Originally the simplest form of body piercing was the lobes for earrings jewelry. Over the centuries the body piercing became more of a fashion and specially crafted jewelry became available. Materials used for production also became more diverse and traditional gold and silver were substituted by surgical steel, titanium, glass, several kinds of plastic, wood, horn, amber, stone, bamboo, silicone, fossilized ivories, tusks and other bones, etc.

In the West body jewelry has become quite a fashion. Thus a wide variety of materials are used some of them by auto claving. This was invented by Charles Chamberland in 1879.An autoclave is a pressurized device designed to heat aqueous solutions above their boiling point.

However there are some limitations and some metals cannot be autoclaved. In addition some can induce allergic reactions with the bacteria they may harbor. Certain countries belonging to the EU also have legal regulations specifying which materials can be used in new piercing.

Another aspect of body jewelry is the organic materials used for this purpose.These materials like bones, horns of animals and ivory have their own niche in this field.These organic materials are considered more exotic than plastic and metal jewelry. These give a nice and smooth finish. Biological organic materials allow your body to “breathe” and they never get cold during winter. However, like wood, they can get dried out, which can produce cracks.

Materials used for body jewelry must be clean and washed with an antiseptic. Otherwise badly cleaned materials can transfer remaining bacteria and such to the body of the jewelry-wearer. Hence it is important that you buy your body jewelry from a reputed manufacturer than a run of the mill shop. It must be borne in mind that lower quality body jewelry can harbor bacteria that can create skin infections.