It used to be advised by some piercers to rotate or twist earrings to help the piercing heal correctly. This is no longer advised. And moving the jewelry actually is more likely to damage your cartilage piercing and prevent it from healing well.
Crusting after body piercing is perfectly normal—this is just the result of your body trying to heal itself. 1? Dead blood cells and plasma make their way to the surface and then dry when exposed to air. While perfectly normal, these crusties do need to be cleaned carefully and thoroughly whenever you notice them.
Do not over-clean your piercing. Salt water and/or saline solutions should be used to irrigate your piercing, but it is the action of flushing out the wound that helps healing, not the saline itself. Likewise, soap should just be treated like soap; lather around your piercing and then rinse thoroughly.
Wash with warm water and gentle soap before you touch your piercing to avoid introducing bacteria to the area. Clean with a clean cotton pad or swab, dipped in rubbing alcohol. Use this around the pierced area a few times a day to remove any bacteria. Dab (don't wipe) the piercing.
General Care for Body PiercingsDo not use rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. (Both slow the healing of pierced area by drying and killing new healthy cells.) Do not use bacitracin or other ointments. (Ointments attempt to heal the skin & may slow oxygen transport to the tissue).
Whether it's a hoop or stud, you can always get whichever you like for a cartilage piercing. Your piercer will probably recommend labret studs—longer studs will accommodate for how much the piercing will swell. Hoops may be too small to give your piercing breathing space.
Almost certainly. Taking the jewelry out and putting it back in isn't going to help the irritation. It's just going to aggravate the healing fistula, making the healing process even longer. Leaving it alone, however, and letting your body do it's healing work, can be magic.
Part of the appeal of body piercings is that they seem like a relatively non-committal form of body art. If you don't like it, you can always take the piercing out, after all.
USE WARM SEA SALT WATER (SALINE) SOAKS – MORNING AND EVENINGit will also help prevent infection, reduce the risk of scarring, and speed the healing of your piercing. Do not touch your piercing without first washing your hands; and leave your jewelry in at all times! Wash your hands thoroughly.
It is normal for your ear to hurt immediately after getting a cartilage piercing, pain that commonly lasts for two weeks to a month. Be careful to not sleep on the side that was pierced: Doing so will cause healing complications and unnecessary discomfort.
NO. If it is swollen, ice it and take some ibuprofen or some other NSAID to help calm down the swelling. If there is any chance of there being an infection, you do not want to take it out as that can trap the infection inside. You didn't mention when you got it pierced.
While some people have been able to stop regular cleanings after four weeks, it's safest to go for a full six weeks before you stop your twice-daily cleanings. This gives your new piercings plenty of time to heal properly and decreases the chance of painful infections.
Although you may want to, you shouldn't remove your jewelry until your symptoms subside. If you take your jewelry out while symptoms are present, it may result in a painful abscess. If you aren't experiencing severe symptoms, you may be able to use the following methods to treat your cartilage bump at home.
I'm not a piercer, but the most common reasons I see for delayed/problematic healing are improper jewelry and bad cleaning practices. As far as jewelry, you'll need implant grade metal, usually titanium or some other metal that can be properly sterilized.
Cleaning SolutionsDissolve 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon (. 75 to 1.42 grams) of non-iodized (iodine-free) sea salt into one cup (8 oz / 250 ml) of warm distilled or bottled water. A stronger mixture is not better; a saline solution that is too strong can irritate the piercing.
Saline for contact lenses should not be used as piercing aftercare. Wound wash saline is available as a spray at pharmacies throughout North America. A non-iodized sea salt mixture you make yourself: dissolve 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon (. A stronger solution can irritate your piercing, so don't put in too much salt!
Check if crusts are still forming around the pierced area and for any discharge. If there are, then it has not fully healed yet. Also, if the piercing can be twirled without your ear hurting, that is a sign of a healed piercing as well.
Don't eat spicy, salty or acidy foods or liquids while you are healing. Avoid hot drinks such as hot chocolate, coffee, and tea. Eat cold foods and drinks as they lessen swelling. Be extra careful when eating crunchy foods.
If you want to keep your ears pierced, do not take out the jewelry. Even after a few weeks they can close up in as little as minutes, hours would be sure tomake reinserting them difficult and possibly painful. if you pierced your ears a few days a go, keep them out for an hour or so.
2. Get Cleaning. Most of the time, your ear piercer will recommend sea salt soaks to keep your piercings clean. This can be very easy, as you can simply dip your lobe piercing in a cup of warm salt water (dissolve ¼ teaspoon of fine sea salt into 1 cup of warm water) or the solution provided by your ear piercer.
To decrease this risk, ask your piercer to use flat studs, as opposed to those with jewels and other jagged edges. New piercings can also be difficult to sleep in, especially for side sleepers. While your piercing heals, you can help minimize discomfort by sleeping on your back instead of your side.
Don't rotate it. Contrary to popular opinion, earrings will NOT get stuck to your skin, even if you don't rotate. Don't touch or move them at all, besides cleaning them. Rotating will grind bacteria into your piercing, which is essentially an open wound.
Yes, you can take your earrings out after 6-8 weeks if they feel ready, but don't leave them out! They will still close quickly since they're relatively new. Leave your earrings in as often as you can for roughly a year before going extended periods without them.
