PIERCING AFTERCARE

Congrats on your new piercing!

In the weeks ahead, it's super important to take good care of it while it heals. Your body's pretty amazing at fixing up wounds, piercings included! Our aftercare routine follows easy steps to help your piercing heal its best. We keep it simple, just using clean, warm running water and sterile saline solution. We also recommend leaving the piercing alone as much as possible.

As your piercing heals, your body will produce a fluid called exudate (it's not pus, so no need to fret). This is totally normal and shows that your body is on the job. Eventually, it'll dry up and form a crust that's like a scab—resist the urge to pick it! Your body will shed these crusts on its own over time. Regular showers and rinsing with sterile saline solution will help this process along!

DO rinse your piercing in the shower everyday.

During your shower, allow the water to rinse over the piercing for about 15-30 seconds.

DO use sterile saline spray as needed to rinse away any extra crusties around your piercing.

DO avoid sleeping directly on your ear during the initial healing time, even if it doesn’t hurt. You can use a doughnut pillow to gently rest your ear in the middle of the hole. This will keep the piercing elevated while you sleep.

DO focus on what is going into your body! Eat healthy, drink plenty of water, and get the appropriate amounts of sleep.

DO downsize your jewelry! Be sure to schedule a follow up appointment 4-6 weeks after your initial piercing to avoid any complications. This will allow us to assess your piercing and potentially downsize the jewelry.

DO NOT touch your new piercing! Twisting your jewelry or touching your piercing transfers bacteria directly into an open wound, which can lead to an infection and require medical intervention. Touching and twisting also disturbs the healing process and disrupts the regenerating tissue.

DO NOT use any harsh chemicals (hydrogen peroxide, alcohol etc.), soaps, essential oils, holistic ointments and anything topical. We have found that these items are counterproductive and can delay the healing process.

DO NOT let your cell touch your new piercing! Cell phones collect bacteria and are rarely disinfected. Make your best effort to keep them off of your fresh piercing.

DO NOT submerge your new piercing in pools, tubs, lakes, rivers, oceans, or any body water. Remember, utilizing shower water and saline to rinse the area is allowed and beneficial. Always avoid submerging new piercings into any body of water, as this will introduce bacteria into the open wound and increase the risk of infection

Downsizing

Downsizing is an essential step in healing your new piercing. You’ve been pierced with a longer post to accommodate for swelling in the first 4-6 weeks of the healing process.

After this period, we recommend you have a piercer shorten your post for optimal healing.

If you skip this part of the process, the piercing could heal at an angle, risk migration, or irritation bumps can occur, interrupting your healing.

Don’t live in the NYC area? Please reach out and we will happily help you find an APP member near you.

You can also visit www.safepiercing.org to find your local APP studio!