It’s a common thing in the studio for people to ask about MRI’s and what to do about their piercings. It’s fairly common that a lot of people who remove their piercing for the procedure can’t get their jewelry back in, wait to seek help and end up losing the piercing all together. So today let’s go over some options so you don’t have to waste any money or pay for a whole new piercing procedure!
First things first let’s get down to basics. What is an MRI? MRI stands for magnetic resonance imaging. It’s exactly what you think it is, a giant magnet. It uses extremely strong magnetic fields and radio waves to generate images of organs and tissue inside the human body. They are very useful because they can diagnose a vast variety of issues with no danger of being exposed to radiation. They are often prescribed, and chances are at some point in your life you’re going to need one, if not more.
If you let your imagination get the best of you, you’re immediately going to think ok, big magnet plus metal equals some of the worst scenarios imaginable. So why are they making you remove your jewelry? What about people with braces, dental implants, metal plates in their head, or pins and screws in their bones?
When you break down magnetism this is how it works; every material on earth has some degree of magnetism. What we need to worry about are materials that are ferromagnetic. Any substance that is ferromagnetic are magnetized even if there is no external magnetic field. It’s literally just magnetic by nature. Basically, these materials will move straight to a magnet placed near them with no external need for stimulation. When using an MRI, ferromagnetic material would be highly problematic and adhere to the machine. Cobalt, nickel, and iron are perfect examples. These substances are also paramagnetic, meaning they can become magnetized, but it will be very weak and only by an external magnetic field. Meaning no field- nothing to pull them. One of the things we use quite often in piercing is titanium. Titanium falls into this category.
There have been numerous studies over the years on a vast number of different materials when it comes to MRI’s. the consensus is that anything nonferromagnetic is safe. With titanium being a paramagnetic it’s absolutely safe for MRI’s. The only real issue that can occur is the jewelry may obscure the scan and leave what techs call a black hole. it’s just a dark image where the jewelry will block the scan. If you have a competent tech they can account for this so typically it’s a non issue.
So, that being said. If you have implant grade titanium the procedure is absolutely safe. The issue is making sure the jewelry you are wearing is in fact implant grade titanium.
Good quality titanium jewelry is usually made from the same grade they use for medical implants. Hips, screws, plates etc. It’s what makes people with implants in their body for whatever reason able to get these scans done safely.
You will want to verify with your piercer or wherever you bought your jewelry that the jewelry is in fact implant grade before jumping into an MRI machine. This is particularly crucial if you have a piercing that can’t remove, like a surface piercing or micro dermal.
So, you know you have good quality jewelry, but they are insisting that you take them out anyway. This is quite common. There are only a few options in this scenario because unfortunately there is a lot of bias against body piercings in the medical community. First thing you can do is simply stand up for yourself. You can bring a copy of a mill certificate to the appointment. If you ask your piercer this should be provided for you. A mill certificate shows the exact alloy of the metal you were given and will absolutely prove the jewelry is in fact safe for the procedure. You could also ask your piercer to write a letter for you saying that the piercing is still healing and removing it could cause harm to you and the healing process. Now all of this said it’s their equipment and their policy. If they stick to their guns, there’s really nothing else you can do if they insist. But you tried that’s what counts.
So you put up a fight and now you’re back to square one.
There are a large variety of non-metal retainers available for situations just like this. Glass and silicone specifically are not metallic and absolutely safe. Now typically if you have had your piercing for a number of years you really don’t need to worry so much about buying retainers, especially if you have a lot of piercings and don’t want to spend the money. But if your piercing is still relatively fresh taking it out even for just a few hours can be problematic. Seeking a professional before any procedure is recommended as they can sell you the proper jewelry or advise you on where to get it. They can help you swap out existing piercings beforehand and at the very least they can point you in the right direction for anything you may need even if they don’t stock it in the studio.
How long a piercing can be left out safely really varies. The piercing location and time it’s been done are the biggest concerns. Perfect example is your 4-year-old helix piercing will be just fine with no jewelry in it for a day or a few hours. Your 2-week-old nostril piercing will shrink down and be quite a pain to put back in given the same time frame.
So… To sum all this up before any procedure seek out your local professional. As we stated it’s all too often, we hear stories of clients who lose the piercing or end up having to get a whole new piercing when given the proper information can be avoided 100% of the time!