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Piercing Hemostats

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Whether you’re a professional body piercer or you’ve just been having a hard time changing your jewelry at home, hemostatic forceps (commonly called hemostats) are an indispensable piercing tool.

What is a hemostat?

Hemostats were invented as surgical tools and are a subcategory of forceps. Generally speaking, forceps are scissor-shaped instruments that come in various sizes and are used for compressing, grasping, manipulating, and clamping during surgical procedures. Hemostats are very small forceps used to clamp blood vessels closed, which is how the tool gets its name — from the Greek heme (“blood”) and stasis (“stoppage”).

How do piercers use hemostats?

While piercers use various types of forceps for specific purposes, hemostats are most useful for grasping and holding small post-style jewelry, threaded or unthreaded, during installation or removal.

In many hard-to-reach piercing areas, such as the nostril or inner ear, it’s not possible to get a good grip on jewelry with just your fingers. The small, ridged tip of a hemostat allows you or your piercer to firmly grasp the post or flat backside of your body jewelry to attach or remove the top. Hemostats have multiple locking positions so that their grip will not slip during use.

Types of hemostats

There are multiple types of hemostats piercers might use depending on the size of jewelry and the location of the piercing. A Kelly hemostat (sometimes called Kelly forceps) is slightly larger, while a mosquito hemostat is smaller and useful for the tightest and most hard-to-reach areas. Both types come in straight and curved varieties for maximum comfort and ease.

All our hemostats are made from highly polished surgical steel, so they’ll never rust, and are fully autoclavable. Whatever style or size of hemostat you need, we’re sure to carry the perfect pair for you.