Cleaning piercings?

[al-Mu'akhkhir]

I got both lobes pierced the other day, reputable parlour - the piercer knew his shit.

Anywho, he recommended that I use epsom salts, sea salts or rock salts mixed with warm water to clean my piercings.

So. Basically what I do is just q-tip away any crusties around the piercing, wet the front of the earring with the salt-solution and rotate that part all the way to the ball. I do the same with the other side, and then using my fingers I rub the solution around the piercing as much as I can (I have big hands and small ear lobes..). Then I dunk my ears in some warmer water than when I used for the salt solution. Lastly I pat my ears down with a piece of kleenex (not ideal, I know, but I got nothing else to use...)

Is there anything any of you can see that I'm doing wrong? Anything that could lead to infection?


Any tips on taking care of my piercing are appreciated... halp me!

[al-Mu'akhkhir]

oh yeah would it be a bad idea to wear over ear headphones? I'm sure they've probably acquired quite a bit of nastiness over the last year... I mean like the big ear muffler stereo ones... halp!

[AlteredStateGrl]

I'd just use a cotton ball with some hydrogen peroxide a couple times a day. Twist/turn the earring itself (both directions) while doing so as well and a couple times throughout the day. If they get all itchy and red, put a little bit of antibiotic ointment on there, like neosporin. Don't take out the studs for a month or a bit longer.

That's just my .02. Sounds like you're doing pretty good with what the dude suggested.

Edit - If it were me, I'd hold off on the headphone awhile.

[©antSEEme]

^ that.

i have three piercings, two in left lobe, one in right. i dont wear earrings anymore, tho. first one done with a gun @ a mall. not too bad. the other two were done by an ex with a thick needle, a potato, and ice cubes. not so fun.

[al-Mu'akhkhir]

lol yeah i got mine done professionally with needles. Guns are apparently really bad, they're even banned in some states down thurrr.

[catastrophe]

Triple antibiotic works well, don't twist the studs too much because it can lead to build up of scarring

And for any type of piercing, this stuff works wonders if you have some place to buy it

[al-Mu'akhkhir]

i dunno my piercer gave me this little pamphlet (all the piercers at the parlour had different ones, personalized I guess) that says not to use any sort of antibiotic creams either because they also generally encourage the development of scar tissue. I really want to put some polysporin on or soemthing though because I work in a kitchen and there's nasty airborne shit everywhere in there, like cornmeal... I don't want that shit clogging up my piercing u know!

[al-Mu'akhkhir]

uh ok so i got pierced like 48 hours ago, and my left piercing just started bleeding after i got home from work... I cleaned both of them shortly after I saw it was bleeding, and now it's bleeding again... is this normal? I accidentally touched the earing today at work, lightly, because I forgot it was there.... omgomgomgomgo wtf?

[AlteredStateGrl]

uh ok so i got pierced like 48 hours ago, and my left piercing just started bleeding after i got home from work... I cleaned both of them shortly after I saw it was bleeding, and now it's bleeding again... is this normal? I accidentally touched the earing today at work, lightly, because I forgot it was there.... omgomgomgomgo wtf?

I'd just use a cotton ball with some hydrogen peroxide a couple times a day.

If they get all itchy and red, put a little bit of antibiotic ointment on there, like neosporin.

Relax.

Are you twisting it too much? Touching it isn't going to make it bleed.

After you clean it WITH HYDROGEN PEROXIDE get the bleeding to stop with a clean cotton ball or cloth. Then put some antibiotic OINTMENT (not cream) on your ear and leave it be.

I've used neosprin on my ears if they needed it and never got any scar tissue. I have 3 holes in each ear, 2 in the lobe and 1 in the cartlidge. I've also had my tragus pierced and THAT piercing sucked ASS to take care of. It was hell.

If it's bleeding your going to need to keep it clean and take care of it or it may get infected.

[al-Mu'akhkhir]

tragus?

[al-Mu'akhkhir]

augh this is so fucked up i dont want to ignore your advice or make you feel like I odn't respeck ur advice asg, but at the same time I don't want to ignore my piercer's advice either WTF WTF

[turmaline]

just something I've done myself. If your ear does become infected...take a piece of bread and soak it in milk...tape it ove the infected area, and by the morning any infection will be sucked out onto the cloth. it works trust me, so you don't have to pay for a piercing again in the same spot.

if it gets infected.

I've fixed my child's ear piercing that was badly infected...it works.

[AlteredStateGrl]

augh this is so fucked up i dont want to ignore your advice or make you feel like I odn't respeck ur advice asg, but at the same time I don't want to ignore my piercer's advice either WTF WTF

No worries. Do whatever you feel best. I'm just giving you advice. I'm telling you what I'd do if it were me.

Good luck with it though man.

[al-Mu'akhkhir]

just something I've done myself. If your ear does become infected...take a piece of bread and soak it in milk...tape it ove the infected area, and by the morning any infection will be sucked out onto the cloth. it works trust me, so you don't have to pay for a piercing again in the same spot.

if it gets infected.

I've fixed my child's ear piercing that was badly infected...it works.

are you being serious?

[reverie]

You could always go back to the studio for further advice from your piercer, I'd do that before asking other people.

Don't use hydrogen peroxide or any liquid with an alcohol base, it will dry out the piercing.. not good for the healing process at all. Don't use any ointments, ointments applied on unprotected skin actually encourage bacteria to collect, and stay put. Bad.

I think what you've been doing sounds fine, make sure you wash your hands in anti-bacterial soap which you can also use to pre-clean the area if you like, water is fine though.

I would only recommend putting witch hazel on your tissue at the end of your cleaning. It not only has a great cleansing property, but it also will soothe your piercing.

Hope that helps Lobe piercings are a walk in the park, heal super fast.

[AlteredStateGrl]

I've used hydrogen peroxide on ear piercings before, as well as ointments. My ears are just fine. Perfect even. So, yeah.

HFB, you're getting alot of advice, alot of it is becoming contradicting so it would probably be best if you went back to the piercer, which is the best advice in this thread.

[©antSEEme]

same here. i was told to by the person who gave me my first piercing. and to keep it clean, and leave in the stud. had no probs whatsoever. now i got three permanent holes in my ears.

but this was years ago (early 90's). maybe there's better ways now, but from personal experience hydro. peroxide works. i would double check with the piercer if i was you, tho.


edit: yeah, again what asg said.

[adventure]

I have 5/8 gauges now... and Ive slowly stretch them, I always use rubbing alcohol, and neosporien (sp) just stay on top of it and there should be no problems

[reverie]

I've used hydrogen peroxide on ear piercings before, as well as ointments. My ears are just fine. Perfect even. So, yeah.

HFB, you're getting alot of advice, alot of it is becoming contradicting so it would probably be best if you went back to the piercer, which is the best advice in this thread.

I'm sure it's been fine, I wouldn't doubt you. A lot of people do that method without a hitch, at the same time some do encounter problems. And sometimes its not until you remove your piercing that you find you did somethings wrong.

It's just the nature of things, that whatever method you use has potential for certain results. Doesn't mean you will always encounter these results, a lot of it is what kind of environments you're exposed to (clean places vs. dirty places) and how careful you are when handling the piercing...etc.

It's just a piercing, so it's not the biggest thing to concern oneself with. Scarring is the biggest issue, infections are pretty easy to deal with. However, there are methods that leave less room for error than others..just like anything else. And we are on the topic of ideal method's.

[©antSEEme]

tbh, i think hydrogen peroxide would be better for minor wounds (like piercings) than witch hazel.

but all in all, best bet would be to double check with the piercer.