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Piercing Advice- Read Here :)

Piercings are a huge part of modern society but often people have not taken the time to research piercings fully or listen to bad information from people.Piercings are something that should not be taken lightly as poor piercing and aftercare can result in infection, scarring and a lot of pain.In this thread i will show some of the key factors about getting a piercing that i have learned from using body modification forums and speaking to people that into piercings and piercers.If anyone has any questions regarding piercings i would be happy to help :)

Before getting a piercing

Do research of piercers in your local area- Look them up online, go on piercing forums, ask people/ friends in your local area that have piercings.
Phone a few piercers up to inquire about prices, what they use to pierce, how much experience they have, if appointments are needed etc.The more experience the better in my opinion, they will know how to pierce the right way, less likely to mess it up but this is not always the case.You need to ask people that have been there before.
Try and have look in the piercers work area, check if its clean and if they have a needle bin, autoclave, proper seating, a certificate of some sorts. Do this before booking an appointment.Also they shouldn’t pierce anyone under the age of 16 without parental permission and 18+ for genital piercings.
When you find the right piercer for you, speak to them about how they will be doing the piercing, this will reassure you and make the experience more pleasant and quicker for you.

The day of your piercing

Make sure you eat and drink beforehand. I have found that drinking a sugary drink will make head rushes not as bad. Take a drink with you to the piercers, most likely during the piercing you will get hot and need a drink once it is done and also this can stop you feeling dizzy when you have had the piercing.
Wear suitable clothing for the piercing, if you are getting navel done do not wear high waisted trousers/jeans, and tight tops- this will make the piercing irritated and make the healing process longer.
Be relaxed, honestly the pain doesn’t last long if it does actually hurt.

Aftercare

Do NOT touch the piercing with your fingers, this will like cause the piercing to become infected.
Do sea salt soaks- boil water, let it cool and add some sea salt. If you add too much it may burn the piercing. Also adding some tea tree oil can be good for piercing to heal.
If you need to touch the piercing, make sure your hands have been cleaned or wear gloves.
Covering the piercing is not a good idea, the piercing needs air to heal.
Do not go into swimming pools while the piercing is healing.
Do not twist the jewellery- I know that the leaflet you get when you get your ears gunned says you can (I will explain later why this is bad) but the crusties on the piercing will tear up the fistula (the skin around your piercing) making healing period longer than expected.
Piercings can vary for healing times- here are some examples of piercing healing times, if you need anything more specific i would be happy to help

ear cartilage- 3-12 months
tongue-4 - 8 weeks
lip - 8-12 weeks
navel- 6-12 months

Other information that may be useful

In the winter piercings may get damaged by the cold weather- The metal cools quicker than your skin which actually burns the skin surrounding your piercing. This causes a lot of pain- im not joking. Keep your piercings covered if you go out in the cold weather.
Also in summer the metal can heat up and cause burns... be careful.
When buying jewellery do not buy it from Ebay, if you buy jewellery online or in shops that has not been autoclaved I suggest you clean them by putting the jewellery in hot water and soap or using antibacterial wipes.
If you are female, I advise you do not get a piercing when it is that time of the month, This makes your body more sensitive and will make the piercing more painful.
GUNS SHOULD NOT BE USED FOR PIERCINGS!-

Complications that you may experience

What it looks like:

A small red or white pimple-like bump adjacent to one of the entry holes of the piercing.

Why it happens:

The Bump happens for several reasons, including trauma to the piercing (such as being hit), improper aftercare (allowing bacteria to grow),
irritation to the piercing, and sometimes it happens for no reason that you can recall.

How long it lasts and how to get rid of it:

How long it stays depends on how you care for it. Doing sea salt soaks and hot compresses will help draw the pus and impurities out, and allow it to heal on its own. Popping it however will cause great trauma to it and to your piercing, and it
will most likely come back in a few days. Popping it could also cause scarring. If the Bump is not taken care of it can last days, weeks or even months.

To give yourself a hot compress, first dip a clean face cloth in hot (but not so hot it’ll burn you) water, and then lay it on the piercing until cool. You can repeat this as often as you want to.

