A piercing artist has revealed the most painful places to get pierced - including your earlobes and nostrils.
Brett Turner, 33, said pain tolerance levels will vary for everyone, but some areas of the body are particularly sensitive.
He said the top five most painful areas are the earlobes, navel, nostrils, surface piercing and scaffold piercings.
Brett, a body piercer and tattoo artist from York, said: "Firstly it's important to understand that pain is subjective.
"Everyone's perception of pain is different and everyone's body is mapped out differently.
"What may hurt one person, another person may barely feel.
"For example when I had my earlobes pierced I found them excruciating and then for my nostril it was totally fine.
"For most people this is totally the way round."
Brett ranked his top five most painful spots to get pierced - including three popular piercing choices.
Earlobe piercings, a classic choice for many people globally, were at number five.
Brett said: "Although earlobes are one of the most common piercings for most people around the world to have, they can be very painful.
"The lobe is filled with tiny nerve endings resulting in what could be a rather unpleasant piercing experience for some."
The fourth most painful is another common choice - the navel - which Brett said is tricky because of its long healing process.
He said: "This piercing is and always had been super common with teenagers.
"It varies on person to person how much it will hurt depending on their anatomy, but the pain comes with the healing process.
"Naval piercings in general have a much longer healing time than most other piercings."
By contrast, Brett said the next most painful piercing, nostrils, heal much more quickly but can sting as the needle goes in.
He said: "Nostril piercings do sting a fair bit and they usually come with a bit of eye watering too.
"The pain goes away very fast though and they are fairly easy to take care of."
Surface piercings, where flat areas of the body like the chest or upper cheek are pierced on top of the skin, were ranked by Brett as the third most painful piercing.
In this procedure the piercer pinches the skin and pushes the needle through, which Brett said can make them more difficult to tolerate.
He said: "They usually take a bit longer to do than most piercings therefore the customer can be feeling pain for longer.
"They also tent to swell, bruise, and heal slower and there is a high risk of rejection."
The second most painful piercing for both men and women is nipple piercing, according to Brett, which requires more pressure to be used.
He said: "Nipple piercings on both biological male and female anatomy are often quite painful.
"There are various factors to take into consideration such as nipple size, depth and also if the nipple is inverted.
"They are tougher than other body parts so more pressure is used.
"They also heal very slowly."
Finally Brett's number one most painful piercing is the industrial or scaffold piercing, an ear piercing which is inserted at an angle through two separate parts of cartilage.
Brett said: "An industrial piercing in my opinion is the most painful one because it goes through two separate parts of cartilage, is slightly angled and uses a thicker needle than other ear piercings.
"They are very slow to heal and prone to catching too.
"With all these factors you get a pretty painful but awesome looking piercing."
Brett also shared advice to potential customers who might be scared of the pain involved with getting pierced.
He said: "The best thing for anyone who is worried about piercing pain to do, is to firstly accept the fact that the piercing is going look brilliant and it's worth a few moments of discomfort.
"You should bring a friend with you, a good friend who won’t laugh and will be supportive.
"Have a decent meal a few hours before, and prepare all your cleaning solutions and aftercare ready before hand."
Brett has worked for 15 years at the Talisman studio in York and is about to open his own piercing parlour, 'That Place'.
His work can be seen on Instagram @the_york_piercer.
Brett's top five most painful places to get pierced (least to most painful) -
- Five - Earlobes
- Four - Navel
- Three - Nostril
- Two - Surface piercings
- One - Scaffold piercing
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