Piercing is an art that has many aficionados and at the same time gets a lot of flak from its critics. Even after so many years, this tradition of piercing yourself to adorn with body jewelry is covered by a blanket of doubts and criticism. It remained behind the doors for many years and it was with the internet boom that more and more people adopted it.

Those who are into it, dive deeper and deeper to experience the options offered by it. But those who remain out of it are stopped in their tracks by the countless myths surrounding this mystic art-form. There are urban legends, there are stories, and everybody, somehow, has that one distant cousin that had to suffer because of his piercings.

It is important to brush away the misconceptions that people have about body piercing. Correct and sound knowledge is the only way with which piercing can be made safer and open. Here are some debunked myths about piercing that you should know –

Twisting Your Jewelry Helps in Healing

No, it does not. Twisting or turning your body jewelry to get it into a particular position does not help in healing at all. In fact, it can actually exacerbate the problem by disturbing the healing tissue. You can have some play after the piercing has completely healed.

But unless you are pretty sure, don’t even think about it. Follow all the aftercare instructions given by the piercer and follow them heartily.

Eyebrow Piercings Lead to Facial Paralysis

A common myth that surrounds eyebrow piercing – it causes paralysis. No, it doesn’t and you should learn that no form of piercing can lead to paralysis if it is done with the right tools and with the right techniques. Common piercing doesn’t go deep enough that they can disturb the nerves to make the area paralyzed.

Piercing only contacts the skin and not the tissues. And tissues are where the paralysis occurs. So pass this one.

MRI Will Pull Out the Piercings

You know that guy, right? The one whose piercings were pulled by the strong magnets present in the MRI machine? If no, then glad you didn’t. There’s an urban legend that claims that the magnet in an MRI machine can pull the piercings out of your body and that’s why they don’t allow them.

No. First of all, you should know that high-quality body jewelry is not made of ferrous metals. Second, the energy created by the magnetic field is absorbed as heat in the metals, leading to burning in those areas. This danger of burning is the major concern for doctors and that’s why they don’t allow body jewelry in the MRI scanner.

Piercing Guns are Okay

Pierce guns are only okay if the body part that is to be pierced is an earlobe. Anything else and a piercing needle is the only way to go. A piercing gun uses blunt force and a crude way of piercing. It can lead to bruising, scarring, or tearing. Nowadays, even earlobe piercing is being done with needles.

Belly Button Piercing Affects the Stomach, Veins, and Uterus

This is similar to the paralysis myth. It goes like this – having a belly button piercing can lead to sickness and other problems around your stomach or the uterus. It’s completely false. Belly button piercing is done on the outer rim of the navel and it only touches a small layer of skin with fat underneath.

It’s far away from the stomach and nowhere close to the veins or arteries. In all reality, belly button piercing is one of the safest piercing you can get.