Cartilage Aftercare

Expected healing time: 3-9 months or longer.

What to do:

  • Wash your hands before cleaning or touching your piercing.
  • Clean at least twice a day. Soak a cotton tip in sterile saline solution and clean both sides of the piercing, gently removing any discharge (dried lymph).
  • Avoid rotating your new piercing. This can cause tearing to the new scar tissue forming. Your skin will naturally 'let go' of the jewellery when healing.
  • Do not remove your jewellery to clean your piercing. 
  • Repeat piercing clean after submerging in any unhygienic bodies of water (bath, pool, ocean etc)
  • Maintain cleanliness of telephones, headphones, eyeglasses, helmets, hats, and anything that makes contact with the pierced area.
  • Stay Healthy. A healthy body can heal much faster than when run-down.
  • Make sure your bedding is washed and changed regularly. Wear clean, comfortable, breathable clothing that protects your piercing while you are sleeping.
  • Showers tend to be safer than taking baths, as bathtubs can harbor bacteria. If you bathe in a tub, clean it well before each use and rinse off your piercing when you get out.

What to expect initially:

Bleeding, localized swelling, tenderness, and/or bruising.

What to expect during healing:

Itchiness, secretion of a whitish-yellow fluid (not pus) that will form a 'crust' around and on the jewellery. Some discolouration.

What to avoid:

  • Cleaning your new piercing with alcohol or any harsh chemicals.
  • Moving jewellery in an unhealed piercing or picking away dried discharge with your fingers.
  • Friction from clothing, excessive movement of the area, playing with the jewellery, and vigorous cleaning. 
  • All oral contact, rough play, and contact with others' bodily fluids on or near your piercing during healing.
  • Playing with your jewellery.
  • Sleep on your healing piercing.
  • Over-cleaning your piercing. 
  • Changing the piercing jewellery during the healing period. 
  • Using makeup or beauty care products around or near your piercing. 

Doing any of the actions listed above can cause irritations to your new piercing and prolong the healing period. The formation of unsightly and uncomfortable scar tissue, migration, rejection and other complications can occur. Please refer to our Problem Piercing pages for more information.

 

DISCLAIMER:
These guidelines are based on a combination of vast professional experience. This is not the be considered a substitute for medical advice.