5 MISTAKES YOU CAN AVOID TO HEAL BODY PIERCING FASTER

People with body piercings generally commit simple mistakes in their daily lives, under the influence of pain, unaware of their impact, which instead lengthens the healing process. By avoiding these peculiarities, you surely will feel less pain and it will fasten the healing process.

It is fascinating to know that, there is some form of complication in upto 35% of ear piercing, while 30% of complication on total pierced sites leading to minor injection, according to a study conducted in 1998 by a Midwestern hospital. This is a link to the survey:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9758178/

However, even after reading these statistics, I still believe that,              'Piercing hurts a lot' is just a myth. Because people commit simple yet harmful mistakes that makes the healing to stop, leading to a misconception. It's just like any other wound, just that, this one, you do it yourself. You just have to give some time to it, to heal and implement the following home remedies and steps that can help in healing the wounds faster.

1. Sea salt water solution

The most basic home remedy for healing is a solution of sea salt and warm water. Sea salt water will make the healing process rapid but with ease. The ideal ratio of the solution is 1/4 teaspoon of non iodized salt in 1 cup of warm water. Use a cotton ball and soak it in the solution. Then clean the wound with the cotton ball. Though the wound will sting for some time, due to the presence of sea salt, it will help in drying the wound without harming the good cells. Practice this twice a day for five to ten minutes and see the difference for yourself.

Make sure to wash your hands properly before preparing the solution, otherwise all your hard work will go in vain. 

2. Avoid going in water

The condition of Public Swimming pools are not alien to us. So avoid going into them while the piercing is new. It is still a wound and needs clean and sterile care. However if you are willing to go, after some weeks of piercing, following required measures should be taken.

• Try using a water resistant bandage over your piercing, so that it doesn't come in contact with the water.
• If you feel the bandage is not very securing, go for a swimming cap or waterproof bands, if you have pierced you ears.
• Along with these steps, choose your timing such that the pool is not very crowded. This will help you in avoiding as much Bacteria as possible.

3. How to sleep?( For ear piercing)

This is where, people experience the most pain. Though it may seem so trivial, getting a sound sleep when you have pierced your ear recently is a big task.

Here's what you can do:

• Try sleeping on the opposite side of piercing. It may be difficult to adjust to sleeping on the same side throughout the night, but this will surely help in damaging the wound less.
• Keep your hair tied, so that it doesn't get caught with the piercing, resulting in pulling the piercing. If not tied hair, throw them up. It also helps in avoiding the transfer of bacteria from the hair to the wound.
• If you sleep on your belly, use a pillow and sleep on your face. If you can sleep like this, then you don't have to worry more.
• Similarly, some may think that sleeping on the back can be their only option, but they are wrong. You can sleep on one side, use a pillow and place your head on your palm, with elbow folded such that the ear is in the air. Since this elevates the ear, you're not really pressing on it.

 4. Removing crust

Crust that is formed around the piercing wound, is perfectly normal. It's a sign that your piercing is healing from inside. Dead blood cells along with plasma fluid make their way to the top, forming the crust, which is dried out when exposed to air.

So removing the crust is not appropriate. It acts like a protection layer between the hole and bacteria and other potential infections.

It also restricts any kind of soap to get inside the hole, which may cease the healing process. The most common misunderstanding that people have is that they mistake the crust as a solid pus, which indeed is not the case. The pus does contain dirt and has to be cleaned. Whereas the crust is supposed to be kept without intervening the healing process. 

5. Rotating the piercing

Many people think that if the crust is kept as it is, the jewelry may get stuck at one place leading to more pain. Hence they rotate the jewelry from time to time. And this is where many people go wrong. As said earlier, the crust is to protect the wound, the new puncture you just created. So rotating the jewelry may create irritation and injury. You may harm the tissues that have begun to heal. Also the area of the jewelry that is inside the hole is not in contact with the outside germs, whereas the rest of the jewelry is. While the crust is there to protect it, if you rotate the jewelry, the contaminated jewelry will contact the wound, leading to infection.

A beautiful piercing is the one which is not touched or slept on. Though it may get difficult to adhere to these tips for a first few days, stick to them and imagine the look that you want to create by your piercing. So here's how you can know that your piercing is healing-

•  The discharge on the wound will completely stopped. However sometimes the discharge may end even when the healing process is continuing. So relying only on the discharge as a sign is not reliable.
• The edges of the wound will become smooth and pulled inward, which makes sure that entire skin has been formed.
• The Jewelry will become loose and move freely.

So the next time you pierce, feel free to flaunt it with no doubt and blur out the misconception of people with these techniques and adhere to,

"Keeping the zeal, while the wounds will heal."