Acrylic and Bioplast Jewelry- Safe, or Not?

There’s a wide range of materials out there that people use for body jewelry. From metals, woods, horns, and stones there’s no shortage of material to wear. And most materials, like anything else, have a good version, and a not so good version. Acrylic is one of the few materials that, across the board, does NOT come in any safe variety. That’s right folks, there is NO safe acrylic or plastic* body jewelry. Let’s examine a little closer.

What do we mean when we say Acrylic? If you look online many manufactures sell acrylic body jewelry. Across the board however they only list “acrylic” for the material. But what does this actually mean? There are thousands of types and varieties of plastic polymer that fall under the umbrella term “acrylic”. Acrylate Polymers belong to a family of polymers commonly known as “Acrylic.” Different mixtures and bonds of these polymers make up different mixtures and varieties of acrylic. PMMA is the most commonly used synthetic polymer advertised as “acrylic” for body jewelry and other purposes. PMMA stands for poly methyl methacrylic. It’s used as an alternative to glass, for casting resins, for ink and paints, for nails and polish, and hundreds of other uses. Pure PMMA has uses in medical implants and bone glues for it’s biocompatibility . Pure PMMA however is quite expensive, so most companies work with composites and other mixtures that change the structure of PMMA and make it easier and more affordable to work with. These composites can have any range of additives, fillers, and other random chemicals mixed in, and there is limited regulation in many countries about what fillers end up used. Dyes, pigments, other plastics, liquid chemicals, and other acrylate polymers are all things that have been discovered as filler in various forms of PMMA. Many of these fillers and monomers are known carcinogens- meaning they are known to cause cancer.

But there is implant grade PMMA? Yes, there is biocompatible implant grade PMMA. This PMMA is rigorously tested for its hardness, tensile strength, compression strength, molecular weight, and monomer content. For biocompatibily it is tested with cytocompatiable, mutagenicits, sensetization, undergoes toxicological risk assessments, and, yes, is tested on animals. Beyond that, most lots of implant grade materials including PMMA must be traceable- everyone who handles, or comes in contact with these materials signs off to ensure they have been properly handled.

So how do I buy this implant grade Acrylic? Well- you don’t. Body Jewelry companies aren’t working with implant grade PMMA. It’s too expensive, too inaccessible , and too unique to work to be cost effective for them. These tests aren’t performed on commercial and mass produced PMMA- they are just too costly. Thus- no commercially accessible Acrylic is going to be implant graded. Because of this mass market PMMA isn’t going to have the same amazing properties (biocompatiably as proved by through testing, and proper hardness, tensile strength, and other qualities) as implant grade PMMA.