Aftercare

Aftercare is pretty important to follow when you get a piercing, or a few. Piercings aren't easy to heal, they can indeed take a long time to heal.

 

LITHA (Leave it the hell alone) method Wash your hands thoroughly with hot, soapy water before interacting with your piercing – remember, it’s a fresh wound. No touching, picking or twisting, don't over clean, this can make the healing take longer as you are over working the healing wound. Clean in the shower, so rinse off with warm water. Wipe away any white-yellow lymph fluid or dry matter, using none woven gauze, or clean kitchen roll. Pat dry gently with kitchen roll. Do this gently, don't be rough/hard on the area, as that will cause damage to the healing stage.

 

Saline spray (NeilMed/SteriClens/EasyPiercing) Wash your hands thoroughly with hot, soapy water before interacting with your piercing – remember, it’s a fresh wound. No touching, picking or twisting, don't over clean, this can make the healing take longer as you are over working the healing wound.

Spray the area with saline spray - can do this directly or on kitchen roll/woven. Wipe away any white-yellow lymph fluid or dry matter, using none woven gauze, or clean kitchen roll. Pat dry gently with kitchen roll. Do this gently, don't be rough/hard on the area, as that will cause damage to the healing stage.

 

Before I get into this, I must point out that everyone heals differently in stages, defiantly if you have an underlying health condition or your job lifestyle is pretty hectic that can cause piercings to take a slower healing.

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Stage 1 - Inflammation The inflammatory phase begins almost immediately after your piercing and can last between 3-6 days, it can sometimes last a little longer than that at times. Once you are pierced, your body works straight away at clotting the scene, it's all to do with your blood cells (which are crazy) they create a barrier as such around the open wound to protect you from the inside and outside. Whenever we hear the word inflammation it is kind of scary, but don't worry it's a good thing, means your body is working and protecting itself.

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Stage 2 - Begin to "heal" The proliferative phase is the second thing that happens to a new healing piercing. It starts around 2 days after the piercing is done and continues for 4-6 weeks. Once those weeks have passed, I usually get you to come in for a downsize and this is the perfect time to do so, as the inflammation has settled, no sign of significant swelling or pure redness. A downsize means that I will install a shorter piece of jewellery so it's a little more "snugger" like to the piercing area, so it doesn't go irritated or heal at an angle. I will inform you when you'll need a downsize, as said though everyone's stages are going to be different so you might need longer before the downsize, or you may need multiple downsizes due to the type/or area of the piercing.

 

Stage 3 - Remodel This is the final stage and important one to, this is when your fragile piercing starts to take structure in building itself or as some say remodel, where it starts to form "normal" tissue surrounding the piercing channel. This starts around 6 weeks post piercing and can last up to 2 years. At this stage the piercing shouldn't be so sensitive or sore, it'll start to become comfortable and sometimes a piercing can "nest" into the area (this is completely different to imbedding). I usually inform you a piercing can take anywhere from 6 - 12 months to fully heal,

sometimes it can be longer. I say it like that due to above statement, a piercing can be uncomfortable and sore for longer than "8 weeks", it can take up to 6 months for that to go. Also, redness and irritation can defiantly happen at the 4-6 months' timeframe, and sometimes can happen when the piercing is a year or so old, this can be due to it being caught, or due to your workplace, or due to your health. I'm hoping this clears up some questions you may have, and you can understand the full depth of the piercing healing stages.

To simplify it. The piercing site will be sore for the first few days, you will see signs of site swelling, bleeding and bruising - this is normal. Swelling stage can be from 2 days to 6 weeks, sometimes longer. Best way to get rid of swelling is keeping hydrated, no touching it, no sleeping on it, and just leaving it alone. You can do some cold compression, that can help with swelling and bruising. You will also see more discharge at this stage, the discharge will be clear to yellow colour, it's totally normal.

After your downsize which is at 4-6 weeks, you'll notice that your jewellery is snugger to your piercing site, but at this stage your piercing is still in the healing stage, it's still fragile, sore, uncomfortable and a little swelling can be there. You will see some discolouration of your skin tissue, don't worry.