Many people are concerned about the pain when considering body piercings, but the information below should ease your worries and let you know what to expect.

Body piercing has been carried out worldwide ever since people had the tools to carry it out, its roots often lying in ritual and early religion. However, it has also been a seen as a beautifying process, and even today piercing is carried out in modern society both for personal adornment and as a form of ritual. Although it has always been commonplace, particular with respect to ear piercing in civilized society, piercing the body has recent become even more popular in modern civilizations. One of the issues with body piercing is the level of pain to expect, and how this varies between the different types of piercing.

The pain you feel during the piercing itself is related to the type of tissue involved. A fleshy earlobe is easy to penetrate and is generally less painful that a jab from your doctor or nurse. The pain level is slight - the same as a rose thorn in fact. However, if you want a tragus piercing or one of any other cartilage tissue such as the top part of your ear, then it will be more painful because the tissue is not so easily penetrated. However, let's face it: if the pain was significant and unbearable, such body piercings would not be as popular as they are. The same applies to the tongue, nipple and genitals.

Although the pain is brief, you could suffer from the continuous rubbing of the piercing against your clothing or other areas of the skin. This is particularly true of areas such as the genitals and the belly button - if any jewellery there catches your clothes and the stud or ring pulled is out it could lead to the piercing having to be abandoned (plus excruciating pain!). You should therefore be careful of the adornments you use: studs, for example, will be less likely to catch on clothing than rings.

Infection is another problem you may face that could lead to pain. A tongue piercing, for example, is not as easy to keep as germ-free as one in your ear - this might seem difficult to believe but it is a fact. Your mouth is generally full of germs. It is important that you have the work carried out professionally and not by an amateur or 'friend of a relative'. Professionals know the dangers of infection and can advise you on how to avoid such infection. It is very important to follow the cleaning advice you are given exactly, because many piercings are carried out in areas of your body prone to bacterial activity.

No body piercings are completely pain free. The pain involved ranges from the slight sting of an earlobe or eyebrow piercing to the more significant hurt caused by piercing tough cartilage tissue and muscles such as your tongue. None of this pain, however, is so bad as to dissuade people from having it done. The pain you feel can easily be predicted according to the feel of the tissue: if it feels soft, such as your ear lobe, then the pain will be slight, but if it feels hard, such as the cartilage of the hard parts of your ears, then it will likely hurt more. It also follows that the more sensitive areas of your body, such as labial or tongue piercings, will be more painful due to the higher concentration of nerves in these particular parts of your body.

Your pain tolerance might be higher or lower, but you can make that choice yourself and avoid piercing the more sensitive parts of your body. Generally, though, the actual pain experienced during the procedure itself is short-lived and believed by most to be worth it. It is the afterward that you must take care of, and ensure that you avoid post-piercing infection. Do that and your piercing will be successful with the minimum of personal pain and stress.