A complete guide to healing and aftercare after a piercing

You did it. You have a new piercing! What will happen next?

Proper post-piercing care is important for a healthy and happy piercing. This piercing healing and aftercare guide will explain the best way to care for a fresh piercing! Your body is complex and it's our job to guide you through the piercing process in the safest, most comfortable way possible. 

What to expect:

First, let's get rid of the myths. This is normal and most people will experience some, and sometimes all, of the symptoms described below while a fresh piercing is healing.

• slight bleeding 
• swelling
• Tenderness 
• Itchy
• Injury
• soreness
• Formation of crusts on the body

In the initial stages of healing, itching, a discharge of a whitish-yellow liquid that forms a crust on the jewelry, as well as dryness and redness around the puncture, are very often felt. These symptoms are often mistaken for signs of infection. If you have any concerns, it is best to contact your professional piercer.

What are the healing times?

A typical earlobe piercing takes about 8 weeks to heal. Each organism is unique and may heal a piercing faster or slower. Other ear piercings may take 3 to 12 months to fully heal. Piercing is highly dependent on the specific piercing, so it's best to ask your piercer about this at the time of the piercing!

You can usually tell an ear piercing has healed once the discharge, swelling, redness, or soreness has stopped, but the best way to know if your piercing has completely healed is to visit your professional piercer for an evaluation before assuming it's healed.

Expect to walk your own path of healing and learn from it

Your lifestyle and daily routine play a big role in your ability to heal. Things like wearing a helmet often can affect the healing time of an ear piercing, while frequent squats at the gym, swimming in the pool several times a week, or poor posture, especially when sitting at a desk, can affect the belly button. piercing healing. Even working in a dusty environment, such as a construction site with an open nose or ear piercings, can affect your ability to heal.

It's also important to consider the types of clothing you often wear. High pants or large belts, for example, can prolong the healing of a belly button piercing.

One smart tip is to choose the best time of year to get pierced according to your lifestyle. If you play a sport that encourages you to remove your piercing while you play, or if it could get damaged through physical contact, such as martial arts or rugby, you may want to plan your schedule. Summer time and vacations can come with a lot of swimming, sand and sun exposure, in which case you might not want to think about a healing piercing.

How to care for a fresh piercing?

The key to optimal piercing healing is cleaning. A clean piercing is a happy piercing! By following two simple daily steps, you should be on your way to perfect piercing healing.

Step 1: Clean Your Fresh Piercing

Wash your hands! It is very important that you only touch your new piercing with clean hands. 

Cleaning includes washing the piercing, jewelry, and surrounding skin. It is best to do this at the end of the shower, after washing the head and body.

Always make sure your hands are freshly washed before any subsequent care.

Take a pea-sized amount of soap and lather your freshly washed hands. Gently wash the area of ​​the new piercing, being careful not to move or twist the jewelry, or push the soap into the wound itself. 

We recommend PurSan soap for optimal cleaning of fresh piercings. If you want to use a different soap, make sure you choose a glycerin-based soap without dyes, fragrances, or triclosan, as these can damage cells and prolong healing. NOTE: Do not use bar soap! 

Rinse the front and back thoroughly and pat dry with gauze or paper towels. We do not recommend using cloth towels as they may contain bacteria. It is important to thoroughly dry the puncture site, as leaving it damp can cause the wound to absorb additional moisture and prolong healing. 

Step 2: Wash Your Fresh Piercing

Flushing is the way we naturally wash away the daily deposits that form on the back and front of our new piercing. This is a normal by-product of our bodies, but we want to avoid any buildup that could slow healing and/or cause complications. 

Irrigation should be done at the opposite end of the day from your shower. For example, if you usually shower in the morning, clean your piercing in the evening. And if you usually shower at night, clean your piercing in the morning.

We recommend using Neilmed Salt Spray as our masters trust it after care. If you decide to use a different post-operative care, make sure you use packaged saline without additives. Avoid using homemade salt mixes as too much salt in your mix can damage your new piercing. 

Spray Neilmed aftercare directly onto the front and back of the piercing, especially where the jewelry enters and exits the skin. Leave the solution for 30 seconds and pat dry with a clean piece of non-woven gauze. It is important to use gauze in a clean, resealable package or container and avoid sharing gauze. keep this gauze for piercing only. With great care to prevent the gauze from snagging on the prong or setting of the gemstone, you can carefully remove and build up anything that may have accumulated on the surface of the gemstone. It is important not to remove the actual crusts, which will be located directly at the entry/exit of the piercing and will be painful to remove and more firmly attached to the skin than any growths attached to the post or surrounding area.

