight through it and out the other side. In addition, piercers are not trained in acupuncture. We will pierce to your anatomy, for optimal healing, and to accommodate your long-term jewellery goals, because that is what we are trained to do. I can identify suitable anatomy for a navel piercing but I couldn’t find an acupuncture pressure point if my dog’s life depended on it.

Ayurvedic medicine exists in the context of traditional Hinduism. It therefore needs to be examined in that specific cultural context – for example, piercing of one side of the nostril was believed to “influence” a woman’s fertility or sexuality. I’ll leave explaining that to J’son D’souza (@mrpiercer on Instagram) who knows far more about Ayurvedic writings and piercing in an Indian cultural context than I ever could. He is India’s first ever Association of Professional Piercers member, after all.

What does the law say?

In the UK, medicinal products are regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Advertising is regulated by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA).

The MHRA guidance from March 2020 is pretty clear on this. It explains that “borderline” products, which is used to describe “products on the borderline between medicinal products and food supplements, biocides, cosmetic products, medical devices and general products”. When considering these “borderline” products, MHRA considers references to all medical conditions to be medical claims.

These medicinal claims would include references to illnesses both major and minor, including flus, colds, arthritis, “conditions of the mind” such as anxiety or depression, references to the treatment or alleviation of symptoms such as pain, discomfort, or inflammation, or cures for insomnia, and any references to the names or symptoms of disease.

The guidance continues;

A person may not publish an advertisement for a medicinal product unless one of the following is in force for the product;

• Marketing authorisation,
• A certificate of registration,
• A traditional herbal medicine registration, OR
• An article 126A authorisation granted under Section 8 of the Guidance.

The MHRA guidance states that a product may be correctly classified as a medical product if advertising makes reference to specific ailment names, symptoms, has any type of testimony attached to it, or references interference with normal physiological function.

So, whilst the MHRA guidance does not directly reference body piercing, claiming to be able to offer a relief or a cure from an ailment could very much land a person on the wrong side of this. Whilst the MHRA and the Advertising Standards Agency do not directly impose fines, they do investigate these misleading claims in advertising, and have a section of their website dedicated to companies who have knowingly made misleading claims.

Why do some people report success?

In short, the placebo effect.

And the placebo effect is pretty crazy.

Placebos work on symptoms modulated by the brain, like the perception of pain. It’s a complex neurobiological reaction of endorphins. There’s environmental (for example, being in a hospital might stimulate your brain into believing it is being treated) and ritual (for example, the act of taking a pill) elements at play in how effective a placebo might be.

In a study by Translational Medicine three groups of people took a pill to treat migraines. One group took the real migraine medicine labelled with the medication name; one group took a sugar pill labelled “PLACEBO”, and one group took nothing.

The people knowingly taking the placebo medication still reported a 50% reduction in their migraines; suggesting that even though they knew it was not real medicine, something about the act of taking “medicine” stimulated the brain into believing it was being cured.

The problem is that people suffering desperately from autoimmune conditions or other debilitating disorders might be at a higher risk getting and safely healing a body piercing in the first place – it might even be contraindicated. It means you’re asking the body to heal this wound whilst also handling the underlying condition.

And the placebo effect isn’t reliable. It works because your brain believes it works.

Therefore, in my opinion, it is unethical to pierce someone who is only there because they are desperate for a cure; and to take their money knowing full well you may well make things a bit worse.

Think critically

When someone makes a claim – and that absolutely includes me here in this post – I’d encourage you to think with the scientific mind.

• Is this person selling a product, or are they affiliated with a company or person who does? Do they have a vested interest in you believing what they say, and opening your wallet?
• Can you find any independent, peer-reviewed, and repeated study backing up these claims? Are you noticing a lot of words like “may…” or “might be…”?
• Does a similar thing happen in a similar field? Do NHS medical professionals do this? What do other similar fields do?
• Weigh up all of this information, and critically ask why or where it came from.

The only thing a piercing will heal is a nasty case of Not-Having-A-Piercing-Itis. They might make you look a bit cooler, but they’re certainly not medicine.

If you have any questions regarding piercings, or if a piercing might be right for you, my inbox is always open over on Instagram – @doingtheunstuck