Our best piercing aftercare tip…
be patient and follow our expert advice! Healing can take anywhere from 1-12 months, so stick with your piercing aftercare plan.
It also depends on the type of piercing, fleshy areas like the lobes will heal in 1-2 months, but if you’ve had anywhere in your cartilage pierced, like your conch, you can expect it to take up to a year or more to heal.
Directions: Spray front and back twice a day with Saline , directly over the piercing and jewellery.
Not for oral use. External use only.
Do not use the following products or ingredients on your piercing:
Do not use Dettol, Betadine, hydrogen peroxide, disinfectants, soaps, tea tree oil and alcohol to clean your piercing. These products can dry out, irritate and burn the pierced area.
Avoid using personal care products on or around the piercing including makeup, body lotion and perfume
DO NOT REMOVE YOUR JEWELLERY
– ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE AN INFECTION!
The jewellery provides a drainage point for the infection to exit the body. If you remove the jewellery before the infection has cleared up, you could well trap the infection inside the body leading to excess scarring and taking much longer to heal.
First Stage of Healing – Hemostasis
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The sole objective of the first phase of healing is to stop blood loss. Have you ever wondered how your piercing stops bleeding? It’s because of hemostasis. Once your piercing is done and the jewelry inserted, your piercer will set down their instruments and hold pressure on your new piercing with cotton swabs. This will be done in 20 to 30 second increments and helps with clotting. This is just taking care of the minor, surface bleeding you can see. Meanwhile, inside the wound, red blood cells and platelets are working to halt the bleeding you can’t see. Collagen fibers in the walls of the vessels activate platelets in the blood to help form a barrier or a plug to prevent more bleeding and to stop any pathogens from getting into the wound. This forms a scab which can look like dried blood around your piercing.
Second Stage of Healing – Inflammatory Phase
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Stage two is also known as the defensive stage. The focus in phase two of healing is to destroy bacteria and remove any debris left in the wound. In this stage, neutrophils, which are a type of white blood cell, enter the wound area, and start cleaning it out. They remove any debris and nonessential bacteria that could irritate or cause infection. This helps prepare the area for new tissue growth. Once some of that is done, macrophages move on in and finish the process of clearing debris, such as dead or damaged cells. Macrophages also secrete growth factors and proteins that attract cells from your immune system to assist in tissue repair. The dermis and epidermis also work together and contract to close the wound while fibroblasts help create connective tissue to close the wound. During the inflammatory phase of healing, the permeability of the vessels increases, permitting fluid to accumulate in the tissue around the wound. This is when you may start to experience the signs of healing such as redness, soreness, drainage that is clear/white-ish in color, and swelling.
Third Stage of Healing – Proliferative Phase
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In the third stage of healing, granulation tissue starts forming. Fibroblasts make their way to the wound and begin contracting and in return, pulling the outside edges of the wound toward the center. This is the number one reason you don’t want to change your jewelry early. Even though there may be phases where it feels like the wound is healed enough, chances are it is not yet. This is because the outside edges of the piercing are healing first and slowly healing towards the center. Taking out and reinserting jewelry can damage this delicate tissue and start the healing process over again.
Fourth Stage of Healing – Maturation
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This last stage is also known as the remodeling stage. It is when the wound does a lot of changing and maturing. It fully closes and the cells that were used to help heal or repair the wound are no longer needed and are removed or die. This last phase can last anywhere from six months to two years.
The important thing to remember is that everyone heals differently. There are a lot of factors to consider like how well you take care of your piercing, your overall health and lifestyle, and also the quality of circulation in the area you’re choosing to get pierced. A lip piercing or any other piercing done in a mucous membrane, for example, often times heals a lot quicker than any cartilage piercing. You can help the process along by doing a consistent after regimen. Sea salt soaks help flush out the wound and get it to drain.
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"Your body healing a piercing is a miraculous process.
It’s best to understand how that process works so that you can have a piercing that looks beautiful and lasts."
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