Piercing FAQ’s

Just thought this would be useful if there’s already such a thread mods can delete.

Note: this is information I’ve amassed over the last 7 years of being a client and chatting with my piercer. If in doubt always visit your piercer!

I’ll list the general aftercare and other questions commonly asked for the main groups of piercings. Ear, oral, facial, genital & surface piercings

Do they hurt?

That largely depends on the piercing you get. A lobe hurts less than a conch, which hurts less than a scaffold piercing & so on. However pain is not something I’d worry about when getting any piercing.

How should I care for my ear piercings?

Firstly don’t touch it. Don’t twist it. Don’t turn it. Don’t push the bar back or forth. Don’t touch it. No touchy. for god sake just don’t touch it.

Cleaning with a saline solution, natural sea salt (1/4 of a teaspoon) mixed with 1/2 a pint of boiling water. Allow it to cool to about body temperature. Don’t need to scald yourself! Use clean cotton buds one for each piercing. This should be a routine or 6 weeks. Twice a day. Too many times a day and you’ll just annoy the piercing.

One thing to bear in mind is swelling and leaking from your piercing is normal, it’s not an infection. In fact the chances of getting an infection in a piercing is very slim. And won’t go away with cleaning alone, you’ll need anti biotics. When a piercing is overly painful or leaking puss a lot that’s most likely irritation. To avoid such things, never sleep on your piercing while it’s healing. Clean 2-3 times a day, no more than that unless it’s needed. Use SEA SALT only, never table salt. Don’t touch it while it’s healing and always wash your hands beforehand.

When can I change the bar?

No sooner than 6 weeks. Sometimes you’ll need an extra week or two. It’s important to downsize from the bar you’ve been peirced with because it will be longer than you’d need after healing to allow for swelling. Leaving the excessively long bar in after healing has finished will lead to irritation. If you’re not comfortable changing the jewellery yourself just drop into your piercer. Some won’t charge to change the jewellery some may charge a small fee. You will obviously have to buy the jewellery.

what will I be pierced with? Can I have a ring?

Due to Ireland’s lack of regulation within the industry there’s unfortunately no law on piercings and tattoos. However the best practices and the only one reputable piercers will use are:

Piercing with high quality implant grade titanium. The nickel content of titanium is less than 1%. So there will be less pain and irritation during healing as well as the rejection odds are much lower. No other metal is safe to use, gold has a low nickel content ONLY if it is pure 24k. Don’t be fooled by piercers who tell you surgical steel is an appropriate metal to use. All equipment use should be in a sterlised pouch. There are ways to check if the pouch has been through an autoclave. There’s markings on the back of the pouch that will be faded. Again, if in doubt, walk out.

its been more than 8 weeks and my piercing still hurts?

Everyone’s body is different. You might feel some minor pain or irritation even after 8 weeks has passed. Just keep cleaning it regularly

Cleaning tongue piercings?[/b]

You don’t need to worry about gargling salt water (yuck) to clean your tongue piercing. Instead you’ll use non alcoholic mouthwash. You must rinse after eating, drinking (and if you must) smoke. Do not drink alcohol at all, you’ll delay healing a lot. Tongue piercings don’t follow the same rules as most piercings due to them being a muscle. The swelling will be very bad for the first 2 weeks, it will drop enough then to warrant a bar change by your piercer. That second bar should be left for 6 weeks and if needed you can downsize again. You can help with pain and swelling with some ibeprofun.

what else should I be careful of with oral piercings?

The biggest thing in my experience is being careful with catching your bar on a fork. It hurts. That and biting the bar while chewing. Don’t be tempted to downsize early though, just be extra cautious for a few weeks. Sucks I know but it will be worth it!

Can I get pierced with a ring?[/i]

No. Well, you can, but you shouldn’t. Piercings don’t heal correctly when a ring is involved. Just better to get a bar.

Whats a surface piercing?

Basically an piercing that goes under the skin. Eyebrow, dermals and so on are all surface piercings. These ones are the piercings with the highest chance of rejection however.

what are the risks of being pierced by a gun?

There’s a lot to name here and for the sake of keeping this easy to read I’m going to link a blog post from my body piercer Liam. He outlines all of the issues with guns and the dangers. Have a read

That’s about all I can think of right now. But if anything comes to mind I will add to this post.