Body Piercing Aftercare

Body Piercing Below The Neck

Thoroughly clean your new body piercing twice daily with Dial Surgical Scrub or Hibiclens surgical scrub. Hibiclens should be diluted using one part of Hibiclens to four or five parts of water.

Avoid over-cleaning and using too many cleaning or healing agents at once. When cleaning your body piercing, wash your hands thoroughly.

Then, remove any matter that may have dried on the body jewelry and around the opening of the body piercing with warm water, and if needed a cotton swab.

Then pour a little diluted Dial or Hibiclens onto the jewelry and piercing, lather it up and work the body jewelry back and forth at least 6 times. Leave the Dial or Hibiclens in contact with the skin for 2 - 3 minutes.

Finally, rinse the Dial or Hibiclens off very thoroughly under running water, again working the body jewelry back and forth at least 6 times. Hibiclens is very strong and can cause irritation to your body piercing unless rinsed off completely.

If a rash or irritation develops when using Hibiclens, or any other product for that matter, try a different cleaning product. Some alternatives are Betadine surgical scrub, Antibacterial Dial, Soft Soap, Physoderm, Shaklee Basic-H diluted 1:6 with water, or a low pH soap.

Avoid perfumed soaps or soaps containing deodorants, cold creams, etc. It is a good idea to urinate after cleaning any genital body piercing through or near the urethra. This will rinse out any cleaning agent that might have gotten inside the body piercing.

Body Piercing Above The Neck

The best product for cleaning an ear, nostril, septum or eye brow body piercing is one that contains the antiseptic Benzalkonium Chloride. It sold under the trade name EarCare.

An alternate cleanser is Bactine diluted with water. Twice daily, after washing your hands, use a cotton swab saturated with EarCare to remove any dried matter, then work some solution into the body piercing.

Special Piercings

A cheek, lip or tongue body piercing requires special care. Gently suck on ice or popsicles for the first 24 - 48 hours after your body piercing to minimize the swelling.

You must avoid oral contact of any kind (no wet kissing, oral sex, etc.) for 6 weeks. Reduce your intake of warm beverages, hot/spicy foods, tobacco, alcohol, or anything that might irritate your mouth during healing, especially the first week.

Rinse with Listerine or another antibacterial mouthwash for 30 - 60 seconds after consuming anything other than water. If Listerine is too harsh either dilute it or use a sea salt and water gargle, 1/4 teaspoon salt to 8 oz. of water.

Twice daily use Gly-Oxide or Peroxyl, following the instructions on the bottle. Do not omit this step. You might want to rinse with water after using. Clean the outer opening of cheek and lip piercings twice daily with EarCare or Bactine.

Bactine should be diluted with water. Apply liberally with a cotton swab while rotating the body jewelry. Regularly, wash your hands, and check to make sure that the stud backs/balls have not worked loose. Follow the above care routine for 6 - 8 weeks.