9 Ways to Care for Body Piercings ...

If you’re thinking about going under the needle, you need to know how to care for body piercings! Body piercing can be a creative way to display your personality, but there are risks involved, so you want to be careful that you take excellent care of your piercings. Keep on reading for 9 wonderful tips that will teach you how to care for body piercings!

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Hands off

While your piercing is healing, keep your hands off! Touching the area may introduce bacteria to the open wound that may result in an infection or pain and swelling. Knowing how to care for body piercings means you know to leave it alone and let it heal without touching and poking at it constantly!

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Use Astringent

Be faithful about using the astringent your doctor or piercer provided. Use it at least twice a day, plus after taking a shower, swimming, sweating excessively, or getting caught in the rain. If you run out of it, you can use tea tree oil diluted in water, witch hazel, or peroxide as a back up.

UPD:

Remember, dilution is key when substituting with alternatives like tea tree oil, as it can be too harsh if applied undiluted. Mix just a few drops with water before applying. With witch hazel and peroxide, be careful not to overuse them as they can dry out the skin around your piercing. If your skin starts to feel dry or irritated, ease up on these and consider using a saline solution instead. Always apply any astringent gently with a clean cotton swab to avoid irritating the piercing.

Take Vitamins

Taking a daily supplement of zinc and vitamin C will help speed up the healing process! It can also help fight off infection, should you become exposed. As always, check with your doctor before taking any type of supplement of course. Until then, try eating foods that are rich in vitamin C and zinc.

Don’t Snag

Take care to make sure that you don’t catch your new piercing on towels or clothing! It’s quite painful snagging a brand new piercing on something, and in the worse cases could cause your piercing to rip a bit. You don’t want to do anything to aggravate or cause swelling to the already tender area, so exercise caution when dressing and toweling off.

Wear Loose Fitting Clothing

When it comes to body piercings, you need to make sure you let them breathe! Tight fitting clothing can compress the area and make it sore, so wear looser fitting clothes until the area starts to heal. Also, choose cotton blends so the material offers more breathability. Sweat can cause infection, so keep the area well aired out!

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Rinse Your Mouth

Do you have a mouth piercing? It’s a good idea to rinse your mouth out with fresh water after eating or drinking anything, until your piercing heals completely. Also, use a mouthwash twice a day to prevent bacteria from setting in. I would also recommend that you change out your toothbrush every two months from here on out, just to keep the area fresh and clean!

Rotate Your Jewelry

If you have pierced ears, you know that you are supposed to rotate the posts twice daily until the first 6 weeks have passed. The same applies for other body piercings! Rotating your jewelry ensures that the piercing stays open enough for you to change out your jewelry later down the road. Use an antiseptic or astringent afterwards to ease any pain or tenderness you may have felt.

Hot Compress

Sometimes, even if you follow all the rules and do things the right way, you may end up with swelling or a slight infection. If that happens, of course you should consult your physician, but removing your jewelry and applying a clean, hot compress to the area can bring some relief. Change out the compress often to keep the area clean and free of extra germs.

Consult Your Doctor

As you care for your new body piercing, check it closely everyday for anything unusual or suspicious. If you notice swelling, redness, excessive tenderness, pus or other odd signs, then you should check in with your doctor right away. If you’ve contracted an infection, you may need antibiotics to keep healthy and heal your body.

By correctly caring for your body piercing, you can avoid lots of problems and pain. Do your part to make sure you don’t get an infection! You especially don’t want to wind up having to take the piercing out and losing money and time put into it! Do you know of any excellent ways to care for body piercings?

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Where Thoughts and Opinions Converge

DO NOT TWIST PIERCINGS: they will not be stuck, wait for them to heal BEFORE YOU ROTATE AND CHANGE THEM.

Don't use witch hazel or peroxide without talking to your piercer first! And don't turn your piercing without out talking to you piercer. Some piercing cannot be turned until they are healed. Otherwise you will just be re-opening the wound each time. Your certified piercer is getting updated and new information all the time!

If it is a straight piercing like the ears they recommend turning so the earrings don't get stuck to the skin as it heals. This can be more bothersome than taking the time to turn. I would not use peroxide on the piercings however witch hazel I have used and didn't have any issues with it. Yes some piercings are going to be difficult to turn. Due to the shape of the jewelry used. However if your piercer agrees that it should be " turned" you could slide it when you are cleaning it to prevent sticking to the jewelry and getting antiseptic into the piercing. Also a tip for piercings that you have had for a long time. If they get infected you clean them and use antiseptic with a drop of Neosporin on the jewelry as you put it in for a few days as it heals.

Hiiii!

Hi - great post! I have rotated all of my piercings which are done with straight bars and I've had them for a number of years with no probs. Just a few things that may help other readers... 1. If you are having getting pierced near another one then put larger jewellery in both (the original one may swell with a new one next to it and that can be really really sore... I have 2 in my tongue and that's from experience) 2. If your getting them in random spots in your ears they will hurt when you sleep and lie on them - alternating a cold Cotton pad with a warm one when you wake up can help. 3. If it does get a bit sore and puffy, pour boiling water on a cotton pad and microwave for 1 min on high (this sterilises it) and being very careful (using gloves or tweezers) put it on the sore bit. This will literally pull the puffy infected sore bit out and be so soothing! 4. Always have larger jewellery at home incase you catch it and it gets a bit sore (this will mean it won't pinch the skin and will feel better a lot quicker than if its trying to swell a bit but can't). 5. Any genital piercings - these actually heal quicker and usually with less stress than on other body parts (ears, facial, mouth) but keep really close eye on them as if it does get infected it is easily spread to other bits. 6. Surface piercings (dermal anchors) - cover them with a plaster overnight and as much as you can during the day to prevent your skin rejecting them and pushing them out! I recommend breathable Elastoplast ones as the air can still get to them, but ensure they are cleaned regularly! I have a few of these which took ages to settle but now look so fab that I'm glad I persevered with it (one did have to be redone after it came out tho)! Finally - try not to swallow them... I know that sounds weird but I've had a number of incidents where I've ended up swallowing my jewellery but NOTHING bad has happened... But it can do, so if you have any with l Hope that helps anyone?

There's no need to rotate jewelry... You'll be able to remove the jewelry fine once it's healed without doing that. And don't use peroxide or witch hazel or tea tree oil without consulting your piercer first! All of these things can irritate your piercing unnecessarily and prolong the healing process. When in doubt, ask a professional

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