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Piercing Aftercare & Healing Guide

Healing can be a lengthy process, be patient.

 

The 3 golden rules:

  1. Do not touch your new piercing unless absolutely necessary i.e when tightening jewellery as part of your cleaning routine, but only after washing your hands.

  2. Clean twice a day with a sterile saline. We recommend Piercemed.

  3. Downsize. This will reduce irritation, prevent snagging, and reduce the risk of migration and crooked healing.

General Aftercare

First Week

Expect swelling, tenderness and bleeding; this is all normal. Check jewellery fitment daily and tighten when necessary.

 

2-4 Weeks

A crust can start to form, don't pick at them or touch your piercing, but do keep cleaning twice a day

 

4-6 Weeks

Your piecing should have started to settle by now, and it could be time for a downsize to avoid it healing wonky - check with your piercer

 

6-8 Weeks

Your piercing is ready to downsize once you’ve had no swelling or irritation for 7-10 days consecutively

Aftercare Guides

Ear Lobes

  • Spray twice daily with a sterile saline solution and let it air dry

  • Do not touch or twist your jewellery - twisting jewellery is outdated advice and prolongs healing

  • Do not submerge your piercing for a minimum of 8 weeks. Clean running water is fine

  • Use a piercing pillow to avoid sleeping on your piercing, you will irritate it and it will heal wonky

Ear Cartilage 

  • Spray twice daily with a sterile saline solution and let it air dry

  • Do not touch or twist your jewellery - twisting jewellery is outdated advice and prolongs healing

  • Do not submerge your piercing for a minimum of 8 weeks. Clean running water is fine

  • Use a piercing pillow to avoid sleeping on your piercing, you will irritate it and it will heal wonky

Body Piercings

  • Spray twice daily with a sterile saline solution and let it air dry

  • Do not touch or twist your jewellery - twisting jewellery is outdated advice and prolongs healing

  • Do not submerge your piercing for a minimum of 8 weeks. Clean running water is fine

Oral Piercings

  • Use bottled 2-3 times daily as well as after eating or drinking to rinse mouth out

  • Cold drinks are great during healing

  • Swelling is normal

  • Downsize jewellery in 3-6 weeks

  • Avoid food and drink that is too hot in spice levels or temperature

  • Do not play with jewellery at all

  • Stay hydrated. Drink lots of water

  • Piercing can take up to 3-4 months to settle

Healing Times

These are approximate healing times and should only be used as a guide

  • Ear Lobe – 6-8 weeks

  • Ear Cartilage including Tragus, Anti-tragus, Conch, Helix, Snug, Daith, Flat, Industrial, Rook etc – 6 to 12+ Months

  • Navel – 6-9 Months

  • Nipple – 3-6 Months

  • Tongue – 4-8 weeks

  • Lip / Labret – 6-8 weeks

  • Vertical Lip – 6 -12 weeks

  • Eyebrow – 2-3 months

  • Bridge – 3-6 months

  • Septum – 4-8 weeks

  • Nostril – 3-6 months

 

Healing times vary with the type and position of the piercing, and can vary significantly from person to person depending upon a variety of factors such as lifestyle, movement and your overall health.

Downsizing

  • Almost all piercings are performed with a slightly too-long bar to allow for your body to have a good swell. This is a natural immune response and absolutely to be expected. Once the big swell has passed and you have wiggle-room on the bar, a downsize is essential to avoid irritation and complications during healing from excess movement.

Book your downsize appointment here

Cleaning Your Piercing 

We recommend a 0.9% sterile saline solution to clean your piercing with. It should be sterilised, pre-mixed, and have a sterile delivery method like a can spray that ensures bacteria cannot enter the can once opened. Our preference is Piercemed Black Edition. 

Expectations & Advice

 Sleeping on, or knocking your piercing will slow healing and can cause bumps to form.

 

Oral piercings that are constantly played with can rip and cause white, bumpy scar tissue.

 

Using anything other than sterile saline solution can cause irritation.

 

Make sure to let the piercing dry after washing and cleaning. Leaving it wet, or laying wet hair across the piercing, can cause healing issues such as moisture bumps, irritation and an environment for bacteria and infection.  

 

Avoid playing or fiddling with the piercing . This will likely increase healing time, cause it to swell, and have the potential to cause an infection.

 

Avoid knocking the piercing as this may cause swelling to flare up again throughout the healing phase.

 

Avoid swimming for the first 6 weeks. 

 

Avoid sleeping on your piercing as it will delay healing and can result in migration and wonky piercings. Piercing pillows are great for side sleepers!

 

The quality and fit of your jewellery is very importance to your healing piercing. Implant grade titanium is a biocompatible, hypoallergenic, bacterially resistant, corrosion proof, metal used in the highest quality piercings. The same cannot be said for 'surgical' steel, silver, plated or mystery metals found in lower grade jewellery. Jewellery material has a big impact on healing times, irritation, and piercing rejection. 

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Please do not remove or replace the initial piercing jewellery until it is fully healed aside from returning to the studio at the time advised by your piercer for your essential downsize. For those that change their jewellery often it's good to know that all our jewellery is interchangeable so you can change the attachment without removing the jewellery. 

 

Soon after the piercing, it may bleed if knocked. This is common and perfectly normal.

For the first few weeks, expect the area to be red, swollen, tender, puffy & sometimes bruised.

 

When cleaning, ensure any balls or attachments on your jewellery are tightened as they can come loose easily due to the natural movement of the area.

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