Are you curious about what sort of tools are used in the piercing process?

Piercing Needles - These come in various sizes (gauges) to accommodate different body piercings. Common sizes include 12 gauge for navel or tongue piercings, 14 gauge also for navel piercings, nipple, eyebrow, septum and tongue piercings. 16 gauge are often used for cartilage, lip, eyebrow and septum. Finally 18 gauge for cartilage and nose piercings and 20 gauge also for nose piercings. You'll notice that some of these are repeated in different sizes. It depends on your piercer and the jewelry used which size needle is used. The above is just a general guideline.

Dermal Punch - It's basically a hole punch for piercings. This is used to perform dermal piercing procedures. It creates a hole in the surface of the skin in order to insert a dermal anchor.

Piercing Guns - These aren't as common as they used to be for good reason! They can be potentially dangerous and you should definitely not opt for a piercer who uses one. Good professional piercers won't use these because they know the ramifications of the use of this tool. You can read more about them here - click for more info.

Forcep Clamps - While these are not a tool used to pierce the skin, they are used during the piercing process to hold the tissue secure while the needle is inserted through the skin. Usually they're used for septum, cartilage and lip piercingss

Sterile Pens - Your piercer uses these to mark your piercing for proper placement prior to performing your piercing.

Alcohol Swabs - These are a pretty obvious one. Once you're pierced, your piercer will use these to clean up.