How to Care for Your Piercing
What to Remember
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Don’t touch, twist, or sleep on your piercing!
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Use saline 1-3 times a day. Pat or fan dry. Also be sure to rinse your piercing in the shower!
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The jewelry needs to be a correct fit in order to heal properly, and consults are always free!
Problems? Questions?
Infection is rare. Even when a problem occurs, most problems are not infections.
Nonetheless, problems or questions can arise. Please do not hesitate to contact Monarch for free consultations whenever you have even the smallest question or concern about your piercing.
No question is ever ridiculous when it comes to your health, safety, and peace of mind!
What to Do for Your Healing Piercing
We at Monarch have developed our aftercare using research and years of experience. If you would like to view the Association of Professional Piercers’ official aftercare manual, you can do so here.
Ultimately, simplicity is your friend with healing a piercing. Leave the piercing alone as much as possible, and let your body do its job! If you take care of your whole body, minimizing stress and maintaining your overall health, your piercing will also see those benefits.
Cleaning should be just as simple and fairly “bare-bones”! Flush/irrigate your piercing with sterile saline spray (pre-packaged so to be properly mixed and sterile, will say isotonic/.09% sodium chloride with no other additives). This should be a quick mist to both the entry and exit of the piercing and done 1-3 times a day. This will get your body back to its natural pH in a gentle manner.
In addition to the saline, let clean, fresh water run against the piercing, such as in your shower, at least a couple times a week. This will loosen or remove any debris, build-up, or crusty matter (which is usually a combo of oil, skin, and/or lymph) — but still follow with the saline at the end!
If you find the dry skin or other build up isn’t coming off in the shower but is posing a problem, you may gently wipe with saline-damp non-woven gauze (found in the first aid aisle) or a disposable pointed makeup Q-tip/applicator to clean the area.
Dry to keep your piercing from getting waterlogged. We recommend patting dry or using a hair dryer on a cool setting. If you would like to use a disposable item for drying (or wiping, though this you should avoid doing much), we recommend non-woven gauze as found in the first-aid aisle.
A few weeks into the healing, we strongly recommend making sure your jewelry is the correct fit after any swelling has occurred and then receded; we do this through a follow-up consult in our studio. This follow-up, sometimes referred to as downsizing when shorter jewelry is installed, is essential to the long-term well-being of your piercing. If you want more info on downsizing, see the section below.
Your piercing won’t be fully healed for some time after, even if the piercing has stopped hurting or crusting/scabbing — the healing process is complex! It will depend on which piercing you get.
Why sterile saline?
Sterile, pressurized saline is consistent & close to your body’s natural cellular state / pH, making it gentle & ideal for irrigation.
Since it’s packaged in a pressurized container to keep it sterile, it guarantees there won’t be foreign or negative things being sprayed into your piercing. This also means that the saline is the same everywhere you get it, and for every person, so there are fewer variables in a fresh piercing.
Downsizing your piercing
Most piercings are started with jewelry that is a little longer (or larger in diameter) to accommodate for swelling. Once the initial swelling has subsided, we ask you please visit Monarch for a follow-up so that we can make sure the jewelry is an appropriate fit. We typically recommend that you visit 2 to 5 weeks after your piercing (depending on the piercing).
If your jewelry is kept at an ill-fitting size, it can cause bumps, prolonged healing, migration of the piercing, or a permanent distortion in the angle of the piercing so that it will no longer face the correct direction. Downsizing your jewelry in a timely manner can prevent these things from happening.
At Monarch, if we did the piercing for you, the service is free for a downsize, and any jewelry needed is heavily discounted. You’re almost always able to keep any gems or designs that you originally purchased! See our Jewelry page for more on how the jewelry works.
Bumps? Irritation? Don’t wait, get a free consult!
Bumps and other irritations sometimes happen even when we’re trying our best! Issues that stem from sleeping on your healing piercing is the #1 problem we see. Almost always these will be resolved with time, care, and ending your pattern of sleeping on the piercing.
Another common issue that may cause bumps or irritation might be if you change the jewelry too soon — such as putting a ring into a healing piercing that would do better with a stud.
No matter what the concern, we ask that you do NOT Google for home remedies, ask a friend of a friend, etc. Instead, we offer consultations, and consults are always free. We will probably have a solution or idea you wouldn’t think of!
What to Avoid With Your Healing Piercing
Avoid touching your piercing, swimming or submerging the piercing, and any clothes/accessories that would put pressure on the piercing (seatbelts against the piercing, hats/helmets for ear piercings, high-waisted pants on navel piercings, etc.) while it is healing. Distorting the tissue or general contamination of the piercing site can result in irritation, scar tissue, migration, prolonged healing, and/or infection. This also means DO NOT rotate, twist, or turn jewelry!
