Now that you've found the right studio and have your brand new piercing, how do you take care of it so that it heals quickly and without incident? It's not as hard as you may think.

A large part of having a good looking, well healed piercing is you. Your piercing artist will have given you properly fitted, good quality jewelry; a well placed piercing and aftercare instructions. But you lost those instructions, have questions or your friends are telling you all kinds of stuff to put on your new piercing. Well, here is a guide to current aftercare methods, and the answer to a lot of the 'miracle cure' products people talk about.

All you need to care for any piercing:

Non-iodized sea salt and warm water.

Doesn't seem like much, it won't cost you much, so why does it work?

By adding a small amount of non-iodized sea salt to warm water, you end up with Saline solution. You know the stuff in the IV bags at the hospital? That's the stuff! It's natural, so it won't mess with your body's ability to heal itself. The body is amazing. It can heal all sorts of crazy stuff – as long as you don't do anything to hinder that ability!

The warm water will encourage blood flow to the area, which will help with healing. The solution will help to draw out any dirt, dead cells and other particles that are in the piercing, while keeping the healthy cells hydrated and happy.

Chemicals can damage newly formed skin cells and anti-bacterial products can dry out the skin. While there is a time and place for these products, it's not body piercing.

How To

To use sea salt soaks (SSS) or Saline Solution to heal your piercing, simply mix up the solution as you need it. Make sure to make it fresh every time.

Boil 1 cup of water (distilled water is best, but bottled water works too – don't use tap water as it often has fluoride or other chemicals added to it). Add ¼ tsp of non-iodized sea salt to the water. (Use 1/8 tsp non-iodized sea salt to clean healed piercings). Allow to cool slightly, it should be warm but not burning hot. Soak your piercing for 10 minutes.

To soak piercings, use a cup, bowl or shot glass (what ever works best for you) and hold against your skin to form a seal. Then you can sit/lay down without spilling the water – this works best for navels, nipples and other larger body parts. For ear piercings (lobe or cartilage) simply put your solution into a clean bowl and lay down with your ear in the bowl. If you can't soak the piercing, using a new piece of sterile gauze dipped in the solution and held gently over the piercing will work. Make sure you wash your hands first!

For oral piercings, just swish the solution around in your mouth for a few minutes at a time. Don't worry, it doesn't taste bad, and should be no more salty than tears.

How often

For fresh piercings: 2-3 times per day for the first 3-4 weeks, then drop down to 1-2 times per day until fully healed.

For oral piercings: 2-3 times per day, but rinse your mouth out with either the sea salt solution or plain water after eating/drinking.

Healed piercings: 2-3 soaks per week will keep your healed piercings happy and healthy.

Where to find

You can buy non-iodized sea salt at most grocery stores. If your local grocery store doesn't carry it, try a health food store. Non-iodized sea salt is pretty inexpensive, usually about $1-2/LB. Considering you will only be using a tiny bit each time, a pound could last you for years!

Distilled water can usually be found at your grocery store as well. Just take a look in the drinks isle.

Sterile gauze can be found at any drug store or pharmacy. A lot of grocery stores have pharmacies as well, so you should be able to get everything you need in one trip. One stop piercing shopping!

Don't

1. Touch your piercing with dirty hands, EVER! Make sure you wash your hands thoroughly before you clean your piercing.
   
   
2. Rotate your jewelry. There is no need to turn or rotate your jewelry, the skin won't attach to it. Moving the jewelry can damage the healing tissue and prolong healing or create scar tissue. It can also drag dirt or irritants from outside the piercing into it.
   
   
3. Use soap. Soaps are very harsh and can dry out and irritate the skin, which can prolo
   ng hea
   
   ling and cause scar tissue. You also need to move the jewelry to make sure you wash away all the soap, and we just learned why that is a bad idea. The only time you ever want to use soap on a fresh piercing is if it gets very dirty. Like you fell piercing first into a giant mud puddle. Use soap to clean it then, but use it sparingly.
4. Use peroxide, rubbing alcohol, spectro gel, etc. Harsh chemicals can dry out the skin and kill newly formed cells. Not only will it hurt to put these products on your fresh piercing, it will prolong healing and almost always cause some scar tissue to form.
   
