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We really need one of these. Long gone are the threads of “how long does it take for the top of my ear to heal?” and “will having a sharp pointy metal stick poked through my skin hurt?”. Sorry, the order of this is currently a bit mixed up, I shall reshuffle when I have a moment. With help of others, this will hopefully soon include information on tattoos and other body modification.

Contents 1 How old do I have to be to get a piercing? 2 Where should I go to get my piercing? 3 How long will it take for my piercing to heal? 4 How do I look after my piercing properly? 5 Is my piercing infected? 6 Will my piercing hurt? 7 What kind of jewellery should be in my piercing? 8 How can I hide my piercing from my boss/parents/family? 9 How do I stretch my ear piercing? 10 If i stretch my piercing will it go back to normal? 11 Comments

How old do I have to be to get a piercing?

In the UK you usually have to be 16 before anybody will pierce you, although if your parents are fine with it, you can bring them along with you and they may give their consent. The only exception to this is genital piercing, for which you must be 18 years of age. Remember to take ID with you as most places will want to see proof of age before piercing you.

Where should I go to get my piercing?

Please, please, PLEASE go to a professional. Do not attempt to pierce yourself, unless you actually are a piercer! Look around, do some research and ask others that have been pierced. It isn’t just how you look that could affected by a dodgy piercer, it’s also your health so make sure you do your homework. A few signs of a poor piercer are as follows...

If they don't ask for ID and you are underage, it's worth doubting whether or not you should be getting pierced there.

Ask to see where you will be getting pierced before you part with your cash, if they aren’t willing to show you around and be friendly, it makes you wonder why. After all, this person is going to be putting sharp things in your body.

You want to see their needles and jewellery come out of SEALED packs or out of an autoclaver (a machine that completely cleans and sterilises piercing equipment). If you see your potential piercer pick up anything that’s just been lying around with the intention of putting it into you skin, run. Your piercer MUST wear gloves.

Don’t go to places that only pierce (or are only supposed to pierce) ear lobes, to get your ear cartilage pierced. Or even worse, nose or belly button. Places that do this don’t always have the correct license and almost certainly don’t have the correct equipment and experience to undertake such things. Due to the fact that these piercings have become more popular in recent years, businesses want to cash in on it, which is understandable but still, it’s not worth it.

Simply, use your common sense. Ask yourself if you would feel comfortable eating off the surfaces in the piercing studio. If your answer is no, then you should reconsider where you get a piercing. Everything should be absolutely immaculate, I cannot stress this point enough!

How long will it take for my piercing to heal?

Different piercings take different lengths of time to heal, depending on where they are placed on the body. Those that take the longest are cartilage piercings, such as ear piercings (other than the lobe) and the septum or other nose parts. These piercings can take anywhere between 3 months and a year to heal, although many experience discomfort for longer. Standard lobe piercings will take approximately 6 weeks to heal, although many argue that it doesn't take this long. Below is a reasonably accurate list of healing times for other piercings (partly taken from http://jewelry.about.com/od/aftercare/a/healing_times.htm)!

• Eyebrow - 3 months
• Belly Button - 4 months
• Female Nipple - 6 months
• Male Nipple - 4 months (if anyone can tell me why male and female nipples have different healing times, I'd love to know!)
• Lip (and other around the mouth piercings such as monroes and labrets) - 2 months
• Tongue - 6 months
• Genital - 9 months
• Tongue Web - 1 month
• Surface - 1 month

It is worth noting that everybody is different and the healing time of your piercing will depend greatly on how well you look after it (see aftercare!), how it was pierced and simply what kind of skin/cartilage you have.

How do I look after my piercing properly?

Aftercare for piercings is really very simple. Clean them twice a day with a salt solution, made up of 1 teaspoon of salt and a pint of water. If you have oral piercings, you can use an anti bacterial mouthwash such as Listerine, although using this too frequently could result in a white discolouring of your tongue. For the aftercare of surface piercings, I have used savlon spray and salt solution, although anymore help in this area would be greatly appreciated. Same goes for navel and eyebrow piercings, both of which I know little about.

Is my piercing infected?