We further recommend against using any regular Q-tips or cotton swabs/balls for cleaning or drying, as the fibers can be aggressive as well as get snagged or wrapped around your piercing and cause issues. If you must use a cotton swab to slough off build up, make sure it is thoroughly wet with saline!
Do not remove your jewelry during healing unless instructed to do so by a medical professional. Additionally, even healed piercings will shrink or close when jewelry is removed; if you want to keep your piercing, you MUST wear jewelry in it.
Prevent makeup, hair products, lotions, sunscreen, other cosmetics, ointments, soaps, and strong chemicals from touching the piercing site or jewelry. Never use ointments, oils, soaps, or strong chemicals directly in your piercing, even "natural" products — just stick with the saline! Examples of what NOT to use include antibacterial or Dial soap, tea tree oil, bacitracin, Neosporin, rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, products containing Benzalkonium Chloride (BZK), Hibiclens, and aspirin paste. Many of these products can cause additional irritation in a myriad of ways, such as killing off good bacteria for your body, destroying white blood cells or the fragile new skin forming, and even causing chemical burns; in short, these are almost always counterproductive and delay healing.
The top problems we see in piercings are issues that arise from sleeping on a piercing. We can all only control so much in our sleep, but remember to actively avoid sleeping on the piercing for the entire healing over the next few months, even if it doesn’t hurt! See some of our tips below if you’re having trouble.
Tips + Tricks
Clean bedding can help prevent complications. A clean t-shirt over your pillow or changing your pillowcase daily is encouraged for ear and facial piercings.
To avoid sleeping on the piercing, you can use…
Travel neck pillows (or hemorrhoid pillows) can help you avoid sleeping directly on your ear while healing an ear piercing.
A pillow beneath or between your legs while you sleep can prevent you from moving, and it has the added bonus of reducing stress on your spine.
A tennis ball tucked or sewn into the side of a shirt/bra, or a large claw clip in your hair, will definitely keep your body from rolling onto that side!
We have glass retainers as a non-metallic alternative if your metal jewelry must be temporarily removed (such as for a medical procedure). These generally work much better than plastic pieces, as they can be properly sterilized repeatedly!
We also have matte disks for many pieces that may work even better than a retainer if you need to hide your piercing.
The video above is from our friends at Gamma Piercing. The piercers at Gamma are also trusted members of the Association of Professional Piercers. This video summarizes extremely similar aftercare to ours, and they use the same jewelry we do. If having an audio or visual guide would help you, we recommend giving this video a watch!
Approximate Healing Times
Below are approximate healing times for healthy piercings. Everyone’s bodies heal differently, and we suggest never using these as hard and fast rules; we offer free consults if you’re even the slightest bit unsure. Continue suggested aftercare for at least the amount of time listed below for your piercing.
With most piercings, you will need to make sure the jewelry is a correct fit after its initial swelling (see the Downsizing section above). We recommend you come in for a consultation to downsize your piercing before it is healed. This usually occurs between week 2 and week 5, depending on the piercing and how your healing is progressing. This does not mean that the piercing is healed, but that the swelling period of healing has finished. For total healing, your body takes time!
When your piercing is healed, jewelry can safely be changed, but it still shouldn’t be left out for longer than it takes to switch jewelry; your piercing can still shrink or even close completely, no matter how old the piercing may be.
+ General Piercings
Ear Piercings
- Earlobes: 2 - 3 months
- Large gauge lobes: 3 - 5 months
- Ear cartilage (including helix, forward helix, daith, industrial, tragus, antitragus, etc.): 4 months - 1 year
Facial Piercings
- Eyebrow 2 - 4 months
- Nostril 4 - 8 months
- Septum 6 - 10 weeks (no downsize necessary)
- Bridge 1 - 4 months
Oral Piercings
- Lip: (including labret, beauty mark, philtrum) 8 - 10 weeks
- Tongue: 5 - 10 weeks
- Cheek: 6 months - 1 year (upkeep beyond year)
Body Piercings (may never downsize)
- Navels: 6 months - 1 year
- Surface Piercings: 4 months - 1 year
- Surface Anchors (“dermals”): 3 - 6 months
+ Selection of 18+ Piercings
Nipples (may never downsize)
- Nipples 5 - 12 months (those who have menstrual cycles tend to be on the longer side)
Penile Piercings
- Prince Albert, frenum, scrotum/hafada: 6 - 10 weeks
- Reverse PA, ampallang, apadravya: 4 - 8 months
- Dydoe, foreskin, guiche: 8 - 12 weeks
- Pubic: 6 months - over 1 year
Vulval Piercings
- Clitoral Hood (vertical or horizontal), Inner Labia: 4 - 6 weeks
- Outer Labia: 3 - 6 months
- Fourchette: 6 - 8 weeks
- Triangle: 8 - 12 weeks
- Clitoris, Princess Albertina: 4 - 10 weeks
- Christina: 6 - 9 months