Understanding Acrylic Piercing Jewelry: Pros, Cons, and Safety Precautions

Acrylic, also called PMMA or plexiglass, is becoming more and more popular in piercing jewelry for its great advantages.

It is a plastic material, which means it’s highly flexible. Acrylic piercing rods can bend, flex, and curve to a certain extent. They are available in lengths that you can shorten to fit your belly button piercing, tongue piercing, and lip piercing perfectly.

How can I use acrylic piercing jewelry?

Acrylic can be used for an enormous number of things.

• Within the piercing industry, you’ll find acrylic tapers for gauging in different shapes and colors. Those are particularly good as they are incredibly lightweight compared to metal ones. 
• Acrylic piercing jewelry is especially recommended for tongue and lip piercings, as it protects your teeth and gums from impact.
• Acrylic piercing jewelry can be made in many different colors. That’s why this type of piercing jewelry is extremely popular during the hottest months!.

Are there disadvantages to using acrylic in my piercings?

Since acrylic is a porous material, it breaks down more quickly than piercing jewelry made out of surgical steel. For example, if you screw an acrylic ball onto a metal rod too tight, the rod might screw through the ball. So you’ll need to be careful to not overdo it!

Besides, acrylic cannot withstand alcohol. The surface will become dull and might crack. Therefore it cannot be disinfected at home. It also can’t withstand temperatures above 80° C, so it can’t be autoclaved. This means you can’t use acrylic in freshly made piercings.

Can I use acrylic if I have allergies?

If you suffer from a nickel allergy, there should be no problem using acrylic jewelry in your healed piercing. It's a hypoallergenic material, so it does not contain nickel.

For piercings that are still healing, we don’t recommend acrylic jewelry. Instead, you should stick to the jewelry you got at the piercer until it’s fully healed.