Reducing the size of the lip or ring.

When you get an initial piercing at one of our piercing studios, the piercer always places a longer lip post (the part that goes in and out of your body) first to deal with the initial swelling and provide enough room for adequate irrigation needed to get started. healing. 

Once the initial stages of healing have passed, the extra length of the pin or lip ring is no longer needed, and in some cases can be quite detrimental to further healing and placement, and for these reasons we always recommend that you return to our studios. to reduce the size after a fresh piercing. 

NO

Avoid self-assessment whenever possible.

Often people experience what is considered a complication and act on it based on their knowledge or information from their friends and family. Often what are considered problems may actually be normal stages or signs of healing. And in the event of a problem, professional piercers have seen it all before and can often get to the bottom of the problem in a few minutes of consultation.

But self-assessment and assumptions often lead to misinformation found online or recommended by friends. In addition, removing a piercing without consulting the piercer about problems often prevents them from properly locating the root of the problem. If you have any problems, call and make an appointment and our team of piercing specialists will be happy to help solve this problem. More often than not, what may seem like a problem may just be a normal stage of healing.

Move, touch or rotate your new piercing. 

Movement will prolong healing and irritate the piercing. Never touch or untwist a fresh piercing. 

Sleep on the piercing or wear headphones, hats, or clothing that presses against the piercing.

Pressure during these critical stages of healing often causes the piercing to move out of its original location and cause further complications. Great care must be taken while resting, making sure that the piercing is not touched roughly. We also recommend a travel pillow for sleeping with a new ear piercing. 

Clean your new piercing excessively or vigorously. 

Too frequent or too harsh scrubbing can damage skin cells, slow healing, and prolong pain and swelling. One cleaning and one irrigation per day is enough. 

Immerse the piercing in pools, lakes and other bodies of water.

There are entire ecosystems in both fresh and salt water bodies, as well as all the bacteria that come with them. It is clear that it is not recommended to use this water for washing the wound. Chlorine pools also contain several forms of bacteria from their many users and chemicals. You dramatically increase your risk of infection if you start swimming before the piercing has healed. 

Use of non-recommended care or homemade products. 

Products such as tea tree oil, aspirin, peroxide, bactin, or cleaners containing benzalkonium chloride (BZK) or triclosan seriously damage cells. They prolong healing and are a major cause of piercing complications. Unless recommended by your piercer, do not place it next to the piercing. 

Chemicals or cosmetics at the piercing site. 

Chemicals from cleaning products, cosmetics and lotions contain many ingredients that are not suitable for wound healing. They can also spread bacteria to your skin and, in turn, to your products. You should avoid using makeup on the piercing until it has healed. 

Oral contact with a piercing. 

Saliva contains harmful bacteria that can enter the wound, causing pain, discharge, and infection. Any oral contact should wait until the piercing is completely healed. 

Change jewelry too soon. 

Your piercing must go through several stages of healing before being reduced in size and replaced with jewelry. Although you may feel that the piercing has healed, changing jewelry too early can cause the fistula (puncture channel) to rupture and damage the wound, leading to swelling, pain, and healing complications. Your professional piercer will advise you on the time it takes for your particular piercing to heal. 

Wearing materials not intended for implants. 

Costume jewelry is made from mysterious metals that are not suitable for wearing inside the body. Pieces can be painted, and gems can be fixed with glue. All of these materials break down in our body, releasing toxins and damaging the cells needed for healing. All body jewelry must be: 

Implant evaluation

This ensures that the jewelry is tested and certified for long-term wear in the body, just like the metals found in pacemakers and other medical implants. We recommend solid 14k gold or titanium for implants.

Polished 

This can be seen in the decoration of the jewelry. Tiny superficial scratches can seriously affect the condition of both fresh and healed piercings. Being able to see your reflection in a mirror finish is a good sign of excellent polishing. 

Right size

Incorrectly fitting body jewelry can reduce blood flow and cause the piercing to move out of its original location. This often leads to complications. All body jewelry should fit your anatomy and preferably be fitted by a professional piercer the first time to ensure a proper fit. 

Conclusions:

Now you know how to properly care for a fresh piercing! If you have any concerns, always consult with your piercer before making any decisions regarding the health and well being of your piercer. Not only do they provide the best initial piercing experience, but they support you throughout the healing process. Happy healing!