Nose piercings-The aftermath
- Posted by Pete Bogdanovich
As we know the nose piercing is a very common form of body modification. While most of us want to make a statement to the world that we are daring and rebellious with it.
Most people tend to neglect the responsibility that goes with the piercing passion, not only with nostril piercings but with other types of body modification as well.
With this article I will try and state some facts and rules that apply when it comes to the aftercare of a nose piercing. Some of them will of course appear familiar from other aftercare processes of various other forms of body modification. That’s simply so because all of them rely on the same primordial principal that can be summed up in three words: Keep it clean. Basic common sense, something that your mother taught you to do when you were little by doing something basic as washing your hands to the care of your body as a whole. Piercing aftercare is basically that, you are committing yourself to the responsibility for your own body.
What now follows is a step by step guide line with a time frame of the aftercare process; it’s not very difficult to follow as you will read on.
Day 1 to Day 3: Right from the start after the piercing you will experience a little bit of swelling that is normal. You just gave your nose a wound, and your body is letting you know that. As with all wounds it will take some days for that to heal and go away, same goes for the pain if there is any at all. In the next days it is best not to overdo it with the touching and playing of the piercing, as it is still fresh and vulnerable. Cleaning in the next days is vital if you want to make your new accessory work.
In the first three days you will have to clean your piercing 2 times per day, once in the morning and again at night. You will need a saline solution and simple cotton buds. Saline solutions are a sterile solution of sodium chloride (salt) in water.
They can be easily found in your local pharmacy as they are also used for cleaning of contact lenses. One must be careful of not using the same cotton buds that you used on the outside again on the inside because of the risk of cross-contamination. After that finish off by using a new dry cotton wool bud for cleaning the leftover moisture from the previous step.
After 3 days: You are over the hill, the pain and the light swelling should have healed by now. The same cleaning that you have done in the first 3 days will apply for the next three to four weeks only this time you cleaning is reduced to once a day. Also if you’re feeling confident enough that your nose healed well the last days you can rotate the ring or shuffle the stud under running water. Of course the rules of staying as clean as possible apply here also.
After 4 weeks: Getting comfortable with that metal beauty on your nose? Good, cause you will have even less work on it and more time to admire it. You can now gradually reduce the cleansing ritual to every second or third day once for the next four to five months. Although a good time has passed since you have done the piercing, you should stay focused and maintain your cleaning discipline. Your piercing will be seasoned (and with that toughened) in about a year after the piercing process occurred. Damage is still possible in that timeframe when trying to change the jewelry or wearing some type of inappropriate jewelry. So in my opinion you should avoid modifying the piercing in any kind of way until a full year is over since you got it.
There are some core rules that apply through the whole after care period. While I said to use Saline solutions from pharmacies, you should strictly avoid using other variations of salt such as Epsom salts, table Salt, and antiseptics like Betadine.Tea Tree Oil, Polysporin, Neosporin, Bacitracin, Bactroban ointments are not to be used also. There is also the factor of over cleaning of the nose.
By overdoing it you strip the noses body of its natural body oils where you are left with a red and irritated piercing and in doing so you slow the healing process.
During the first month girls should avoid when applying makeup to cover the nose piercing as it is still vulnerable to outside factors. And whatever you do never try and manipulate on your own with the jewelry yourself, even if it’s infected.
Do not panic right of the bat contact your local piercing studio for support. If you notice any heavy swelling and oozing of yellow –green substances go back to the piercing studio or the doctor.
In the worst case scenario you will be left with a scar that is commonly associated with piercing named keloids. Keloids are a sort of raised fibrous tissue left on the skin after a piercing gone wrong. And while not dangerous, can be embarrassing to people since it can take on a form of red or pink bump at times. They heal over time, with the basic help of various gels and ointments to the more hard approaches like plastic surgery.
All in all it is very simple to do the aftercare of a nose piercing. As I said in the start with common sense and keeping it clean, you should be able to avoid any perils that come with the benefit of standing out in the crowd with your nose piercing. In the end I want to let you know that this isn’t a universal guide in aftercare for everyone. Every one of us is unique as we try our piercings to be, so are our bodies. Some of us are not tolerable to certain kinds of metals in piercing, some our more receptive then others. The most important thing is that you inform yourself on the limitations of your own body from your doctor and accordingly with your piercing artist determine the aftercare of your accessory. Everything after that is just a matter of keeping it clean.
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