Corset Piercings: How Long They Take to Heal and How to Care for Your

Burlesque shows, fetish clubs, body modification conventions, suspension performances, and sometimes even sideshows—are all places where you might encounter someone with a corset piercing.

In simplest terms, a corset piercing is two parallel rows of piercings through which a ribbon is laced through. One popular style is to have the shape mimic that of an actual corset that women would wear. However, corset piercings can be done on any gender.

However, you don’t see many people walking around outside of the places listed above with corset piercings. This is because they’re usually done temporarily for photoshoots and performances.

Keep reading on to learn why corset piercings are mostly temporary.

Getting a Corset Piercing: Procedure

Traditionally, corset piercings were performed as surface piercings where either D rings or captive bead rings were used as jewelry. These surface piercings were meant to be temporary because it’s very difficult to heal them.

However, some piercers have started using dermal anchors for corset piercings, giving them more longevity.

Typical placement for a corset piercing is the back, calf, forearm, throat, side, chest, and arms.

Once you’ve decided on your placement and selected the jewelry you want to use, your piercer will take you back into a sterile space. They will thoroughly cleanse the area you’re getting pierced and then carefully measure and mark where each piercing will go, making sure the piercings are symmetrical and that it’s safe to pierce in a certain spot.

Next, they will use either hypothermic needles (if you’re doing this as fetish play or for an event, they create the least amount of scaring), hollow needles, or a dermal punch to create each individual piercing. Your piercer will insert jewelry after each piercing.

How Much Does a Corset Piercing Hurt?

Each person is different and everyone has a different pain tolerance. However, a few things will affect the pain of a corset piercing:

• Placement: Because your back has thicker skin than your throat, the throat will be more painful than the back; your back might be more painful than your arm or calf.
• Surface piercing vs. dermal anchor: Because a surface piercing only goes through the surface of the skin whereas a dermal anchor requires a punch much deeper into the skin, a surface piercing will be less painful.
• How many you get: Regardless of your pain tolerance, a corset piercing is not an easy piercing to get, even if you only want three rows. Therefore, the more you get, the more painful it is going to be.

Healing a Corset Piercing

When it comes down to it, corset piercings are never intended to be permanent. They’re usually done and worn for special occasions, performances, fetish play, conventions, or photoshoots and immediately retired. If you get one done with dermal anchors, there is the possibility that they will reject or migrate.

Some of the reasons healing a corset piercing is very difficult include:

• There are a lot of piercings for your body to heal. Typically, your body can handle around 3 piercings at once. The more you have, the harder your body has to work to heal them, and sometimes your body just can’t handle that many.
• You lace a ribbon through the piercings too soon. You shouldn’t be lacing healing corset piercings at all if you intend for them to be worn for a long time. The ribbon can create too much tension and cause the piercings to migrate or not heal properly.
• You cannot sleep on the piercings.
• The area that is pierced is much thinner and thus less stable than a standard piercing. For example, an earlobe piercing goes through the entire earlobe tissue whereas a corset piercing goes through the surface layer of the skin. It could be ripped out much easier.

So, How Long Does a Corset Piercing Take to Heal?

In general, a corset piercing will take at minimum 2 months to heal, and this is with daily aftercare and careful monitoring of each piercing. One of the reasons it’s so difficult to say how long this piercing takes to heal is because each individual piercing could heal at different times. It depends on how much movement or friction it’s exposed to as well as how well the aftercare is kept up.

Corset Piercing Aftercare

When you get a corset piercing, you’re going to want to make sure that your sheets and clothes are all freshly clean to avoid getting any bacteria into the area. You’re also going to want to avoid sleeping or putting any direct pressure on the area.

You’ll want to make sure that you’re showering every day; don’t take a bath. Dirty bath water could lead to an infection if bacteria get into a healing piercing. The same goes for any public body of water—you’ll want to avoid the beach, pools, hot tubs, saunas, etc. to avoid the spread of any bacteria.

To clean your corset piercing, you’ll want to buy some NeilMed Aftercare Spray and apply it on each piercing twice a day. Never touch your piercings, especially to rotate or twist them. If you ever have to touch your piercings, you’ll need to wash your hands with antibacterial soap first.

You’ll also never want to tape down the piercings, use ointment of any sort, or apply any harsh chemicals, such as Bactine, Neosporin, hydrogen peroxide, or rubbing alcohol on them while they’re healing.

The Main Point

Corset piercings are great for temporary body modifications. Yet, you’ll rarely see someone who has had one for a very long time. Still, they’re fun and can be really exciting or sexy. Make sure you do your research for an experienced piercer before you go get one.