Aftercare Advice
Leave it alone, keep it clean, let your body do its job!
Rinse your piercing with fresh water in the shower - this should loosen any hard crusty matter. After your shower, be sure to dry your piercing with a disposable product such as gauze or cotton tips (not a towel) or use your hair dryer on the cold setting until completely dry.
If using sterile saline solution, follow these steps once or twice daily.
Step One: Thoroughly wash your hands.
Step Two: Spray your piercing's entrance and exit holes with wound wash saline solution.
Step Three: Wipe any crusty discharge away from the jewellery with a disposable paper product or gauze.
Step Four: Pat the piercing dry with a disposable paper product or gauze.
The success of your body piercing depends on your commitment to an aftercare regimen. If your piercing is neglected or irritated, it will almost certainly fail to heal properly. You must allow your body to heal without interrupting its natural healing process.
Approximate downsizing times (an approximate guide only, some piercings may need more time to settle down, it is best to return to your piercer to check)
Ear lobes - 6 weeks
Helix - 8 weeks
Flat - 8 weeks
Forward Helix - 8 weeks
Rook - downsizing unnecessary
Tragus - 8 weeks
Daith - downsizing unnecessary
Conch - 8 weeks
Industrial - 12 weeks
Snug - 8 weeks
Anti tragus - 8 weeks
Eyebrow - 6 weeks
Bridge - 6 weeks
High Nostril - 8 weeks
Nostril - downsizing unnecessary
Forward Nostril - 8 weeks
Septum - downsizing unnecessary
Philtrum - 3 weeks
Labret - 3 weeks
Vertical labret - 6 weeks
Nipple - 12 weeks
Navel - 12 weeks
Piercings are slow healing wounds. We ask a whole lot of the body when we ask it to heal a wound with a foreign object in it.
Complication can occur at any time and is usually nothing to be worried about but does need to be addressed ASAP. You can contact me at any time with healing concerns about your piercing.
Sterile 0.9% Saline is an isotonic solution, this means it neither over hydrates nor dehydrates your skin, to cause minimum disruption to the wound healing process.
This is why it is so important to not use soaps, oils and alcohol-based products. They are not isotonic and will cause disruption to this type of wound healing.
You must wash your hands before and after you clean your piercing to prevent the spread of infection. If you do not wash your hands prior to cleaning, you may be actively transferring harmful bacteria onto your piercing as you are cleaning it.
Showering is an excellent way to clean your piercing, the constant stream of clean warm water will help remove dry exudate - the waste material that discharges from your piercing. Be careful not to use a loofah or shower pouf on or around your piercing in case of snagging - they also harbour bacteria.
Piercings should only be cleaned with sterile saline once or twice a day. Over cleaning will cause disruption to wound healing and under cleaning may cause infection.
Test your sterile saline stream by spraying it once into the sink before using it on yourself to help gauge the pressure of the flow - you can usually hold your canister a couple of inches away from your piercing. Concentrate the flow at the piercing exit wounds at the front and the back. It will only take seconds to rinse your piercing. Do not remove your jewellery and DO NOT TWIST YOUR PIERCING as this disrupts the formation of new skin cells, delaying healing and potentially causing a bump.
As soon as your piercing has been cleansed whether with sterile saline or in the shower you must gently dry the skin. The best material for this is lint free gauze, which is inexpensive and will not leave little bits of cotton fluff at the wound site. If this is not available to you, you can use cotton wool, cotton buds, thick paper towel, or your hair dryer on a cool setting. DO NOT USE TOILET PAPER as it dissolves on contact with moisture and will leave the most particulate matter on your piercing.
Some piercings need to be downsized after a few weeks. Initial piercings are often performed with a slightly longer bar so the tissue has room to swell, once that swelling has subsided you must return to the studio to have a shorter bar fitted so your piercing can continue to heal well. Failure on your part to do this can result in lumps, bumps and migration that may not be fixable. Downsizing does not happen on a “set date” as we all heal at our own pace, but we will give you an estimate when you get pierced as to what the “average” downsize time is.
If you have not had your jewellery downsized when you were advised this can cause real problems. If your jewellery is too big you will catch it more, causing redness and bumps. It will become sore to sleep on and may migrate. If extra length on the piercing shaft remains exposed once your initial swelling has gone down, dirt will build up on that portion of the jewellery and can be tracked through the piercing causing inflammation, keeping it in a swollen state.
Conversely, wearing jewellery that is too tight can cause cutting and embedding. Many people will desire the “tightest possible fit “, but just like with shoes, the tighter doesn’t always mean the better. Please ensure your jewellery fits comfortably or it can lead to emergency complications.
Embedding is when your piercing has become extremely swollen, and the jewellery is sinking into the skin. It is normal for your piercing to swell to the full size of your starter jewellery - however if it is sinking into and underneath your skin you must return to the studio immediately to have longer jewellery installed.
Signs of potential infection are extreme heat, redness spreading outward from the wound site, extreme swelling, severe pain, thick green or yellow discharge seeping from the piercing, nausea or a fever.
Infection is rare, and it is even rarer when you follow the correct aftercare and practice regular hand washing, however it is possible.
Infection must be treated immediately by a medical professional.
I am not a medical professional and cannot say if you have an infection or not, but I can tell you if something looks like a cause of concern.
Tips & Tricks
DO return to the shop and have your piercing downsized after a few weeks if you have no swelling and your jewellery is too long.
DO change your bedding regularly.
DO wear clean, comfortable lose fitting closing, if covering the wound site.
DO drink lots of water; dehydration will slow and prevent wound healing.
DO NOT sleep on your piercing until after it is downsized - at the very earliest.
DO NOT touch, or allow others to touch, your piercing. Handle your piercing only when necessary
for aftercare with hands that have just been washed with warm soapy water.
Regularly disinfect any personal items that might come into contact with your piercing such as glasses. Restrict the use of personal items such as your phone or headphones and disinfect these items regularly. If you have healing piercings on one ear, use your phone on the other ear.