   
5. Use Neosporin or tripple anti-biotic creams. They say right on the package "not for use on puncture wounds". A piercing is a puncture wound.
   
   
6. Use Tea Tree Oil. I can already hear the "but it's natural..." arguments. It is natural, it's a natural astringent that can irritate healthy skin, so it's way too harsh for fresh piercings, even diluted.
   
   
7. Play with your jewelry. This can't be said enough, see numbers 1 and 2 above.
   
   
8. Let anyone come in contact with your fresh piercing. If you have an oral piercing, this means no kissing or oral contact of any kind (you know what I mean!) Don't let your friends touch your piercing. For some reason people like to touch fresh piercings, I don't know why, but don't let them do it! Their hands (mouths, whatever) are dirty. You wouldn't let someone touch a fresh scab, don't let them come near your piercing.
   
   
9. Let other products come in contact with your piercing. This includes hair spray, body spray, moisturizers, lip balm, etc. Just skip the area with the fresh piercing or protect it with your hand (without touching it) while using these products.
   
   
10. Change your jewelry. As much as you may want to put in that awesome new barbell, you need to wait until the piercing is through the initial healing time to change your jewelry yourself. For some piercings, your artist may want you to come back after 2-3 weeks for jewelry downsizing, make sure you go to your artist for this, you need sterile jewelry.
    
    

Do

1. Use sea salt soaks and the LITHA (Leave It The Heck Alone) method. It will heal, don't mess with it.
   
   
2. Eat properly. Your body needs the right kinds of food to heal anything. Take your vitamins, eat a healthy diet.
   
   
3. Protect your piercing from the sun/cold/extreme weather. You don't want to get a sunburn over a fresh piercing, make sure your clothing covers it (don't put sun block on it). You don't want it to get frostbitten either, so make sure you are dressed appropriately.
   
   
4. LITHA – see number 1.
   
   

What is normal?

Redness for the first two weeks or so is totally normal. If the redness starts to spread or lasts longer than a few weeks, it could be a problem, go see your piercer.

Discharge is normal, as long as it is clear. Green is a sign of infection and should be seen by both your piercer and doctor.

"Crusties" are normal. They are simply the dried out lymph (dead white blood cells and skin cells) that will collect around a piercing. Sometimes they stop after a few weeks, sometimes they continue until the piercing is fully healed. Regular sea salt soaks should keep them to a minimum.

Soreness for the first couple of weeks is normal. You just had a needle put through your skin, it's going to be tender for a while.

Swelling and bruising are also normal for the first 2 weeks or so. If swelling or bruising hasn't resolved in 2 weeks go see your piercer.

Healing times

These times are approximates. Everyone heals differently at a different rate, health, aftercare, even weather can affect healing times. This is the time it takes for a piercing to be fully healed, initial healing times (where you can change the jewelry and slow down on cleaning) are shorter. Piercings are considered 'fresh' until the initial healing period is done.

Ear (lobe) – Initial healing 6 weeks, full healing 6-8 months

Ear (cartilage) – Initial healing 10-12 weeks, full healing up to 1 year or more

Eyebrow – Initial healing 8-10 weeks, full healing up to 1 year

Lip/labret – Initial healing 8-10 weeks, full healing 6-8 months

Tongue (standard) – Initial healing 6-8 weeks, full healing up to 1 year

Nipples – Initial healing 8-10 weeks, full healing up to 1 year or more

Navel (standard) – Initial healing 10-12 weeks, full healing up to 1 year or more

Genital – Initial healing times of 4-10 weeks depending on piercing, full healing 6-8 months

Tags & Keywords : body piercing, aftercare, sea salt soaks