POST-TREATMENT CARE
After care advice is also given in both written and verbal forms to make sure clients understand how best to look after their new piercing. A piercing is essentially a small wound and when you leave us it is clean and sterile; what you do with it afterwards and the level of care you take will determine how it heals and ultimately looks. You are welcome to inspect our studio and registration certificates.
PLEASE NOTE Whenever you have a piercing, there are certain risks involved. Before you contemplate having a piercing, please bear in mind the following points:
Cleaning
Always wash your hands before touching your piercing.
We will provide an aftercare cleaning solution. You can also use a solution of rock salt and pre-boiled water to clean the surrounding area of the jewellery, especially the entry and exit points.
Remove any body fluids from the area and jewellery, but DO NOT turn or rotate.
Lightly pat dry, then apply 5% tea tree oil. Leave for two or three minutes, then rinse with fresh salt-water as above.
In the event of any deterioration, increase from 2 to 3 times a day.
For tongue and other oral piercings, gargle 2 to 3 times a day with the above-mentioned salt-water solution or a solution of anti-septic mouth wash and pre-boiled water (50/50).
Infection
A piercing is a fresh wound. If kept clean and dry at all times, it will heal quickly and completely. If however, it gets dirty or is not cleaned regularly it may become infected.
Migration
Although uncommon, some piercings can migrate (move through the skin) to some degree.
In extreme cases this can lead to jewellery ‘growing out’ of the body altogether.
Some piercings, such as eyebrow or navel are more prone to migration than others.
It is not dangerous or painful, but it may leave a small scar.
Swelling
Most piercings will swell to some extent, we always allow some space on your jewellery to compensate for this.
Occasionally, however, a piercing may swell more than usual and can be painful. If your piercing swells more than 2 to 3 millimetres, or if there seems to be a possibility that your jewellery is too short to accommodate the swelling please return so that we can fit longer jewellery and avoid any complications.
For tongue piercings, a long bar is always used for the initial piercing, this can be changed for a shorter one after approximately 2 weeks. You may find it helpful to have ice or ice lollies to suck to reduce the swelling.
Body Jewellery
Every 2-3 days you should check the tightness of the threaded balls on your body jewellery, (navel bars, tongue bars, etc…). They can become loose from rubbing against clothes, skin, etc… Make it part of your daily cleaning routine to just make sure the balls are secure.
General Advice
Trauma is caused by obvious pulling or catching and less obvious chaffing of clothes by movement.
The best advice is to wear loose fitting clothes in the early stages. Try to avoid tight waist bands and heavy belts in the case of navel piercings, and hair gel or spray in the case of ear or eyebrow piercings.