Why Doesn’t My New Piercing Look Exactly Like The Picture?

We live in a time where we have mass amounts of creativity at our fingertips. You can use websites such as Pinterest to find your next piercing idea and there will be a multitude of options to choose from.

Using this kind of inspiration is perfect. It’s a quick and easy way to share new ideas. The thing to remember, however, is that these photos are of fully healed piercings. When you get a fresh piercing, remember that it is a wound and it will exhibit the same healing phases as other wound. There will be drainage, swelling, redness, and soreness. Some stages of healing are not as pretty as others, and you may experience the “crusties” (dried discharge on your jewelry and around the piercing wound), or even get a healing bump. Piercings can take six months to a year or longer to fully heal. With most cartilage piercings in the ear, you want to wait at least six months to change the initial jewelry while other areas of the body can take significantly less time. The jewelry you get pierced with has extra length or a larger diameter to accommodate for the swelling that may occur so you may not have that perfectly flush to the skin piercing jewelry you see in the photos immediately after your piercing.  This is especially true for lip piercings.  

The quickest way to get that beautifully healed piercing you wish to achieve is with aftercare. It’s important to be vigilant with your routine. Piercings on the ear can be easily irritated by shampoo, conditioner, and other hair products so make good aftercare part of your daily routine!  If you have long hair, keep it tied back for the first several weeks.  Use our ‘Wash-It!’ glycerin soap last in the shower so residues from hair and body wash products are washed away. Facial piercings can be quickly irritated by things like makeup, facewash, etc.  This is especially true if you use acne treatment products. The glycerin soap can be used just in the area of the piercing itself to keep the jewelry clean. Piercings on other parts of the body – Navel, surface piercings on the chest or hips, etc can be affected by body wash and soap so you want to use glycerin soap as the last item in the shower for these piercings. You want to soak every piercing with ‘Soak-It!’ sea salt which will flush out any drainage or irritants that may have found their way in. The warm water used to dissolve the salt also helps increase circulation to the area, and helps with the inflammation all piercings experience.

Another thing to remember is that healing takes time. You can’t rush it. Healing happens in what we call peak and valley phases. Sometimes it may seem your piercing is finally fully healed, then will go back to being red, sore, and draining. This is normal, and another reason why you want to keep the initial jewelry in for the duration of time that your piercer recommends.

Whether you came up with a piercing idea on your own or found the inspiration online, bring it to Almost Famous Body Piercing and one of our piercing professionals can help you decide the best way to make it a reality!