What Piercing Migration / Rejection Is:

Migration- movement of the jewellery/piercing within the body, moving the jewellery to a different place or possibly rejecting completely out of your body.
Rejection- when the body literally forces the piercing out of the skin.

Signs of Piercing Migration / Rejection ::

Presence of scarring (starts in one place, runs towards current location of your jewellery)
• Redness around the piercing
• Presence of lymph (crusties) in a formerly lymph free piercing
• Pain
• Ability to see jewellery under skin (feeling it is ok)
• More jewellery showing (could see 1/4 of barbell, now can see 1/2)

Why Piercing Migration / Rejection Occurs ::

Gaining or losing weight
• Change in height/body type (in still-growing adolescents)
• Inappropriate jewellery in piercing (too heavy, wrong shape/size causing pressure, inappropriate gauge)
• Inappropriately placed piercings (by piercer)
• In some cases, there is no likely "cause" of migration or rejection, except that the body rejected it's
presence and began pushing the jewellery out, to remove it from the body.
• Metal sensitivity/allergy- use only high quality body jewellery. If your body seems to be reacting to the jewellery/metal,
have your piercing evaluated by a piercer as soon as possible.

What to do if Migration / Rejection Occurs:

• Baby your piercing- try not to change your jewellery or do anything to aggravate it.
• Watch it closely, if it migrates too far and the piercing becomes too shallow, it is best to remove the jewellery and let the piercing heal.
• If you remove your piercing, you can wait until it heals and have it repierced. Having it repierced behind the existing scar tissue will help to resist migration/rejection next time.

Infection

Infection is common with piercings if aftercare is not done correctly or the area becomes dirty.This is some information taken from the first aid section on RYL which is helpful in working out if your piercing is infected or not.

Quote:

Some common signs and symptoms of infection of external wounds are:

Signs:

- Redness and/or swelling around a wound that continues to get worse and spread longer than 48 hours after the wound occurs.
- Increased heat around the wound compared to other areas of the body.
- Pus drainage. (Pus is thick, and can be white, green, brown or bloody)

In severe infections that have progressed you may also see:

- Red streaks traveling towards your heart from the site of the wound.
- The site of the wound has increased in size (ie. A 2 cm wound is now 4 cm).
- Redness/swelling that continues to increase even while taking antibiotics.

Symptoms:

- Fever
- Fatigue
- Increased pain around the wound.
- Bad smell coming from the wound.

Follow the aftercare that has been posted on the original thread, if your piercing does not start to get better after a couple of days at the most you will need to go to a doctor as antibiotics may be needed to fight the infection.

Stretching Basics:

What is stretching?

Stretching is the means by which one can gradually enlarge a pierced hole in the body. This is done by slightly stretching the tissue, causing micro-tears to form, and maintaining the hole at the new size until these tears completely heal. The process is then repeated. This can be done a virtually unlimited number of times as long as it is done correctly, thus allowing for extremely stretched holes to be produced.

How often should I stretch; how long does it take to heal?

Stretching is a very individual activity, and there is no set time frame that will work for everyone. You should only stretch when your ears are completely healed. As a general rule, most people feel that their ears are healed after approximately 1 month. When you feel that your ears are healed, then wait another 2-3 weeks before stretching. A good rule of thumb is one stretch every other month.

Maximum size that will heal up (otherwise known as

the ‘growing up’ complex)

This question pops up quite regularly, and unfortunately, the answer is extremely vague. Everyone’s body is different, and therefore everyone’s lobes will shrink up to a different point. Generally speaking, 2 gauge(6mm) is widely considered the “point of no return” - where your lobes become significantly less likely to heal even to the size of a standard earring.

Stretching is not an exact science and should not be taken lightly. There is never any guarantee that your ears will shrink back up. If you are going to stretch, please make sure that you will be comfortable at that size as an old wrinkly person, and with having your children and grandchildren ask you why you have huge holes in your ears.

2) Stretching Methods:

Before even discussing stretching methods, it is important to discuss proper waiting periods. When stretching, you need to only stretch one size at a time (14-12, 12-10, etc.) - and you MUST wait until your ears are completely healed before stretching again.