There is a difference between your piercing healing and it being infected. Swelling (rather annoyingly) can indicate both, and therefore isn’t really a good measure of whether your piercing is having a bad day or if you have a real problem. A better indication is to see if your piercing is pussing, white, yellow, even greenish are all normal indications of an infection. If this happens, go to your piercer asap. Do not take out the piercing until instructed to as this could cause further problems by the piercing closing and trapping an infection inside itself.

If you can feel something hard under the piercing, and it is also swollen or hot, and sometimes even pusses, then you could have abscess. Again, follow the “go to your piercer” advice.

If you find you have a bump next to your piercing, that is red and inflamed, then it’s possible that you may have a follicular cyst.

If there appears to be a lump around the piercing that doesn’t hurt, and seems to just be extra tissue, you could well have a keloid, although many people use this term incorrectly, when a lot of the time it’s simply a case of your piercing having a bad time.

These three symptoms all indicate that a trip to your piercer is a good idea!

Will my piercing hurt?

IMO, this is a bit of a daft question. Having a sharp metal object pushed through your skin is obviously going to be painful, although different kinds of piercings hurt more than others depending on their location. In general, cartilage piercings hurt more, given the structure of cartilage. Lobe, eyebrow, oral (with exception of the tongue) and so I hear - navel, all appear to be on the same level of the “ouch” scale. Tongue, understandably, as it is in fact a muscle, hurts a lot

Some piercers will offer you some kind of local anaesthetic although there has been recent debate as to whether this should be allowed. Some say that freezing spray can make the skin around the area of piercing behave in an unusual way which can affect the piercings appearance once the skin has returned to normal.

What kind of jewellery should be in my piercing?

Initially you are likely to have jewellery that looks to big for the piercing, this is to accommodate any swelling that may occur and you shouldn’t really worry about it. You shouldn’t have to keep it in for too long. The kind of jewellery you want to start with, should be either titanium or PTFE. This is because the human body likes this kind of jewellery the most, and are the most unlikely to give you a bad reaction. While on the topic of jewellery types, should you get a surface piercing, you MUST make sure you have the correct SHAPE of jewellery. Otherwise you will be left with hideous scarring as the body simply rejects the foreign object. You want to ask for a SURFACE bar, which is not simply a curved barbell. These are prone to rejection because they are constantly fighting against your skin to stay in. A similar thing goes for nylon bars also used in surface piercings. This link from BME very clearly explains how important it is to have the correct jewellery when having a surface piercing.

How can I hide my piercing from my boss/parents/family?

It is possibly to buy retainers for piercings which enable you to almost hide a piercing. Personally I wear them in my lip and either my boss thinks I have some sort of peculiar face markings, or she hasn’t spotted them. They are simply clear bits of jewellery that keep your piercing open but not visible. Those that work with food may find it more difficult to use retainers as it is not only the visual aspect that prevents them from wearing jewellery, but also the hygiene aspect. (and the possibility of a bit of jewellery flying off into some food!)

How do I stretch my ear piercing?

Ear stretching, originally a tribal practise, is now incredibly popular throughout the world. In most cases, people start with a small, usual sized ear lobe piercing and gradually make it larger with bigger jewellery. It is possible to stretch with a taper, or by just replaced smaller jewellery with larger pieces as times goes on. It is important to wait until your piercing is fully healed before embarking on a stretching adventure, as you want it to be able to cope. Piercers often suggest three times the healing period is a suitable length of time to wait before stretching a piercing, although as always with body piercing, this varies from person to person. Stretching too quickly can result in the piercing tearing and causing GREAT damage. It is possible to stretch other body piercings such as the septum and ear cartilage. I have experience with stretching my ear cartilage, and it’s an incredibly lengthy process, more than lobes. The key to stretching really is just to be patient.

If i stretch my piercing will it go back to normal?

This depends on four factors. Where the piercing is - cartilage is far more unlikely to go back to normal because of it’s structure, whereas lobes are more likely to go back. How it was stretched - if it was stretched carefully and slowly, it’ll be more likely to go back, than if it was hurried into stretching. How big it has been stretched to - the bigger, the more unlikely it is to return to it’s usual size. How long it has be stretched for - the longer, the more unlikely it is to heal.

Comments

Originally take from this thread. Written by rxbeef with in put from Juno.

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