• WASH your hands thoroughly before cleaning or touching your piercing.

• Rinse with saline solution as needed during healing, at least 1-2 times daily for the first few months. Applying clean gauze saturated with a sterile saline solution may be more manageable for specific placements.

• SALINE SOAKS: Mix 1 cup of warm distilled water to 1/4 teaspoon of non-iodized sea salt (not Himalayan Salt or any of that fancy stuff; it has too many minerals that can irritate). Soaking your piercing in that mixture is best, but you can also use a clean disposable paper towel to compress it. It’s important to get this ratio exactly right; too much salt can be drying for the piercing.

• RINSE thoroughly with warm water to remove all traces of soap from the piercing. Do not rotate the jewelry through the piercing.

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

Extra Info

• If your piercer suggests using soap, gently lather it around the piercing and rinse as needed. Avoid harsh soaps or soaps with dyes, fragrances, or triclosan; the fewer ingredients, the better. Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap is gentle and won’t overdry the tissue. If you can find baby mild, that tends to work best.

• Exercise during healing is fine; listen to your body. If it hurts, don’t do it!

• Wash and change your bedding regularly. Wear clean, comfortable, breathable clothing that protects your piercing while you sleep.

• Showers are going to be safer than baths, as bathtubs can harbor bacteria. If you bathe in a tub, clean it well before each use and rinse off your piercing when you get out.

• Avoid cleaning with alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, antibacterial soaps, iodine, or harsh products, as these can damage cells. Also, avoid ointments as they prevent necessary air circulation.

• -Avoid Bactine®, pierced ear care solutions, and other Benzalkonium Chloride products (BZK). These can be irritating and are not intended for long-term wound care.

• Avoid over-cleaning. This can delay your healing and irritate your piercing.

• Avoid undue trauma, such as friction from clothing, excessive area motion, playing with jewelry, and vigorous cleaning. These activities can cause the formation of unsightly and uncomfortable scar tissue, migration, prolonged healing, and other complications.

• Avoid all oral contact, rough play, and contact with others’ bodily fluids on or near your piercing during healing.

• Avoid stress and recreational drug use, including excessive caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol.

• Avoid submerging the piercing in unhygienic bodies of water, such as lakes, pools, hot tubs, etc. Instead, protect your piercing using a waterproof wound sealant bandage. These are available at most drugstores and work best for nipple, navel, and surface piercing placements. However, waterproof bandages do not work well on ear piercings.

• Avoid all beauty and personal care products on or around the piercing, including cosmetics, lotions, sprays, etc.

• Don’t hang charms or chains from your jewelry until the piercing is fully healed.

• Sleeping directly on a healing cartilage piercing can irritate, even causing shifts in the piercing’s angle. Placing a travel pillow on top of your pillow and then placing your ear in the opening can be helpful to avoid this.

• Initially: some bleeding, localized swelling, tenderness, or bruising.

• During healing: some discoloration, itching, secretion of a whitish-yellow fluid (not pus) that will form some crust on the jewelry. The tissue may tighten around the jewelry as it heals.

• Once healed: the jewelry may not move freely in the piercing; do not force it. If you fail to include cleaning your piercing as part of your daily hygiene routine, normal but smelly bodily secretions may accumulate.

• A piercing may seem healed before the healing process is complete; this is because tissue heals from the outside, and although it feels fine, the interior remains fragile. Be patient, and keep cleaning throughout the entire healing period.

• Even healed piercings can shrink or close in minutes after being there for years! This varies from person to person; keep jewelry in if you like your piercing—do not leave it empty.

• If you're not sure whether to change out a piercing, you can always contact your piercer or piercing studio for more information on specific healing times.

• Unless there is a problem with the size, style, or material, leave the jewelry in place for the entire healing period. Please look for a qualified piercer to perform any necessary jewelry change during healing.

• If you must temporarily remove your metal jewelry (such as for a medical procedure), contact your piercer for a non-metallic alternative.

• Wear jewelry at all times. Even healed piercings you have had for years can shrink or close in minutes, and if removed, reinsertion can be difficult or impossible.

• Using clean hands or paper products, regularly check the tightness of your jewelry's threaded and threadless ends.

• If you no longer want the piercing, remove the jewelry (or have a professional piercer remove it) and continue cleaning it like normal until the hole closes. In most cases, only a tiny mark should remain.

• If an infection is suspected, quality jewelry or an inert alternative may be left in place to allow for drainage of the infection if approved by your physician. On rare occasions, when the jewelry is removed, the surface cells close up, which can seal the infection inside the piercing channel and result in an abscess. Until an infection is cleared up, discuss with your physician if you should leave in quality jewelry or an appropriate substitute.

• The T-shirt trick: Cover your pillow with a large, clean T-shirt and turn it over nightly; one clean T-shirt provides four clean surfaces for sleeping.

• Keep phones, headphones, eyeglasses, helmets, hats, and anything else that touches the pierced area clean; switch use to the other side if possible.

• Use caution when styling your hair and advise your stylist of a new or healing piercing.

• A hard, vented eye patch (sold at pharmacies) can be applied under tight clothing (such as nylon stockings) or secured using a length of elastic bandage around the body (to avoid irritation from adhesive). This can protect the area from restrictive clothing, excess irritation, and impact during physical activities such as contact sports.

• The support of a tight cotton shirt or sports bra may provide protection and comfort, especially when sleeping.

• Genital Piercings – especially Triangles, Prince Alberts, Ampallangs, and Apadravyas – can bleed freely for the first few days. Be prepared. Additional cleaning after urination is not necessary.

• 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, but maintaining hygiene and avoiding trauma are vital; all sexual activities should be gentle during the healing period.

• Use barriers such as condoms, dental dams, waterproof bandages, etc., to avoid contact with your partners’ body fluids, even in long-term monogamous relationships.

• Use clean, disposable barriers on sex toys.

• Use a new container of water-based lubricant; do not use saliva.

• After sex, an additional saline rinse is suggested.

• These piercings require maintenance during their entire lifetime because matter can build up underneath the threaded top, causing the piercing to become irritated. Saline and/or shower rinses may be helpful with removing matter from underneath the threaded top.

• Avoid putting makeup on these piercings, even after healing.

• Even with proper care, surface anchors are less permanent than other body piercings.

Aftercare is an evolving conversation in the progression of body piercing. Needs can vary from one region and climate to another, and not all products are widely available. Please discuss your specific needs with your body piercer.

If you choose to use soap on a healing piercing, consider a gentle soap free of harsh chemicals, dyes, and perfumes. An antibacterial soap is not suggested, as it may overdry and irritate your piercing. If your piercer suggests using soap, you can thoroughly rinse the product afterward.

If sterile saline is unavailable in your region, a sea salt solution mixture can be a viable alternative. Dissolve 1∕8 to 1⁄4 teaspoon (.75 to 1.42 grams) of non-iodized (iodine-free) sea salt into one cup (8 oz. / 250 ml) of warm distilled or bottled water. A more potent mixture is not better; a salt solution that is too strong can irritate the piercing.