Prince Albert (PA) Piercing 101

Prince Albert piercings! These are one of the most popular penile genital piercings that are done, and with good reason. Many clients have anatomy that is suitable to have this piercing, and it’s relatively easy to heal. It’s also a very functional piercing for the wearer and their partners. A PA piercing is a piercing that enters at the base of the head, about the space where the head connects to the shaft. It exits into the urethra, and typically jewelry sits outside the urethral opening. These piercings can provide urethral stimulation for the wearer, and create a bevy of new sensations and experiences during solo and partnered sex. And for partners, the jewelry can add a textural difference, as well as pleasantly contact some sensitive areas! This blog post is 18+ as it will contain photos, ahead, so please be aware.

A Note on Naming

Doug Malloy and Jim Ward

Legend has it that Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, had this piercing himself, and this is what gave it this name. As the story goes his penis was very visible in clothing of the time and this was undesirable. So he had this piercing done and would use it to tie his penis off to one thigh or the other, to keep it out of the way. It’s a colorful, and believable story that has spread all over the world. But it is in fact just that, a story. It was created by Doug Malloy, a piercing enthusiast. He connected with Jim Ward and together these two men were responsible for much of the early piercing industry in America. Doug wrote a pamphlet “Body and Genital Piercing in Brief” which contained information about different piercings, mostly genital piercings. There were colorful stories about the origins and histories of genital piercings, including this story about the Prince Albert. But Doug admitted that they were just stories, and he made them up to encourage interest and excitement in piercing. There is no historical evidence that Prince Albert had this piercing- and actually its suggested this piercing has existed much further back then those monarchs.

Correct Anatomy is Key

In order to do a PA piercing, first we need to make sure a client has the anatomy to support this piercing. This anatomy looks a little different on circumcised and uncircumcised penises.

For someone uncircumcised, the foreskin needs to retract back enough for us to pierce. We also need to make sure the piercing and jewelry won’t prevent the foreskin from relaxing down into place. If the jewelry could potentially pin the foreskin back, this can actually cause paraphimosis, a condition where the foreskin is trapped back. This is a serious condition that can cause severe damage, and this is why checking anatomy with foreskin is so important. As this piercing goes through the base of the head where it meets the shaft, often if you are uncircumcised there is a frenum there that connects the foreskin to the head. We don’t want to pierce through that webbing, and often need to pierce ever so slightly off to one side or the other so it doesn’t interfere with the movement of the foreskin.

For circumcised penises, we need to make sure scarring from circumcision doesn’t interfere with piercing. If someone has more severe or serious scarring, this can effect the piercing placement and ability to heal. We also have to account for how that scarring will react to piercing- some scar tissue can be pierced just fine and others can react poorly to piercing.

On both anatomies we need to make sure there is enough space between the urethra and the piercing location. Sometimes low set or offset urethras make it impossible for us to safely do this piercing. Even with perfect anatomy, migration is still a risk with this piercing, so we have to be extra cautious with placement and anatomy. On both anatomies we also don’t want to pierce too far down the shaft. A piercing sometimes called a dolphin or deep shaft PA exists, but these are advanced and risky piercings that come with concern of damaging the important spongy tissue of the shaft, causing scarring which can effect erections, and blood flow in the area. The risks improper placement can cause are high, including pain, scarring, issues becoming erect, painful erections, UTIs, and permanent nerve damage. This is why it’s incredibly important to see someone who is properly trained on these piercings and is able to do this correctly for you.

Jewelry Considerations

Personally my favorite jewelry for a PA piercing is a captive bead ring. It’s comfortable, secure, leaves room for swelling, is an affordable piece of jewelry, and all around great for healing. Whenever possible I prefer to start these with captives. That said, sometimes captives are not the best call for initial piercing. For example, on some uncircumcised clients a captive may cause irritation to the foreskin, and a curved or circular barbell will be a better call. Regardless of the style being used, I pierce PA’s at an 8g minimum. Any thinner and I find them prone to migration and tearing from use. This is an area that can experience a lot of friction and use during sex and masturbation, and the jewelry needs to be stable enough for that.

With curved barbells, it’s worth noting these often can have the bead sink into the urethra. This is somewhat common with curves and as long as its not painful or uncomfortable it’s technically safe. Many folks are bothered by this though, and choose to wear larger beads on the front to minimize sinking. The same issue can arise with circular barbells as well. Curves however are usually more comfortable for partners than rings, so communicate with your partner and ask them what they enjoy and what is comfortable for them as well.

Many clients end up stretching these piercings, and in larger gauges segment rings, screw on bead rings, and tribal dream rings are all popular choices along side your usual captive bead ring and curved barbell.