Tapering

Tapering is the most effective way to stretch your ears with minimal stress. To taper your lobes, you first need to procure a taper (a metal or acrylic device that tapers from your ending gauge down to your starting gauge - for example, the large end would be a 10(2.4mm) gauge & the small end would be around a 12 gauge(2mm)). Once you have the taper, lube it up with some water-based lubricant such as KY Jelly and slide it through your ear in one fluid motion. When you get to the end of the taper, butt your jewelry up against the end of the taper so that it looks like an extension of the taper, and push the taper the rest of the way through with the jewelry. This entire process should not take more than a few minutes at longest, and is usually just a few seconds.

Note: This process should never be painful! There might be a slight discomfort from the pressure, but there should never be anything more than that. Your ears should NEVER bleed while tapering!

Tape Wrap

The “tape wrap” method of stretching is an alternative method of stretching for larger gauges where tapers are less available and significantly more expensive. To use this method, purchase a roll of PTFE (Teflon) tape at any hardware store. Once your lobes are completely healed, take out your current jewelry and put one wrap of tape around it, then reinsert the jewelry in your ear. You can do this every few days as your ear adjusts to each new wrap of tape - thus gradually stretching your piercing up to the next size.

While this method works quite well for many people, some people find that the Teflon tape gets stuck/attached to the inside of their ear after insertion, thus making removal of the jewelry significantly more difficult. If this happens, you can also try bondage tape, which is available online and at most adult stores.

Here are some of the sizes you will find when looking at body jewellery.

16ga / 1.2mm
14ga / 1.6mm
12ga / 2.0mm
10ga / 2.4mm
8ga / 3.2mm
6ga / 4.0mm
4ga / 5mm
2ga / 6mm
0ga / 8mm

3) Caring for stretched lobes:

Allowing lobes to relax:

There are many benefits to allowing your lobes to relax for a few hours each day. While wearing jewelry, no matter what type, stress is being put on your lobe, thus restricting the flow of blood, oxygen, nutrients, etc. to the bottom of your lobe. Over time, this can cause your lobe to thin out, and also cause it to become irritated. One of the best ways to alleviate this problem is to take your jewelry out for a few hours each day to allow the piercing to breath and increase blood flow to the bottom of your lobe. Over time, this will promote healthier lobes, including thickening the tissue, thus providing more room to stretch in the future.

There is no steadfast rule on when it is a good idea to start allowing your lobes to relax. We personally believe that at ANY size it is beneficial to leave your plugs out for at least a little while, and that at any size larger than 2 gauge (1/4”) anyone should be able to leave their jewelry out overnight. If you are concerned about leaving your jewelry out, take it out for a progressively longer period of time each day until you find the amount of time that is the longest you feel comfortable with. If you have trouble reinserting your jewelry after leaving it out, a hot compress for 5-10 minutes and some lube along with a taper will quickly resolve your problem.

Fresh Stretches:

There are as many methods to heal fresh stretches as there are people stretching, but there are some methods that are significantly more agreed upon than others - these will be discussed here.

Sea Salt Soaks: Sea salt soaks are the #1 most important and best thing that you can do to heal a fresh stretch. To perform a sea salt soak, first dissolve 1/4 (one quarter) teaspoon of sea salt (available at most grocery stores) in 1 cup (8 oz.) of warm (slightly cooler than shower temperature) water - preferably deionized or distilled water, but tap water will do. Then submerge your ear in the solution for 10-15 minutes. This should be done 2-3 times per day & soothes your piercing while drawing out impurities from your piercing, thus allowing it to heal faster. Note: Do not overdo it on the salt - too much salt is extremely bad for your piercing.

Healed Piercings:

By far the two most important things that you can do for healed lobes are oil massages and relaxing your lobes. Relaxing your lobes is described above. For massaging your lobes, the two most popular types of oil to use are jojoba oil and Vitamin E oil. Jojoba oil is good because it is an extremely close match to the oil that your body naturally secretes, and it therefore much less likely to irritate your skin. Vitamin E oil also has an extremely beneficial effect, as it breaks down scar tissue. In stretching, scar tissue is the enemy, making future stretches much more difficult and making your lobes less supple. By doing Vitamin E oil massages, you help enable the breakdown of any scar tissue that has formed and keep your ears as healthy as possible. Another benefit to oil massages is that it helps to promote blood flow throughout your lobes, thickening them up (often substantially) over time.

