Kim Kardashian is coming under fire for North West’s new piercing.

Fans spotted the controversial piercing while the mother and daughter were vacationing in Rome

North West and Kim Kardashian.Credit : Cobra Team / BACKGRID (2)

While the SKIMS founder and her 12-year-old daughter were recently vacationing in Rome, eagle-eyed fans spotted what appears to be a dermal piercing on North’s middle finger. Also known as microdermal piercings or single-point piercings, dermal piercings lie flat against the skin and don’t have a separate entry and exit point, per Byrdie.

In photos snapped on Aug. 23, Kardashian, 44, wore a black bodycon silk dress, while North wore a black corset, a skirt and knee-high boots. The tween’s electric blue hair was styled in two ponytails that reached below her waist. In addition to her fresh piercing, she accessorized with a heart-shaped purse, glasses and lots of bracelets.

North West and Kim Kardashian.Cobra Team / BACKGRID

In a TikTok, posted on the mother-daughter duo’s joint account, the pair showed off their outfits as they danced to Destroy Lonely’s “If Looks Could Kill.”

The fashion moment is coming under fire, with many fans saying that North is too young for a dermal piercing, which some say can be more painful and prone to infection than other types of piercings. One user called out the piercing in a Keeping Up With the Kardashians subreddit, prompting many to criticize Kardashian.

“She’s 12. Wtf is Kim doing?!” one user wrote.

“Who the f— lets their 12 year old have piercings? And who the f— pierces a 12 year old? My kid didn’t even have her ears pierced at 12,” said another.

Others expressed their concern about the healing process.

One user shared: “That makes me wince just looking at it😣🤢 It must be so irritating! And in the perfect place to be infected all the time.”

Said another: “That’s going to be impossible to heal…”

Brian Keith Thompson, professional piercer and owner of Body Electric Tattoo in Los Angeles, tells PEOPLE that he requires clients to be 18 years old to get a dermal piercing “because it takes a level of maturity to get through the healing process.”

However, he adds that they’re “not dangerous.”

“The only risk of a dermal on the finger is that it can be ripped out very easily,” Thompson explains.

North West’s piercing.Cobra Team / BACKGRID

Kardashian, who is also mom to Psalm, 6, Chicago, 7, and Saint, 9, has spoken about her oldest daughter being a “big critiquer” of her fashion looks.

While speaking with Vogue’s correspondent Emma Chamberlain on the blue carpet at the 2025 Met Gala, Kardashian insinuated that her daughter was embodying the spirit of fashion icon Joan Rivers.

“She’s a big critiquer, but it’s pretty good, you know, her critiquing,” she said when Chamberlain asked her what North has taught her about fashion. “But you know just be yourself, right? She’s … also, I think, in a really positive place, like vibe, right now, where it’s just like, ‘Hey, even if that’s not my style, I’m not going to critique that because just be you and if you like that then that’s what you should be into.'”

“So, I love that energy, and so she was such a positive force tonight, like it was great,” Kardashian concluded.