Guidelines for healing your piercings - UPDATED

Star Lord

CatCat wrote: »

i came looking to see how many people had problematic scaffolds like me and i feel better already lol so thankyou!

and about the saltwater concentration, i'm told that it should taste like tears

Welcome aboard!

Yeah the water should be only very slightly salty...

[emo]
Everything tastes like tears
[/emo]

CatCat

thankies for the welcome
yeah i really didn't have a clue what i was letting myself in for
its been 5 months and still gets crusty and sore...yuck.

out of curiousity, how long have other people's cartilage piercings taken to heal?

Will

4months
got real infected, healed up eventually though and have no problems with it

Le Rack

I've my tragus done since...em...the tenth or eleventh of july, and it's still crusty and sore, well not badly, has a tiny bit of crust on it everyday but if I sleep on it funny or slap my head off the pillow it gets really really sore!

Also, my lobes get slightly infected from time to time despite having them since I was eight, but what I find best is stickin in the original piercing studs, cuz they have a thicker bar, and putting lashings of Sudocream on em...

A racy brainrot

out of the blue my healed piercing has gotten inflamed and a little more sensitive. It's never happened before to any of my other piercings. I'm starting to get a tad bit worried. I have started bathing it more often with salt water. All thoughts welcome

Gauge

What kind of a piercing is it?

strooooble

Hi all,
I got my tongue pierced 5 days ago and it looks like the swelling has gone down a bit (at least). But since yesterday there is yellow stuff leaking out of it, which does scare me a bit, especially since it's a bit 'stringy' (like melted mozarella) and hard to clean with the toothbrush (esp. the underside).

Overall it feels a lot better though and it's not so sore anymore, which is contradictory to the seeping.

Now I know it said on the aftercare advice leaflet that the piecing might leak for a while, but yellow? That does not look good to me. And I've been doing my best to keep it clean, rinsing and brushing every two hours. Used mostly mouthwash (as on leaflet) and alternatively saline (as a friend recommended who has her tongue pierced).

Any thoughts? You think I should go to doc with it?

Thanks in advance!

Will

go to your piercer and see but if you feel its more serious go to your doctor straight away.

mac123

hey all,
just wondering if there is a standard size for a labret piercing if you dont ask the piercer to do it in a certain size? I got mine done about a month ago and wanna get a shorter bar for it online but im not sure what size the piercing is!

Will

standard labret piercing is done at 1.6mm in diamater, length can be variable depending on your anatomy. Mine is currently 16mm in length. I prefer to have a bit of give in mine and don't like it too snug to my skin.
If you are ordering off an american/canadian site they use gauges there, so this page will be a help for you

http://wiki.bmezine.com/index.php/Image:GaugeChart.jpg

mac123

nice efficient reply there;)
i might leave mine the way it is, its fairly comfortable but it sticks out a bit when i smile or push against it with my tongue so i think il try something smaller!

Will

well the main thing is that your labret is still healing. takes between 2 - 3months for it to heal properly. yours is only done 1 month. give it a while to heal.
of course its gona stick out when you put pressure on it

xXxHariboxXx

Dunno why I'm asking this since not getting my tongue pierced for another two years but I'm bored. How long do you have to stay away from alcohol and smoking? Till it heals fully or what?

Will

preferably a 2 - 3 weeks. Until the initial swelling dies down. Stay off the beer anyway, and for smokes as long as possible.

Crumble Froo

ok, nape. how long should it still be getting crusty (a lil bit every week or so, or if i've slept heavily on it)? also, how likely is it after almost a year that swimming in the sea is gonna provide infection. nad it is, i should add, particularly salty sea. i usually get home with small salt crystals all over me. just wondering

Will

id mine well over a year and was still acting the nob when i took it out. was getting crusty on and off for me, funny though when i was in france it was fine. maybe the climate here doesnt suit the piercing. i woulda thought swimming woulda helped it but maybe just dries it out a bit too much.
id always clean my nape when i woke up in the shower

Crumble Froo

im not even gonna ask what you were doing the night before to wake up in the shower, but anyway... mine's been on/off crusty since before i started swimming... steve warned me against letting it near the water, due to bacteria etc, but have put waterproof plasters on it, only to find them gone when i got out. think i need to throw some vaseline on as well next time.

but when'd you take yours out?

Will

uhm about 2 weeks ago when i was in paris.

Crumble Froo

ah, was just wondering, cos i was pretty sure you had it in before i left.

Biscuit r Cake

Just wondering how long,in general,do belly button piercings take to heal.Also is it painful to get done.I'm working myself up to have it done!!

The Artist

Biscuit r Cake wrote: »

Just wondering how long,in general,do belly button piercings take to heal.Also is it painful to get done.I'm working myself up to have it done!!

it takes about 2weeks to a year to heal:D It all depends on your skin and the looking after treatments ye take.Willburt will be the man for the answers and a silly question if it hurts yes (only for a couple of secs :eek::eek:):cool:

Will

It will sting a bit Biscuit r Cake I presume. You are getting a needle threaded through you. The piercer will run through healing times with you and proper aftercare but if you look after it well should be fully healed within 6 months to a year.

!!!

Expect anywhere from 6 to 18 months for your navel to completly heal.

Crumble Froo

that sounds more accurate to my experience of belly piercing, i think. belly took a good while to heal up properly and fully.

mac123

i got a new bar for the labret last week and when i tried to take out the old one the disc cut into the inner lip a bit. i decided to leave the old piercing in to let the cut heal but there is puss coming out of it now and its quiet painful especially when i smile. any advice on this?

Knee-Vee

Hmm. An ear piercing I had thought was well on the way to being healed has, in the last few days, started acting up again. As in where last week I could clean it and not find anything on the cotton bud, it's bled a little and there is discharge.

I have been pretty careful about cleaning it regularly and not touching it and what not, and I'm just wondering how normal it is for piercings to go up and down in terms of icky for the first few months.

Will

Mac123: Best bet is to go to a piercer and ask them. If it were me I would make a salt solution using boiled water (let it cool though) then swish it around my mouth.

Knee-Vee: piercing can go "up and down" depending on the state of your health, stress and other factors. I had a flu around the beginning of march, nape got very very sore and I just decided to remove it. Healed very quickly. Just stick it out, treat it as a new piercing and continue cleaning it

mac123

i have been doing that with salt water and im using mouthwash a few times a day aswell, il keep doing it till the weekend and see a piercer then if theres no improvement! cheers man!

Will

mouthwash can contain a lot of alcohol which may do more harm than good, water it down a bit if you want.
no worries

Knee-Vee

Wilburt: Thanks a million!