What is this gunk on my jewelry? I thought my ears were healed

If your ears are healed and you seem to have some funky suff on your jewelry when you take it out, this is most likely dead skin cells. Your entire body sheds dead skin cells as it grows new skin, you just don't see it (guess what a good part of the dust in your house is!). Since there's a signifigant amount of skin touching your plug, those dead skin cells don't have anywhere to go, so they build up on your jewelry. This effect and the smell that goes along with it varies from person to person and from material to material, with metals generally seeming worse than other materials, like organics. See the materials section for more information.

After stretching my lobes are very sore / bleeding - HELP!

If you are experiencing any of these problems, then you have stretched your lobes too quickly. Unfortunately, this means that you are going to have to backtrack to heal your lobes before you can consider stretching again. Downsize your jewelry to at least your previous size (if not farther) and treat your ears as if they are a fresh piercing or fresh stretch (refer to information above). Once you think that your ears are completely healed, wait another two weeks and begin doing vitamin e oil massages for at least another month prior to stretching. Properly healing your piercing after a damaging stretch should take 2-4 months to be safe.

I think I have a blowout! What exactly is this and what do I do about it?

A blowout happens when one stretches too fast. These generally happen during or immediately proceeding (within 48hrs) a stretch. A blowout occurs when the pressure on the insides of the piercing is too great, and the hole deforms itself by twisting inside out, resulting in the "blowout," or section of tissue that appears as a flap on (generally) the backside of the piercing. There are a few things you can do to try and recover from a blowout. First a foremost, you must downsize immediately. Being stubborn and not taking this action could result in the blowout healing, which almost always requires surgery to fix. Second of all, the piercing absolutely must be treated like a brand new piercing. This means religious sea salt soaks and aftercare. Blowouts go hand in hand with tears, and most blowouts result in at least minimal tears to the lobe, so the aftercare becomes especially important.

Materials:

What materials are appropriate for fresh stretches?Titanium, Niobium, 316L or 316LVM implant grade surgical stainless steel (sss), Glass, implant grade PTFE (Teflon)

Benefits of certain materials (organics & glass):

There are certain materials that offer something extra to the person who is stretching their ears because they offer additional properties that make them more appealing. Glass is very popular, as it is a special material termed a “super-cooled liquid”. This means that there is much less chance for any edges, and that the surface is super-smooth. Glass is also hypo-allergenic, which is a great advantage for people who have skin that is very sensitive.

The other group of materials that have something special to offer is organics. We are both personal advocates of organics in healed piercings. Many people have found that the body tends to accept them extremely well, often resulting in increased comfort and decreased amount of smell and “ear cheese” being given off.

Dangers of acrylic / improper materials:

An entire book could be written on the dangers of acrylic and other improper materials being utilized as long-term body jewelry. There are many different types of NOVELTY jewelry that are produced out of a wide array of materials. This jewelry is just what is says: a novelty. There is no great danger in wearing them for a short while, but they should not be the primary jewelry worn as they are not of the same high quality as the other materials available. Acrylic is a porous substance and its use can lead to infection. It also begins to react with your skin over time - breaking down tissue and releasing toxic chemicals/fumes to be absorbed by your skin.

great info, thanks for posting :)

thats was so useful. thanks!

thanks for posting, useful and informative, although, i think the bit about stretching to fast was slightly over stressed, 1mm a month?

i managed more than that, and the majority of the people at my work did, they say 2mm is more realistic?

idk. thanks =]

you are meaant to stretch 1mm every 4-6 weeks and this is recommended by most piercers.

Just because you and other people came out okay doesnt mean that is is safe.

great info especially on the slow stretching.
Another way to stretch which causes no strain on your ears is just to wait until your lobes naturally loosen up to the next size. It takes longer but it's a very ear-friendly way to stretch and if you want healthy lobes it's worth the wait!

Thanks for this information. Much appreciated.
I didn't know acrylic wasn't great for stretches, I'm going to buy some other material jewelry to wear too when I can afford it =)
I'm not going up anymore, staying at my 6mm.

the sites i use to buy my jewellery are www.bodyartforms.com and www.bodyjewelleryshop.com.

