top of page

Aftercare FAQ – How to care for your piercings.

What are appropriate aftercare solutions?

We only ever recommend sterile saline solution. We don’t suggest creating your own. This is because your own mixture can be too strong and salty, doing more damage than good. We recommend solutions only containing USP grade water and USP sodium chloride. Any other ingredients can do harm to your healing. Please do not use anything else such as contact lens solution, tea tree oil, asprin paste, alcohol, eucalyptus, Dettol etc.


Remember!

C - Clean your hands well before handling your piercing and commencing your aftercare routine.

A – Apply aftercare solution. We recommend NeilMed Aftercare which can be found in our store.

R – Recognise if there is any issues to report back to moose with.

E – Ensure there is nothing

D – Dry the piercing site well with either clean gauze or paper towel or even a hairdryer on the cool setting.


Clean hands

Apply

Recognise

Ensure piercing is dry

Dry


Care instructions!

1. Do not pick your crusties! – Do not twist, turn, pull, bop or touch your piercings. This will break the crusty residue that is building around your piercing which is vital to healing. Twisting your piercings during the healing process is very outdated advice. Your body is trying to grow the skin on the inside of the piercing channel called a fistula and every time you pick your crusties off or twist and move your jewellery, you’re breaking your newly healed skin which means your piercing will take longer to heal! Also jewellery inserted in initial piercings are longer to allow for swelling, this means any dirt sitting on the exposed bar gets dragged into the open piercing wound when the jewellery is played with.


2. Pain relief if needed! – Pain relievers such as neurofen and Panadol are great to use if you’d like to help reduce pain and swelling! We recommend waiting 24 hours before using these, as some of them are blood thinners and can encourage bleeding. Don’t be surprised if you do bleed from your piercing over the next coming weeks too, it is totally normal! Drinking lots of water and staying hydrated also helps keep the swelling at bay!


3. Use Neilmed! – Twice a day, front and back of your piercings for the first three months of your healing time. By using NeilMed, we can trust that you are getting the best aftercare that the industry has to offer, as it only contains those two very important ingredients!


4. Downsize! – Book an appointment to have your piercing downsized! This is super important to do to have a comfortable, completed piercing! Downsizing is when the jewellery you were first pierced with (the longer bar to accommodate for swelling) is changed to a smaller bar. This is great because it stops it snagging on hair, clothes and other items.


5. Don’t sleep on your piercings and don’t go swimming!


6. No pregnancy or breastfeeding


7. Any questions, ask moose, not google


8. Wash your hands any time you touch your piercing


What to expect:

Immediately – five days: Pain, swelling, bruising, tenderness, possible bleeding

Six days to fully healed (6-9 months): Swelling, tenderness, crusties (yellow/golden hard crust), itchiness


Fully healed: Pain free, no redness around site, no bumps, comfortable.


Tips and tricks:

  • Always wash your hands before the start of your aftercare routine.

  • Avoid excessive cleaning. This can be detrimental to the healing of your piercing and irritate it.

  • Do not play with your piercing. Any excess trauma can cause issues in healing.

  • Do not submerge your piercings in any types of bodies of water such as pools, rivers, lakes, the ocean, hot tubs, baths.

  • Avoid using chemicals such as facial cleansers, make up and sprays around your piercing.

  • Do not change over jewellery yourself if the piercing is not fully healed. Any damage to the piercing during change over can undo all your hand work it took to heal it. It is best to see your piercer for a change over if you’re not confident to change it over.

  • Avoid sleeping on your piercings until they are fully healed or at least downsized. Sleeping on your piercings can cause irritation bumps and change the angle of your piercing.


Piercing specific care:


Ear cartilage:

  • Avoid bringing your phone to your ear during phone calls. Use speakerphone wen possible to minimise the transfer of bacteria to your piercing.

  • Depending on which cartilage piercing you have, you may need to switch to over-the-ear headphone or to in-the-ear headphones, or you may have to stop using headphones altogether until you’re fully healed. If you are using headphones or headsets, do not share or use others. This will minimise the chance of shared bacteria.

  • Be cautious brushing hair to make sure hair is wrapped around initial long jewellery.

  • Sleep on clean pillow cases.

  • Dry hair well before going to sleep with fresh piercings. Wet hair can create moisture build-up on piercings which causes irritation.


Navel:

  • Avoid high waisted clothing that will rub on your jewellery.

  • Be cautious in bending in the first couple weeks if you do such sports and activities as yoga, gymnastics etc


Nipples:

  • Wear clean, soft, comfortable bras or crop bras, even whilst sleeping. This will keep the nipples from rubbing against your shirt and stop any unnecessary movement.

  • Avoid using a loofah in the shower during healing – accidents happen!

  • Do not sleep on your stomach or put any pressure on your piercings for an extended time (including getting massages laying down)

  • Be sure there is no interaction if possible.


Nostril:

  • Be sure if youre wearing glasses, that they do not fall off your face when looking down and snags your jewellery (your piercer should check this before piercing you)

  • Avoid chemicals near that area such as make up, cleansers, moisturisers etc

  • When using a face wash, it’s best to use a wipe or cleaning pad, this way you can ensure you control where the cleansing product goes.

  • Use single use- clean tissues if needing to blow nose and minimise interaction if you can.

  • Do not sleep on face.


Oral piercings:

  • Do not change oral hygiene routine during your healing time. This can throw off your mouths natural PH balance and cause problems for you piercing.

  • Avoid excessive smoking or drinking during healing.

  • Rinse with water after you eat, drink or smoke.

  • Swelling is very common in oral piercings. Don’t be surprised if you’re especially swollen or jewellery ‘nests’ slightly in the skin.

  • Avoid spicy, hot temperate or overly acidic foods for the first couple weeks.

  • Avoid oral contact with others during healing.


0 comments

Commentaires


bottom of page