This Jewelry is 16 Gauge 1 1/8 inch internally threaded Medical Gade Surgical steel.

(astm code 316lvm f-138)

This piercing is done with a 316lvm f-138 medical grade surgical steel.    Barbell from the best body Jewelry companies. Made in America only!

     Always polished to a mirror finish.  

  Always keep medical Grade Jewelry in permanently

 So what is the difference between an Industrial Piercing at Tommy T's and the local shop by my house? Well I'm glad you asked. First of all, the Jewelry we are using is Medical Grade. What does that mean? That means it is made of an alloy that is approved by the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) for implant in your body. Now I bet the corner piercing shop tells you that his or her Jewelry is Medical Grade too. Yea, I know, I get this all the time. In most cases, the piercer saying that actually believes it. Ask them for the Mill certificate stating that the Jewelry is Implant Medical Grade. If they look at you like you have 3 eyes, there may be a problem. In fact, I have found when traveling the country that most piercers have no idea what medical grade jewelry is. In fact, they think Surgical Steel means Medical Grade. That can't be farther from the truth. Surgical Steel actually comes in dozens of different configurations. Some surgical is intended for use in industrial products, some surgical is intended for use in tools. Go to ASTM.COM and you will see there is only a few alloys that are approved for implant in your body. Enough with alloys,  let's go on to placement and technique. I don't need to go over my sterilization, sanitation and aseptic practices at this time because I go over that in other areas of my website.  The fact that I am a bussiness member of the APP and on OSHA outreach instructor speaks for itself. Ok, now onto technique. Industrials are tricky piercings. Cartlidge and skin are not connected tissue. Skin doesn't like to cooperate when it comes to industrial piercings. I have seen hundreds and hundreds of cartlidge piercings where the skin has seperated from the cartlidge at the time of the piercing and thus created a pocket for fluids to fill into. An inexperienced piercer does not know how to prevent this from happening at the time of the piercing. Also, cartlidge can be crushed and permanently damaged, so be careful out there. Cartlidge and its surrounding skin is highly sensative to metals. Look around and you will see a disproportionate amount of ears out there with bumps, keloids, scarring, etc from bad metals and piercings. So, placement-piercing technique and jewelry selection is more important here. For girls, we should use a 16 gauge bar, as most females don't have the area to use a 14 gauge piece. The ear should be carefully analyzed for protruding cartlidge that may rub up against the inner part of the bar. Length and angle will depend on how much of a lip the helix has and how far down it goes on the side of  the ear. The farther it goes to the auricular tubercle, the more of an angle you can have with the bar. That is as long as the purtruding bump from the crura of antihelix is not big enough to rub on the inner bar.  When that  happens it is veeerrry ouwwweee. It hurts!