Piercing Healing Process and Aftercare

A new piercing will be sore, tender or red for several days up to three weeks. Complete healing normally takes several weeks or more. Below are more specific healing time estimates. During this period, care must be taken to avoid infection. Touching--or, for genital and oral piercings, sexual activity--is usually discouraged.

Primary healing usually takes about as long as is listed below; the jewelry should not be removed during this period. The healing time should not be rushed. Very often a piercing that seemed to be healed will start to have problems when it is handled roughly, or exposed to mouth contact or unwashed hands before fully healed.

Full healing starts after primary healing is complete and usually takes about as long as primary healing, during this period the skin thickens and starts to gain elasticity. An additional "toughening up" period takes place after full healing is complete, this "toughening up" period also takes about as long as the primary healing time. During "toughening up" the skin remodels itself developing an internal texture in the fistula tube that replaces the shiny scar like internal surface.

Head

Beauty mark: 8 – 10 weeks
Bridge: 8 – 10 weeks
Cheek/Anti-Eyebrow: 10 – 12 weeks
Ear cartilage: 2 – 4 months
Ear lobes: 6 – 8 weeks
Eyebrow: 6 – 8 weeks
Lip/Labret: 2 – 4 weeks
Nostril: 6 – 12 months
Septum: 6 – 8 weeks
Tongue: 4 – 6 weeks
Frenulum: 6 – 8 weeks

Torso

Female Nipples: 4 – 6 months
Male Nipples: 2 – 4 months
Navel piercing: 6 months
Hand web: 6 – 9 months
Surface: 6 – 9 months
Neck: 6 – 9 months

Female Genital Piercings

Clitoral Hood: 2 – 6 weeks
Clitoris: 2 – 4 weeks
Fourchette: 4– 6 weeks
Inner Labia: 2 – 4 weeks
Outer Labia: 2 – 6 months
Triangle: 8 – 10 weeks
Pubic: 10 – 12 weeks

Male Genital Piercings

Ampallang: 4 – 8 months
Apadravya: 4 – 8 months
Dydoe: 8 – 12 weeks
Frenum: 6 – 8 weeks
Guiche: 8 – 10 weeks
Prince Albert: 4 – 9 weeks
Reverse PA: 4 – 6 months
Scrotum: 6 – 10 weeks
Foreskin: 6 – 8 weeks
Pubic: 10 – 12 weeks
Lorum: 10 – 12 weeks

Over time, after the piercing, the resulting wound is allowed to heal, forming a tunnel of scar tissue called a fistula. When the piercing has fully healed, the initial jewelry may be changed or removed for short periods.

Behavior that promotes healing

Behavior that hinders healing

Contact between the new piercing and another person's skin
Touching the piercing, unless cleaning it, in which case only with washed hands
Smoking and drinking alcohol (in the case of oral piercings)
Contact between the piercing and bodily fluids, perfume or cosmetics
Oral sex and genital intimacy, where this could cause one of the above
Swimming in public swimming pools, lakes, rivers, streams, and oceans as they may be too harsh to promote skin cell healing. Chlorine in swimming pool water may be an irritant. Bacteria, protozoa, and parasites found in non-chlorinated water can lead to infections.

For tongue, lip, cheek, and labret piercings, it is recommended to rinse the mouth after smoking, eating and drinking (except water). Some piercers recommend using Listerine, while others, claiming that Listerine is too harsh on the piercing thereby hindering the healing process, recommend a non-alcoholic mouthwash such as Oral-B Non-Alcoholic or Biotene, or a diluted saline solution. Kissing and oral sex are advised against for 4-6 weeks after the piercing, as are excessively hot or spicy foods. Some recommend cold foods such as ice cream bars, slushies, and the like. Blended foods are a great alternative - anything soft.

Body piercings

It is generally advised by piercers to use a sea salt rinse (1/8 teaspoon per 8oz of distilled or boiled water); proportionate mixes are marketed and sold by companies such as H2Ocean) or a medical saline rinse, which could be placed in a shot glass and held to the piercing for about 10 minutes, no more than 2 times a day. The solution could also be soaked into a cotton ball and used to gently cleanse the piercing morning and night. Overcleaning is a common cause of irritation and redness in a piercing, as well as inappropriate cleansing agents. Table salt Sodium Chloride is considered to be less natural than sea salt but in equal concentrations table salt may be less irritating than sea salt because table salt may be purer than sea salt. Another technique is sometimes practiced in which a new piercing is left to heal completely on its own without any cleansing, under the philosophy that the body will treat it as any other minor wound. This is commonly called the KIS method, which stands for "Keep It Simple." Piercers who use this method compare the healing process to getting stitches to heal up surgical wounds. Since one wants the body to accept the jewelry and create a clean, firm fistula, piercers who use this method advise that any solution or chemical could irritate the piercing and cause rejection and promote scarring and keloids.

Companies and stores such as Hot Topic and Claire's market rinses used in ear and body piercing aftercare; some piercers consider these suitable, however, others feel that they have excess chemicals that only hinder the process. For the most part, piercers agree that hydrogen peroxide and isopropyl alcohol are effective in sanitation but too strong for fresh piercings and often result in irritated piercings or excess scar tissue.

The debate over what constitutes proper aftercare is belied by the simple fact that a healthy clean piercing that isn’t made to become irritated through harsh treatment (of any kind) will almost always heal perfectly; but personal preferences will vary.

Changing of initial jewelry to allow for swelling

For some piercings (in particular tongue piercings) changing the initial jewelry is an essential step. In the case of tongue piercing this is because the initial jewelry is significantly longer than the jewelry for a healed piercing, to allow for swelling.