Doctors Warn North West's Hand Piercings Could Cause Permanent Damage

North West has been collecting hand piercings since last September, when the then-12-year-old debuted her first dermal piercing on her middle finger. Since early 2026 the collection has grown to several more across her fingers and hands — a look she's even turned into a debut single called "Piercing on My Hand."

Kim Kardashian has defended her daughter's bold self-expression publicly, telling podcast host Alex Cooper she would "never take that creativity away from her." North herself has clapped back at critics on TikTok with characteristic sass, and the two have jointly told fans: "It's OK."

Dermatologists disagree.

"Just don't do it," said Dr. Corey Hartman, a board-certified dermatologist, founder of Skin Wellness Dermatology, and assistant clinical professor at the University of Alabama School of Medicine. "Long term, these piercings can lead to hypertrophic scars, hyperpigmentation, disfigurement and loss of function of the body part where the piercing is done, particularly in patients with highly melanated skin, like North West."

What Makes Hand Piercings Different

North's piercings appear to be a combination of surface and dermal piercings — two styles that are fundamentally more complex and riskier than a standard earlobe piercing.

Surface piercings have two entry points connected beneath the skin by a barbell, with decorative ends sitting on top. Dermal piercings are single-point piercings that use a small anchor embedded beneath the skin, with a decorative top screwed into that anchor to create the appearance of jewelry floating on the surface.

Neither is as simple as it looks. Changing the jewelry requires a professional piercer — ideally the original one — to avoid dislodging the anchor. Permanent removal requires professional intervention as well, and scarring is common even with proper removal.

Hand piercings carry specific anatomical risks that piercings in other locations don't. The hands contain a complex network of tendons close to the surface. If an anchor is placed too deep or migrates, it can disrupt tendon function — potentially reducing the hand's ability to move normally. In extreme cases, Hartman warned, complications could cause permanent loss of normal hand function. Tissue damage affecting nearby blood vessels or nerves is also possible if placement goes wrong.

The body can also simply reject the piercing. The rejection process — in which the body gradually pushes a foreign object toward the surface and expels it — can cause significant scarring on its own, even if the piercing appeared successful initially. Hypergranulation, a raised red bump around the piercing site, is another complication that can develop from jewelry that's too tight or from irritation during healing.

It's worth noting that some of North's piercings have appeared and disappeared over time, suggesting some may not be permanent. But visible scarring and discoloration around certain sites suggests at least some are genuine.

The Age Question

The larger conversation here isn't really about North West specifically — it's about minors and permanent body modification more broadly.

Hartman is direct: adolescents are not cognitively equipped to fully understand the long-term implications of permanent body modifications. The prefrontal cortex — the part of the brain responsible for long-term decision-making, risk assessment, and understanding future consequences — isn't fully developed until the mid-twenties. A 13-year-old's enthusiasm for a piercing that looks cool right now doesn't come with the neurological capacity to genuinely weigh what it means if that piercing causes scarring, functional damage, or disfigurement that persists for decades.

Hartman's position is that parental consent isn't sufficient on its own — the decision still shouldn't be made lightly, and ideally shouldn't be made at all until the person is old enough to make an informed, adult choice. "If the desire remains when they turn 18, then they can reconsider at that time," he said.

North West is 13. She's also the child of one of the most famous women in the world, which means her piercings influence other young people who see them and want to replicate the look — potentially without parental oversight, in less sterile environments, performed by less experienced piercers, which Hartman noted dramatically increases the risk of everything going wrong.

The hands that write, play instruments, type, draw, and do essentially everything are not the ideal canvas for experimental permanent body modification at 13. That's the medical consensus regardless of how cool the jewelry looks.

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