PIERCING AFTERCARE

YOUR PIERCING WAS CAREFULLY DONE BY A PROFESSIONAL TO ENSURE THE BEST HEALING RESULTS. THE REST DEPENDS ON HOW TO CARE FOR IT!

Treat your piercing like an OPEN WOUND. Bleeding, swelling, bruising and tenderness in the beginning are all normal.

At least twice a day use ONLY saline solution to clean your piercing. Spray it on and use a clean q tip to clean around it. Do not ever use ALCOHOL, PEROXIDE or cream on or around your piercing.

Wash your hands with liquid anti-bacterial soap before you touch your piercing. Only time you may touch your piercing is to check the tightness of the balls or gems on those piercings with balls or gems that screw in.

Avoid the lake, hot tub, swimming pool, or ocean for at least 2 weeks.

After 8 weeks for healing it is safe to change the jewelry. If the piercing is infected or irritated after 8 weeks wait until it heals completely to change the jewelry.

For the first two weeks for oral or genital piercings avoid any type of activity that can make your piercing come in contact with bacteria. Such as kissing, drinking alcohol, smoking, vaping, or any kind of sexual activity.

For ear cartilage piercing expect a lot of tenderness and longer healing times. Ear cartilage piercing may take up to a year to completely heal.

If you need help changing the jewelry please contact the piercer at MAKER TATTOOS LLC. There is a $25 dollar fee to change 1 piece of jewelry or many pieces of jewelry at one time.

Seek medical attention if a piercing start doing one or all of the following Very Painful throbbing with a warm feeling accompanied with a fever.

DO NOT EVER play, twist rotate the jewlery or touch with dirty hands.

There is no single cleaning solution or aftercare regimen that works for everyone, everywhere, all the time. Different bodies and different lifestyles demand different aftercare. Geography matters, and what works for someone living in Philadelphia may not be the same thing that works for someone elsewhere. Differences in air and water quality, diet, and climate can greatly affect healing; what you use for aftercare and how you clean your piercing is only one part of a much larger picture.

You must find what works for you. The suggestions in this brochure are based upon our experience and the experiences of others who came before us. These are suggestions. If you are familiar with your body and how you heal, the most important thing you can do is pay attention—your body should tell you what to do.

Basic Care

New piercings should typically be cleaned twice daily. (Frequency also depends on your skin type, your daily activities and environment, and what piercing you are trying to heal.) You should continue this cleaning routine for the entire healing period. Do not over-clean your piercing. Cleaning too often with an overly harsh cleaning solution, or with too many different types of cleaning solutions, can irritate your piercing. If cleaning your piercing twice a day is suggested, don’t assume cleaning it ten times a day is better: It isn’t.

Healing piercings discharge lymph, blood and blood plasma, and dead cells. The purpose in cleaning your piercing is to remove this discharge as well as any dirt or bacteria picked up during the day. The products you use on your piercing are not what make it heal— they only keep the piercing clean while your body works to heal it. Do not think of your cleaning solution as medicine, because it isn’t. Salt water and/or saline solutions should be used to irrigate your piercing, but it is the action of flushing out the wound that helps healing, not the saline itself. Likewise, soap should just be treated like soap; lather around your piercing and then rinse thoroughly.

TO CLEAN YOUR PIERCING, USE ONE OF THESE METHODS:

Warm Sea Salt Soaks

The single best thing you can do for your piercing is to keep up a regular regimen of salt water soaks. These flush out the piercing, help to draw out discharge, stimulate blood circulation, and soothe irritations. We strongly suggest soaking your piercing at least twice a day—more often if healing is difficult.

Make a soaking solution by mixing sea salt and distilled water. Use pure sea salt (non-iodized) and not table salt, which contains extra chemicals that can irritate your piercing and dextrose (sugar) that can cause yeast infections. When buying salt, read the label: it should contain only salt (sodium chloride) and possibly an anti-caking agent (often calcium phosphate, calcium silicate, or prussiate of soda). Do not use Epsom salts, as this is a completely different chemical compound. Make sure your salt-to- water ratio is correct. A stronger or weaker solution is not better and may actually harm your piercing.

It’s often easiest to mix it up by the gallon and keep it in the fridge. Cold soaks can be soothing for the first few days; after, heat as needed to make a warm salt-water soak.

Mix according to the table below (use measuring spoons and cups for accuracy).

To use: Fill a small glass with the solution and warm. (You can heat it in the microwave.) Put the solution in a glass, press the glass against your skin to form a seal, and hold it over your piercing for five minutes or until the water cools. For piercings like nostrils, ears, nipples, and some penis piercings, the entire body part should be submerged in the solution.

SEA SALT

WATER

1/4 Teaspoon. 1 Cup (8 oz.)

1 Teaspoon. 1 Quart (32 oz.)

4 Teaspoons. 1 Gallon

1/4 Cup (Approx.). 1 Bathtub