Sub-Clavicle Piercings
Recently, piercing enthusiasts have been searching for a lesser-known type of dermal: the sub-clavivle piercing. While some versions are located right above the clavicle and minimally pierce the body, traditional sub-clavicle piercings pass beneath the collarbone, fully penetrating the inner-body cavity. For this reason, sub-clavicle piercings are no longer recommended by most piercers and cross over into the realm of body modification. “They are kind of a throwback to a bygone era of piercing that doesn’t really exist anymore,” piercer Jef Saunders says. “In general, the sub-clavicle is not a piercing anyone could actually obtain insurance to practice.”
What to Do If Your Dermal Piercing Rejects?
One thing that’s extremely important to note about dermal piercings is that, unlike other traditional piercings, they’re not meant to stay in your body forever. In other words: you should expect it to reject at some point.
“Every surface anchor rejects. They’re not permanent piercings by any means,” Gottschalk says. “It’s so different for everybody. It could [happen in] a month or three months — it could be 10 years! But eventually, it’s coming out.”
How long it takes your piercing to reject can also be dependent on your aftercare process, which is why Gottschalk typically recommends clients leave their piercings alone (with the obvious exception of cleaning) after getting them.
“You have to take really good care of them — otherwise, they’re going to reject pretty quickly,” he says. Once it does begin to reject, you can look into seeing a professional who can tell you if there’s a possibility that your piercing can be saved or you can remove it.
“Usually, the object of the game at that point is to minimize scarring, so I tend to recommend removing it the second it begins to show signs of really bad irritation,” Gottschalk says.
— Additional reporting by Ariel Baker
