Piercing Aftercare

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• Packaged sterile saline is a gentle choice for piercing aftercare. Mixing your own sea salt solution is no longer a suggested practice from the APP. We 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.

• WASH your hands thoroughly prior to cleaning or touching your piercing for any reason.
• SALINE rinse as needed during healing. For certain placements it may be easier to apply using clean gauze saturated with saline solution. A brief rinse afterward will remove any residue.
• If your piercer suggests using soap, gently lather around the piercing and rinse as needed. Avoid using harsh soaps, or soaps with dyes, fragrances, or triclosan.
• RINSE thoroughly to remove all traces of the soap from the piercing. It is not necessary to rotate the jewelry through the piercing.
• DRY by gently patting with clean, disposable paper products because cloth towels can harbor bacteria and snag on jewelry, causing injury.

• 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 in, 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 having been there for years! This varies from person to person; if you like your piercing, keep jewelry in—do not leave it empty.

• You’re pierced with a longer piece of jewelry to accommodate for swelling. Once that swelling subsides, you’re required to downsize your jewelry for adequate healing. Your aftercare sheet will include an estimated timeframe for downsizing. If your swelling subsides prior to that time frame, do not wait! Come in for a downsize as soon as your swelling subsides to prevent excess irritation, migration, or irritation bumps. 
• If your piercing is not doing well, come into the studio for a check up! Do not ask the internet or your friends. Your piercer is trained to help troubleshoot your problem.

Consult a health care practitioner at the first sign of infection or

an allergic reaction, and report any diagnosed infection, allergic reaction, or adverse reaction resulting from the body piercing to the artist and to the Texas Department of State Health Services, Tattoo and Body Piercing Program, at (512) 834-6711.