PIERCING AFTERCARE AND REMEDIES TO COMMON PIERCING PROBLEMS

Love and care is exactly what your new piercing needs. Not taking care or using the wrong and harmful products is not only harmful, but it also prolongs the piercing healing process. Most of the piercers would give you a set of instructions that you have to follow. Most of the people do not consider their advice, resulting into a serious infection. For those who have pierced or planning to have piercing in near future a complete set of instructions are here in this article. These recommendations would help you a lot, only if you follow them.

Common piercing Aftercare:

Before visiting the piercer here are a few important things that you must already have at your home, so that you don’t have to run to the market to find out things that you need. Here is a list of a few things you might need:

• Sea Salt

• Mild Anti-Bacterial or Antimicrobial Liquid Soap/Wash

• Cotton Balls

• Cotton-tipped Swabs

• Small disposable cups (2-4 ounces)

Cleaning Your Piercing:

First and the most important thing is that you should never touch your piercing with dirty hands, so always wash your hands before touching it, your hands might have germs and bacteria that may cause infection on the piercing. You would also need cotton to clean the piercing. Soak the cotton balls with warm water and carefully wipe away any dirt that gathers around the pierced area. Never reuse these cotton balls again, just throw them away once used. Also apply the liquid soap around the piercing area; you don’t have to move your jewelry then rinse the jewelry and piercing area with warm water, making sure that all soap is removed. Use a clean paper towel to clean your piercing area.

Important Tip:

Some piercers would suggest you to rotate the jewelry to clean the pierced area well. Although, it is not a false advice however it may cause more problems than good. Any bacteria present on the jewelry can easily get into the raw piercing, causing irritation and even infection. So it’s better to clean the piercing and jewelry without moving it.

Useful Healing Aids and Products:

• Tea Tree Oil: Tea tree oil is usually used to cool and refresh the irritated piercing. Only use the best quality tea tree oil that is diluted in pure water.

• Emu oil: It is used for the purpose of healing; it gives best results when used for healing a piercing.

• Saline Solution: This would not cause you much amount, and it is also easily available than most of the other products. It is quite effective in healing and soothing a new piercing. It can be also used as a substitute for the sea salt soaks.

Avoid Using:

• Ointments: People use several kinds of ointments to ensure that no bacteria remain on the piercing. However these ointments do nothing more than clogging pores and kill the good cells healing the piercing.

• Hydrogen Peroxide: it is also used for killing the bacteria, but it also destroys the white blood cells at heal the piercing. If you use hydrogen peroxide, it would cause irritation and also increase the time period for healing the piercing.

• Rubbing Alcohol: Alcohol cause the skin to become dry and it also irritate the new piercing, leading to infection. So one must avoid use it on the piercing.

• Glyoxide: It acts similar to hydrogen peroxide; glyoxide contains hydrogen peroxide which hinders the healing process and cause even more problems.

Sea salt soak can also be used for the new piercing and even for the irritated piercings. It is a simple way to soothe pain and remove all the infection, if done properly.

Almost every piercer would give you a different advice when it comes to piercing. You can even find a lot of information on the websites. Various advice and aftercare methods do not necessarily mean that some of the methods and techniques are incorrect or they are not genuine. Since every person has a different skin type and it reacts differently when a specific product or technique is applied on it.

One may find ointments a good product to remove the bacteria and for the rapid healing, while for others it may worsen the situation by killing the white blood cells. So you would find almost a unique treatment from person to person. This information comes from years and years of experience by the industry leading professionals. For this reason, I have mentioned a few more important points that may be helpful to you.

• Always wash your hands prior to touching or cleaning your piercing. We use our hands throughout the day to perform several tasks, so they are full of germs and bacteria. So it’s very important that you wash your hands with a good soap or hand wash. It is very easy to have infection which can lead to hospitalization and even death. While having hospitalization and death are very exceptional cases.

• Wash your piercing with mild hand soap; ensure not to use a soap that contains fragrance. If you are using an antimicrobial soap then make sure that it is not very harsh. Avoid using any kind of dish soap, as it does not do any good to the fresh piercing. You can find soaps that are specifically sold for fresh piercing. Rinse the soap once the piercing is cleaned. Always remember never to take jewelry out to clean it.

• This step is only for the oral or oral related piercing. Rinse your mouth out with a non-alcoholic mouth wash. If your piercer suggests you to use an alcoholic mouth wash, then dilute it in water and only then use it.

• It is good to have a sea salt soak. You can get the sea salt from the grocery stores around you location. Make sure that the sea salt you purchase does not contain any additional ingredients and its 100% pure.