Proper aftercare is crucial for healing tattoos and belly button rings without complications like keloids. Learn how to drain piercing bumps, understand ear gauging rules, and identify the signs of a rejected body piercing.
Navel piercings, also known as belly rings, have become increasingly common in the last several decades. Those who choose to remove their navel jewelry may find that they have an unsightly scar, particularly if the piercing was traumatized in some way.
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One question almost everyone asks when getting their ears pierced is how long they have to wait before wearing dangling earrings. After the initial piercing earrings are put in, your earlobes need time to heal before you can switch to the earrings of your choice.
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Belly button rings are the jewelry inserted into a navel when it is pierced. Most initial navel piercings are done with a curved barbell, a piece of jewelry consisting of a stainless steel bar with beads that unscrew at both ends. Less commonly, captive bead rings may be used.
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Stretching a piercing to wear larger jewelry is sometimes incorrectly called "gauging." The word "gauge" actually refers to the size of the jewelry, with smaller numbers being larger gauges.
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Nipple piercings, once the practice of a small subculture, have become quite commonplace. Professional piercers learn to pierce nipples early in their training. This frequently requested modification can be performed on almost all women and many men, depending on individual anatomy.
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Improper aftercare or manipulation of a piercing with dirty hands can cause it to become infected. Swelling, redness and sensitivity are normal with a new piercing, and there is a difference between irritation and infection.
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The process of stretching a piercing to accommodate larger jewelry is sometimes incorrectly called "gauging," but the word gauge actually refers to the size of the jewelry. One of the most commonly stretched piercings is the earlobe.
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If your stretched earlobe has torn, your piercing may shrink. Repairing a tear in your earlobe is relatively straightforward if you still want to wear large-gauge earrings.
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Getting your ears pierced is a rite of passage for many girls, and even some boys too. The words "ear piercing" may well conjure memories of a trip to the mall, where you sat in a chair in the jewelry shop trying to look brave, watching anxiously while a teenage girl swabbed a piercing gun with alcohol.
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As a piercing heals, scar tissue forms. In the process of forming scar tissue, your body sheds dead skin cells. Your piercings may also secrete blood and plasma. While a foul odor coming from a piercing can be a sign of infection, it may simply be a sign that your piercing is not clean enough.
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When you get your nostril pierced, you are making a puncture wound in a thick piece of cartilage. Cartilage piercings take significantly longer to heal than those that go through a flap of skin, like an earlobe.
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If you haven't worn earrings in a long time, the holes in your earlobes may have closed. If you feel a small knot in the skin where the hole is, it is more than likely the fistula, or skin tunnel, created when your piercing healed.
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Body piercing uses a cannula, or hollow needle, to make a clean slice through skin. Because the needle enters the skin and comes out the other side, a piercing should be treated like any other puncture wound.
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Earlobes and other piercings can be gradually stretched to accommodate thicker jewelry. The word "gauge" refers to the thickness of the jewelry, measured by diameter. The smaller the number is, the larger the gauge is; for example, an 18 gauge is smaller than a 2 gauge.
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