Is 22k gold safe for piercing jewellery?

Clients ask about gold karat more than almost any other jewellery question. The instinct behind it makes sense: higher karat means more gold, more gold means purer, and purer sounds safer. That chain of logic is reasonable — but it doesn't tell the full story for body jewellery specifically.

22k gold is 91.7% pure gold. 18k is 75%. 14k is 58.3%. On that measure alone, 22k is the "most gold." But for jewellery that lives in a piercing — in contact with healing tissue, under mechanical stress from daily movement — karat is not the most important variable. And in specific ways, 22k is a worse choice for body jewellery than 14k or 18k.

This piece explains why. The professional piercing industry has clear reasons for landing on 14k and 18k as the standard, and it's worth understanding them before drawing conclusions from karat numbers alone.

What karat actually measures

Karat is a measure of gold purity — the ratio of gold to other metals in an alloy. Pure gold is 24 karats (24/24). Jewellery gold is always an alloy because pure gold is too soft to hold its shape or hold stone settings under wear.

• 22k gold: 91.7% gold, 8.3% alloy metals (typically copper, silver, or zinc)
• 18k gold: 75% gold, 25% alloy
• 14k gold: 58.3% gold, 41.7% alloy

Karat tells you the proportion of gold. It doesn't tell you what the alloy metals are, how the piece was manufactured, what the surface finish is, or how the material performs under the specific demands of a piercing. All of those things matter more for safety than the karat number.

The hardness problem

The alloy metals in gold — copper, silver, zinc — add hardness. More alloy means a harder, more durable metal. Less alloy (higher karat) means a softer one.

22k gold has a Vickers hardness of approximately 60–80. 14k gold sits around 120–150. That difference is significant for jewellery in a piercing. A softer metal:

• Scratches more easily from normal contact with clothing, hair, and skin
• Accumulates micro-abrasions on the surface — rough areas where bacteria can colonise
• Holds stone settings less securely, particularly under the movement and contact stress of a healing piercing
• Is more prone to deformation over time — threads loosen, stones shift

For traditional fine jewellery — pendants, chains, bracelets — softness is rarely a critical problem, because those pieces aren't embedded in tissue. For body jewellery in a piercing, surface integrity and mechanical durability are not aesthetic preferences. They are functional requirements. This is why the professional piercing industry — globally, consistently — uses 14k and 18k, not 22k.

The alloy composition question

The alloy in gold jewellery matters as much as the karat for skin safety. The most common cause of metal reactions in gold jewellery is not the gold itself but the alloy metals — specifically nickel, which was historically used in white gold alloys and is a potent sensitiser.

22k gold has a small alloy fraction (8.3%), but the composition of that alloy is not standardised. The karat tells you how much alloy; it doesn't tell you what's in it. A 22k piece from an unverified manufacturer could contain trace nickel. A 14k piece from BVLA, formulated with a verified nickel-free alloy, is unambiguously safer for tissue contact than a higher-karat piece with an unverified alloy.

The relevant question is not "what karat is this?" but "what is the alloy, and is the manufacturer's formulation verified?" BVLA publishes its alloy standards. The gold at Platinum Point is 14k and 18k, with nickel-free alloys, manufactured to BVLA's documented specifications. This is verifiable — and it is the correct question to ask of any studio offering gold body jewellery.

Why there is no 22k implant-grade standard

The most rigorous material standard for implantable metals is ASTM F136, which applies to titanium (Ti-6Al-4V ELI). For gold, there is no equivalent ASTM implant-grade specification for 22k gold. The absence is not an oversight — it reflects the fact that 22k is not the material profile the professional body jewellery and medical-device industries have converged on for implant applications.

BVLA, Anatometal, Industrial Strength, and every manufacturer whose products are stocked by reputable professional piercers globally produces body jewellery in 14k and 18k. The reasons are the ones above: appropriate hardness, controllable alloy composition, and manufacturing standards appropriate for tissue contact. 22k gold exists in traditional jewellery markets for specific applications where those demands are different.

The right question is not what karat the gold is — it's whether the alloy is nickel-free, and whether the manufacturer can demonstrate it. At Platinum Point, the answer to both is yes, for every piece we carry.

What Platinum Point uses — and why

Every piece at Platinum Point is BVLA — solid 14k or 18k gold, 950 platinum, or genuine stones. BVLA is the global benchmark for fine body jewellery manufacture. Their gold uses nickel-free alloys formulated specifically for long-term tissue contact. The studio stocks 100+ BVLA pieces and is New Zealand's only exclusive BVLA account.

The choice of 14k and 18k is deliberate and based on the same reasoning above: these are the karats at which the balance of gold purity, alloy hardness, and biocompatibility is optimised for body jewellery. Not because 22k is dangerous — it isn't — but because 14k and 18k perform better in a piercing, from every angle that matters.

For clients upgrading to solid gold for the first time, the BVLA 14k vs 18k guide covers the practical differences between those two options. The starting point is confirmed by the time you're choosing between them: the gold at Platinum Point meets the standard that matters.

Questions to ask any studio about their gold

Before booking a piercing that involves gold jewellery, ask specifically:

1. What karat is the gold? — 14k or 18k is the professional standard. If the answer is 22k, the follow-up questions below become more important.
2. Is the alloy nickel-free? — Not "hypoallergenic" (an unregulated term in NZ), but specifically: is nickel excluded from the alloy? Can they confirm this from manufacturer documentation?
3. Who manufactures it? — Brand name and supplier. A studio using jewellery from a verified professional-grade manufacturer can answer this without hesitation. A studio that can't name the manufacturer or provide alloy specifications is not in a position to guarantee the biocompatibility of what they're placing in your body.

Gold quality is about more than the number. A studio that understands this will answer all three questions specifically and confidently. At Platinum Point, those answers are always available — because the jewellery is always BVLA.