Written by Vie the Piercer 

**traducido en español al final de la pagina**

EXTERNAL BODY PIERCINGS

Wash your hands before cleaning your piercing.

Soak your piercing in saline solution or directly use the saline for a rinse  at least twice daily, no more than 3 times. Clean after working out or working hard 💪 

(Soap: You may use gentle soap instead of, not with saline. DO NOT USE soaps with dyes, fragrances, or triclosan—I recommend Cerave brand)

**More about why to use pre-packaged saline instead of making salt mixture:

RINSE thoroughly with plain water to remove all traces of the saline or soap from the piercing. It is not necessary to rotate the jewelry through the piercing; it can cause irritation.

**Remember to keep good hygiene around the piercing to avoid infection or irritation 

 DRY by gently patting with clean, disposable paper products because cloth towels can harbor bacteria and snag on jewelry, causing injury.

✅Packaged sterile saline is a gentle choice for piercing aftercare. Mixing your own sea salt solution is no longer a suggested practice from the Association of Professional Piercers. They strongly encourage you to use a sterile saline labeled for use as a wound wash. Contact lens saline, eye drops, and other saline products should never be used on a body piercing. Your saline ingredients should list .09% sodium chloride as the only ingredient. Mixing your own sea salt solution will commonly result in the product being far too salty and strong, this can over dry the piercing and interfere with healing.

ORAL PIERCINGS

Antimicrobial or antibacterial alcohol-free mouth rinse:

Rinse mouth as needed (3-5 times) daily with a cleaning solution for 30-60 seconds, after meals and at bedtime during the entire healing period.

Lip piercings require both mouthwash for inside the mouth  and saline for outside of the lip. 

MOUTHWASH  rinse for  30 sec+

SALINE  rinse outside lip with saline if a lip piercing.

RINSE with plain clean water after saline rinse 

*Don’t worry: For the first three to five days there will be significant swelling, light bleeding, bruising, and/or tenderness.

*After that: Some swelling, light secretion of a whitish yellow fluid (not pus).

*Use ice or cold water, anti-inflammatory medication, and pain relief medication if experiencing over swelling or pain. (note:  do not use ibuprofen for longer than 5 days)

EXTERNAL PIERCING

• Avoid picking at your jewelry or playing with Jewelry
• Avoid rough playing, snagging, tugging or hurting your piercings by any physical form.
• Avoid cleaning it with alcohol, any harsh soaps with fragrance, or applying any ointment
• Avoid removing the jewelry too early
• Avoid submerging your piercing under unhygienic bodies of water or bathtubs/spas or pools until healed. 
• Avoid tight/dirty clothing around the area. This includes masks—masks must be cleaned and carefully removed.

ORAL PIERCINGS

• Do not play with your jewelry.
• Avoid using mouthwash containing alcohol.
• Avoid oral sexual contact including French (wet) kissing or oral sex during healing
• Avoid stress and all recreational drug use.
• Avoid aspirin, alcohol and smoking! It increases risks and prolongs  healing time.
• Avoid straws for drinks 
• Avoid hard or crunchy foods that can harm the piercing.
• Avoid eating spicy, salty, acidic, or hot temperature foods or beverages for a few days.
• Cold foods and beverages are soothing and help reduce swelling.
• Soft foods only for 5 days.
• For tongue piercing, try to keep your tongue level in your mouth as you eat because the jewelry can get between your teeth when your tongue turns.
• For lip piercings: be cautious about opening your mouth too wide as this can result in the jewelry catching on your teeth. DOWNSIZING IS NECESSARY FOR ALL ORAL PIERCINGS after 1 month.
  

•  Irritation may sometimes look like infection and is usually caused by doing anything on the “What to Avoid List” listed above. 

Minor Localized Infection may cause redness, swelling, and is painful to the touch

See a doctor right away if you experience the following:

•  Your symptoms last for a week or worsen.

•  You experience a fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, or disorientation.

•  The piercing is very painful, swollen, has red streaks emanating from it, or there is a loss of function in the area.

•  You have pus discharge that is greenish, yellowish, or grayish

** 18 and over -Use a new container of water-based lubricant; do not use saliva

Downsizing refers to switching jewelry in a piercing to a shorter post, once initial swelling has subsided.

Because of the way piercings heal, most require initial jewelry with a noticeable amount of extra room to allow the tissue to swell in the early phases of healing. This is crucial to avoid jewelry embedding in the skin.

However, once the initial stages have passed, this initial swelling will have gone away. This will reveal the initial extra room and results in the initial jewelry now being too long. Jewelry that is too long can snag easily and move around excessively, leading to irritation and renewed swelling. In oral piercings, excessively long jewelry can lead to damage to teeth, gums, and other oral structures (read more in Oral Piercing Risks). At this stage, it’s important to return to your piercer to have shorter jewelry installed to reduce these issues. The piercing is not healed enough to safely change your jewelry by yourself at this point in healing.

If this window for downsizing is missed for piercings such as the helix, the excessive length may lead to migration or a change of angle of piercing, especially if the piercing gets slept on. This damage is irreversible and can get bad enough to result in the piercing failing.

Industrial 6-9 months

“Antitragus, conch, daith, helix, rook, snug, tragus : 3-9months

nostril: 3–4 months

earlobe: 4–8 weeks

eyebrow: 6–8 weeks

labret: 6–8 weeks

Bridge: 4–6 months

lip, side: 6–8 weeks

lip, upper: 2–3 months

navel: 6–9 months

septum: 4–8 weeks

surface: 6–9 months

frenulum(web): 4–8 weeks

tongue/tongue tip: 4–8 weeks

(Genitals) 

Christina: 6–9 months

clitoral hood, horizontal (HCH): 6–8 weeks

clitoral hood, vertical (VCH): 4–8 weeks

foreskin: 2–3 months

frenum: 3–4 months

labia, inner: 4–8 weeks

labia, outer: 3–4 months

lingual frenulum: 4–8 weeks

nipple, female: 6–9 months

nipple, male: 3–4 months

Prince Albert: 4–8 weeks

Princess Diana: 4–8 weeks

pubic: 3–4 months/ scrotum: 3–4 months”

PIERCINGS 18 and over ONLY!

NIPPLES: Use external cleaning process

• The support of a tight cotton shirt or sports bra may provide protection and feel comfortable, especially for sleeping.

GENITAL: Use external cleaning process

• Prince Alberts, Ampallangs, and Apadravyas—can bleed freely for the first few days. Be prepared.
• Urinate after using soap to clean any piercing that is near the urethra.
• Wash your hands before touching on (or near) a healing piercing.
• In most cases you can engage in sexual activity as soon as you feel ready, avoiding trauma and condom use is mandatory until healed.
• Use clean, disposable barriers on sex toys.
• After sex, an additional saline soak or clean water rinse is suggested.