Preface:
Body piercing is not only my profession, it is my profound and lasting passion. I am still intrigued and delighted by piercing after devoting decades to the industry, performing over forty thousand piercings on other people, and receiving more than forty of my own.

Way back in 1972, I shocked my poor mother when she opened the bathroom door and caught me in the act of poking another hole through my already-pierced ear. I assured her, “Mom, other people are going to do this, too. I just know it!” Naturally she didn’t believe me at the time; she and my father thought I was an inexplicably unusual girl.

Being a piercer wasn’t a common vocation when I started working at a small business called Gauntlet in the 1980s—there was just one piercing specialty studio in the United States, and I was its manager. At the time, only ear piercing was commonly practiced elsewhere, and combination tattoo-and-piercing studios had yet to crop up. My dismayed parents visibly blanched when they learned about my “career move.”

More than thirty years after that first bathroom incident my parents were amazed to find that the “freaky piercing stuff” I’d experimented with in my youth has actually become a part of our contemporary culture. Ultimately my folks have accepted me for my role in professionalizing and promoting piercing. Now when my mom runs into someone who is visibly pierced, she hands out one of my business cards and proudly explains, “My daughter is a piercing pioneer! She is responsible for the popularity of tongue piercings.”

One of the hardest parts of my job is seeing botched piercings and hearing horrible accounts from people who have suffered unnecessary pain, infection, and frustration at the hands of unqualified piercers. Sometimes they receive an ugly scar for their efforts, instead of attractive jewelry in a healed piercing, as desired. There is potential for disease transmission if piercings are improperly performed or treated; the risks are real. People have so many questions: Which jewelry is best? How do I find a good piercer? What should I use to clean my piercing?

I’ve typed literally thousands of letters and emails to individually answer these and other piercing-related questions from around the world. I am a “career volunteer” for the Association of Professional Piercers with three terms on the Board of Directors. (I am currently the Medical Liaison.) I’ve contributed to writing their educational materials and I have spoken about piercing to audiences of piercers, students, educators, and medical professionals. For years I have penned a monthly column about piercing for the body art industry publication, Pain Magazine. Yet that still wasn’t enough; I perceived the need to disseminate more information than I could share in these ways. The solution was to write a book.

Now, the knowledge required to avoid unskilled piercers, junk jewelry, and a host of piercing pitfalls is available to everyone who is interested. Read, learn, and go forth to be pierced in safety.