A Dermal Piercing, also known as a Microdermal Piercing or a Single-Point Piercing, is a piercing that lies on any flat surface of the body and is held in place with a dermal anchor that is installed underneath the skin.

Ordinary body piercings have entry and exit points for the jewelry, but, in a dermal piercing, the jewelry sits on the surface and is secured with an anchor that is embedded in the dermal layer (underneath the flesh). This gives the appearance of having small beads on the surface of the skin. This type of surface piercing is can be placed on almost any flat surface of the body, which allows you to decorate areas that are difficult to pierce with regular piercings.

You can form patterns using multiple dermals, or you can also attach an ornament, which is popular with dermal finger piercings.

Types of Microdermal JewelryDermal Anchors: - There are two types of dermal anchors - flat-footed dermal anchor and the rounded-base variety. The footed one is more secure because the foot is angled, so it is less likely to pop straight out of your skin.

Dermal Tops: - This is the jewelry that is screwed on the top of the anchor. This can be changed.

Skin Divers: - A skin diver has a pointed-end base and a jewelry on the top. To insert, the piercer makes a biopsy punch to create a pouch where the base will sit. Once the skin heals over, the jewelry cannot be interchanged.

Surface Piercings are barbell piercings that sit on the surface of the skin. Surface piercings (transdermal implants) have an entry and exit point. Instead of the jewelry being secured with an anchor, a barbell is inserted into the flesh so that both ends of the barbell stick out from the skin while the middle bar sits below the flesh.

Get Creative with Dermal & Surface Piercings