BAF are very good for unusual jewellery and the prices are really great and orders take 7-14 days to arrive which isnt bad from america in my opinion.

Purple. i personally find organics amazing for my stretched lobes and the designs you can get are great, i have some snake ones and some chinese dragon plugs.:)

Very good advice thanks!!

If i had a penny for everytime i've wanted to scream at people in claire's accsessories getting their ears piereced with a gun (and by people who have probably only had a training session in using one)!!! Especially seeing as a few doors down theres a very reputable piercing studio! grr it annoys me. I've told my sisters a million times if you're going to get your ears pierced go to the goddamn piercing studio!!!

*breathes*

I had my ears pierced with a gun and they're fine?

What's the problem with guns?

*Edit*
OHHHHHHH
I read the link.
God, I was lucky, right?

Can I just make an addition to the thing about winter?

Never get a piercing in winter if you can help it! ESPECIALLY lip or nipple...

I had my lip done in December. Now most people's lips get dry and cracked in the cold and wind but the dry sking around my piercing was horrendous and incredibly sore.

I had my nipple done in a cold March. Think about what happens to nipples in the cold. Yes. They contract and harden. Pierced nipples contract and harden around the jewelery. It hurts a lot!

Just wanted to kind recommend against using www.bodyjewelleryshop.com to buy jewelery. They have been sending me wrong items, cheaper items, not sending items until I contact them to discover it has been in stock all along

They have messed up 3 of my orders recently. And every time they do, the person that packaged the item hasn't signed the invoice.
Last time I called them they slammed the phone down on me. I told them I wanted to complain and they didn't even address it

They have some nice stuff, and a good price. but their customer service is lacking

Kirsty, I am part of thier forum and know the person that you contact about orders and have never heard of that kind of thing happening. I order from them all the time, i recieved a broken item that was damaged in the mail and was repairable but they sent a new replacement when it was back in stock, and didnt even want the broken one returned.have you emailed them?Mistakes do happen with jewellery orders, ites do go out of stock and there is a large backlog of orders to get through.

BJS is the best site i have used in the UK and has the best customer service rating that i have heard of as with a lot of companies take weeks just to send one item and sometimes not even getting the item.

I would recommend getting in contact with them again as i have never had any issues with them

Know anything about tongue piercings and drinking? I was told beer was a bad idea cause you can get a yeast infection... But I don't know if other alcohol is ok...

I'd personally stay away from alcohol with a fresh tongue piercing, they dont take that long to heal. drinks that have yeast in them can cause yeast infections.

This is something i dont know much about as when i got my vertical labret i was too young to be drinking often and waited until it was fully healed to have any alcohol.

Maybe have a speak to your piercer about your concerns?

Quote:

Originally Posted by the.devil (Post 684210)

I don't doubt they are good. I've just had repeated problems with them of late. I've emailed and it was ignored. Called a few times, to get bad service every time. I know that working with customers, especially on phones, sucks.
But sending me a much cheaper item and not refunding the difference? I don't think so. I'm now left hanging waiting to see if the correct item will ever be sent -/

I have a little tip about tongue piercings if its not been mentioned already.

I went to get my tongue pierced for my 18th birthday, got all ready, had it numbed etc...then the guy looked at my tongue and said that I had too many veins in it and if I had it pierced then I could end up in hospital or worse. He also told me that if I go for a second opinion to make sure that whoever I went to doesnt just say 'oh thats fine, we'll pierce it for you!' because they could just say that to have my money from me.

So my tip is to make sure you go to someone you can 100% trust

Hey hun. <3
I've had to downsize to 3mm, because that was the only one I could find that didn't make my ear bleed again (I'm just leaving the 3mm in there because it slid straight in without a problem, and I don't want my ear to heal) but my problem is, is I went up to 5mm other 8 months ago, and so have lost all of my tapers, which sucks, majorly.
My question is;
https://www.bodyartforms.com/product...ProductID=1178
I don't know what they're made out of but they're an amazing price (£1 per taper 'round about) and all the reviews are good... So what do you think? Is it something I should get for the future?

Thanks love. <33