A madison piercing is a type of body piercing that goes through the skin at the front of the neck. They are surface piercings, and experience an extremely high rate of migration and rejection. They have a long healing period, if they heal at all.

Health issues

The vast majority of madison piercings will reject or migrate. In a three year, informal study by the Association of Professional Piercers, out of twelve participants with madison piercings, nine were removed due to migration during the first year and the remaining three had not healed. At the end of the three year study, only one piercing had healed and was still worn. Poorly healed, migrating or rejecting piercings can cause severe scarring.

Jewelry

Initial jewelry for a properly done madison is usually a surface bar, although flexible barbell style jewelry may also be used. It is not unknown for these piercings to be performed with captive bead rings, which will almost universally lead to migration and rejection.

History and culture

Like most surface piercings, madison piercings are of completely contemporary origin. Also, as in the case of most contemporary body piercings, the madison is named after the first person publicly associated with it, in this case, the porn star Madison Stone

References

The Point: Issue 33, FAll 2005. A statistical look at surface bars

External links

• Body Modification E-zine encyclopedia entry on madison piercings