Piercing Aftercare: How to Care for a New Ear Piercing

Follow the routine given by your professional piercer. Many aftercare routines involve one or two gentle cleans each day, although the exact frequency can vary according to the placement and how the piercing is healing.

Do not keep cleaning it every time you notice light crusting or tenderness. Over-cleaning can leave the skin dry, sore and increasingly irritated.

When saline is recommended, choose a packaged sterile wound wash containing 0.9% sodium chloride, ideally with no added fragrances, moisturisers or antibacterial ingredients.

Do not substitute contact-lens solution, eye drops or nasal spray. Avoid alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, harsh antibacterial soaps, essential oils and heavy ointments unless a professional has specifically advised their use.

Yes. Showering is generally preferable to soaking in a bath while a piercing heals. Let clean water rinse the area gently and keep shampoo, conditioner and body products from building up around the jewellery.

Rinse away any residue and dry the piercing carefully with clean disposable gauze or a fresh paper product. Do not rub or twist the jewellery.

Avoid sleeping directly on a new piercing, especially when it is through cartilage. Continued pressure can cause tenderness, irritation and changes in the piercing angle.

Sleep on the opposite side or place the ear inside the opening of a clean travel pillow. Change pillowcases regularly and keep hair away from the jewellery overnight.

Avoid submerging a healing piercing in pools, hot tubs, lakes and the sea. These environments can expose the piercing to microorganisms, chemicals and additional irritation.

Ask your piercer when swimming is appropriate for your particular placement. Where water exposure cannot be avoided, ask them whether suitable protection is possible rather than improvising at home.

No. Twisting, spinning or rotating jewellery is not necessary during cleaning and may irritate the healing piercing channel.

Keep the jewellery still while applying saline, rinsing and drying. Only touch the area with freshly washed hands when contact is genuinely necessary.

A small amount of pale fluid that dries into a light crust can be part of normal healing. Do not pick, scrape or force it away.

Allow sterile saline or clean shower water to soften the residue. Remove only material that comes away easily, then dry the area gently without rubbing.

Wait until the piercing has healed sufficiently and your piercer confirms that it is ready. A piercing may look comfortable on the outside while the tissue inside the channel remains fragile.

A professional downsize may take place before healing is complete when the initial post becomes unnecessarily long. This is not the same as changing decorative jewellery at home.

Mild tenderness, itching, localised swelling and a small amount of pale fluid can occur during healing. The important sign is that these symptoms remain mild and gradually become calmer.

Healing is less likely to be progressing normally when pain, swelling, heat or redness is increasing, the jewellery is embedding, or blood and thick discharge appear.

Possible infection signs include increasing heat, pain or swelling, spreading redness or darker colour, blood, thick white, yellow or green pus, an unpleasant smell, or feeling hot, cold, shivery or generally unwell.

Seek medical advice promptly when you think a piercing may be infected. Leave the jewellery in unless a healthcare professional tells you to remove it.