How to Tell If Your Piercing Is Migrating, And What to Do About It (2024)

If you're excited about getting a new piercing but worried about it possibly migrating to an unwanted location, you're not alone. After all, the last thing you want after getting your perfectly placed shark bite piercing is having it end up on your chin (just kidding, that won't happen). Still, piercing migration is not exactly uncommon, and can prove frustrating. Fortunately, there are ways to prevent and treat the condition and we tapped board-certified dermatologists Dr. Jessie Cheung, Dr. Joshua Zeichner and professional piercer Janeese Brooks to find out how.

Keep scrolling for our complete guide to piercing migration.

Rejection vs. Migration: What’s the Difference?

Simply put: Rejection occurs when you place a foreign object in your body (e.g. piercing jewelry) and for one reason or another, your body considers the foreign object to be a threat to your health. While rejection can happen anywhere, some areas of the body are more prone to rejection than others.

"Some anatomical sites are more prone to rejection—flat, tight surfaces don't allow for deeper piercings and are subject to greater pressure," explains Cheung. Thus, in order to protect itself, your body slowly fights the object by pushing it and healing the skin behind it, which eventually forces the piercing back out through the skin.

On the flip side, when your piercing is migrating, it's attempting to move from its original spot to a new one, and in some cases, can result in a full-blown rejection. "As your body's immune system reacts to the foreign material in your skin, it is common to have some swelling and redness," she says.

Piercings Most Likely to Reject and Migrate

"In my experience, I've found that dermal piercings and surface piercings tend to push themselves out over time but not always," Brooks tells us. "Both of these types of piercings are inside the body, underneath the skin healing(not just through the skin)." Because there is less skin there to help keep the piercing secure, chances are higher that your body will find a way to push it out. Of course, this totally depends on the person, as some people are simply more prone to rejection than others.

The most common surface piercings are belly button and brow piercings. However, the piercings most likely to reject are those that reside closer to the skin's surface, such as sternum, nape, and Madison piercings. A skilled and experienced piercer will know how to pierce through enough flesh for a secure hold without causing tissue or nerve damage, albeit even a perfectly placed piercing can still be rejected if your body doesn't want it there.

How to Tell If Your Piercing Is Migrating

Because migration is such a slow process that can take weeks or even months to play out, it can be tricky to tell for sure if your piercing is actually changing. A few symptoms to look out for are constant soreness and sensitivity, the skin over the piercing getting thin enough to see the jewelry through it, the jewelry hanging more loosely than it used to, and the hole around the piercing appearing larger.

"The piercing will start to wander towards the edge of wherever the piercing is," says Brooks. This can happen with a tragus piercing, she notes, adding that for other piercings (e.g. dermals, nipples, surface bars), migration is noticeable as the jewelry gets closer to the edge of your skin."Over time you may start to see more and more of the jewelry underneath your skin become visible. She's trying to leave you."

According to Cheung, "If your piercing is placed too superficially, or is under too much pressure, or just heals poorly, your immune system will reject the material and the prolonged inflammation will push the piercing and result in migration. This can start as a gradual widening of the hole, or stretching of the skin around the piercing." If this is your experience, you should go see a doctor ASAP to keep it from getting worse.

What to Do If Your Piercing Migrates

Once a piercing has begun to migrate, there isn't too much you can do to stop it. What you can do, however, is prevent it from getting worse.

If the anchor of a dermal piercing has become fully engulfed into the skin, the only way to address it, Zeichner says, "is to see your dermatologist to have the excess skin physically removed or cut open to expose the edge of the piercing."

If you've only just noticed migration, "remove the piercing to avoid further damage to your skin. If you leave the piercing, you may develop unwanted build-up of scar tissue," Cheung says.

Alternatively, you may decide to not do anything at all. "If you were my client I'd tell you: If it makes you happy keep it.Migration doesn't hurt," says Brooks. "Some worry that if something is migrating then it will lead to rejection and force itself out.Migration doesn't always mean rejection and rejection doesn't always mean you can't do it again."

Is Re-Piercing After Rejection Safe?

Yes, you can re-pierce after rejection.

Brooks says, "Absolutely. Our bodies are incredible, they regenerate for lack of a better word."

She continues: "Yes, there will be a scar; yes, if something has rejected before there's a higher chance it might again," she says. "But if you want it, yes,we can do it again; yes, it's safe.It won't hurt you any more than anything else."

Some fear that if their body rejected one piercing, it might reject all of them, which is not a crazy theory but also not necessarily the case. "You can attempt to re-pierce in the same area, but make sure your artist either goes deeper, uses a larger gauge, or chooses a less reactive metal," advises Cheung. Above all, be sure that a professional does your piercing so you can trust it'll be done properly, and make sure to keep a close eye on it afterward.

"You can get things pierced as many times as you'd like," Brooks tells us. "Scar tissue will develop and it'll get more difficult to heal and have more prominent scars the more you redo(These have a medium-long road to healing). But you can redo it and we (your piercer) should be with you every step of the way."