Piercing

• Wash your hands every time before you touch it.
• Rinse it with sterile saline whose only ingredient is 0.9% sodium chloride, and dry it with disposable gauze or a cotton bud, not a towel. Don’t mix your own salt water.
• Don’t twist the jewellery and don’t over-clean. Alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, antibacterial soap, iodine and ointments don’t belong on it.
• Until it’s healed, keep it out of the water: no pools, lakes, sea or hot tubs.
• If it’s in your ear cartilage, sleep on a travel pillow so your ear doesn’t press into the bed.
• Don’t change the jewellery yourself while it heals.

At first it’s normal for it to bleed a little, swell, feel tender or bruise. Later it can itch and a whitish to yellowish fluid can dry on the jewellery. A piercing can look healed before it really is.

A microdermal needs care for as long as you have it, and even with good care it tends to be less permanent than other piercings.

If you think it’s infected, see a doctor and don’t take the jewellery out without their advice.

How long does a piercing take to heal?

It depends on where it is. Some piercings heal in a few weeks, ear cartilage, navel and nostril can take six months or longer.

Can I go swimming?

Not until it’s healed. No pools, lakes, sea or hot tubs.

When can I change the jewellery?

Only once the piercing is fully healed. Until then, don’t change it yourself.

I have a health condition. Can I get a piercing?

Tell me in advance. Some conditions rule a piercing out, for example blood clotting disorders, weakened immunity or slow healing, an allergy to nickel or chemicals, and infections carried by blood. With some heart conditions, talk to your doctor first, and do the same whenever you’re unsure.