A flesh tunnel is a type of body piercing jewelery. It is also sometimes referred to as a spool, fleshy, earlet, expander or eyelet.

Flesh tunnels are hollow tunnels, usually used in stretched

Stretching (body piercing)

Stretching, in the context of body piercing, is the deliberate expansion of a healed fistula for the purpose of wearing body piercing jewelry. Ear piercings are the most commonly stretched piercings, with nasal septum piercings, tongue piercings and lip piercings/lip plates following close behind...

 or scalpelled

Scalpelling

Scalpelling is a body art procedure similar to body piercing for the creation of decorative perforations through the skin and other body tissue, and is most commonly used as a replacement for or enhancement of ear piercing...

 piercings. Flesh tunnels are made in smaller gauges however the smaller the gauge the smaller the effect to see through the plug becomes. Some people may choose to wear flesh tunnels instead of flesh plugs because they weigh less, especially at larger sizes. Flesh tunnels may be worn with a captive bead ring or other object passed through them.
Flesh tunnels can be made from many materials. Surgical steel, titanium

Titanium

Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....

, Pyrex

Pyrex

Pyrex is a brand name for glassware, introduced by Corning Incorporated in 1915.Originally, Pyrex was made from borosilicate glass. In the 1940s the composition was changed for some products to tempered soda-lime glass, which is the most common form of glass used in glass bakeware in the US and has...

 glass

Glass

Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...

, silicone

Silicone

Silicones are inert, synthetic compounds with a variety of forms and uses. Typically heat-resistant and rubber-like, they are used in sealants, adhesives, lubricants, medical applications , cookware, and insulation....

, acrylic plastic and a variety of natural materials, including bone

Bone

Bones are rigid organs that constitute part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They support, and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals. Bone tissue is a type of dense connective tissue...

, horn

Horn (anatomy)

A horn is a pointed projection of the skin on the head of various animals, consisting of a covering of horn surrounding a core of living bone. True horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae and Bovidae...

, amber, bamboo, stone, and wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

 all are common materials for flesh tunnels. Flesh tunnels, like flesh plugs, may contain a variety of decorative inlay

Inlay

Inlay is a decorative technique of inserting pieces of contrasting, often coloured materials into depressions in a base object to form patterns or pictures that normally are flush with the matrix. In a wood matrix, inlays commonly use wood veneers, but other materials like shells, mother-of-pearl,...

s or semi-precious stones. Some flesh tunnels have flares to keep the jewelry from falling out. If there are no flares, grooves may be cut near the edges to allow rubber or silicone o-ring

O-ring

An O-ring, also known as a packing, or a toric joint, is a mechanical gasket in the shape of a torus; it is a loop of elastomer with a disc-shaped cross-section, designed to be seated in a groove and compressed during assembly between two or more parts, creating a seal at the interface.The O-ring...

s to hold the jewelry in place. The back of the flesh tunnel may also screw off. Some flesh tunnels have internally threaded backings, as externally threaded pieces can rip freshly stretched ears.

Flesh tunnels are often worn in the earlobe, but other soft-tissue areas that are pierced can be fitted with these tunnels. In these cases the length of the tunnel might be different. Examples are the nasal septum

Nasal septum

The nasal septum separates the left and right airways in the nose, dividing the two nostrils.It is depressed by the Depressor septi nasi muscle.-Composition:The fleshy external end of the nasal septum is sometimes also called columella....

and nipples.

The actual origin of flesh tunnels, plug piercings, and body plates derived from the many tribal groups of the world. Examples would be (but not specifically) the people of Myanmar, Africa, and some Native groups. Different sizes, materials and colours determine the difference between certain tribes. The flesh tunnels symbolize different roles in their societies, for different groups, however, during the ancient Egyptian New Kingdom, both sexes wore a variety of jewelry, including earplugs/tunnels, as in this current time, they and we more often wear them as a fashion statement.