So you left the store with your new piercing looking simply correct. You can't wait to testify it off to your friends. It'due south an exciting time. But over the grade of the coming week it starts to wait a niggling off. What should you do?

Don't panic. This is a common problem that usually resolves itself.

Why Does My New Piercing Look Kleptomaniacal?

A new piercing shouldn't await kleptomaniacal when you lot leave the piercing shop. But over the coming week, swelling can make the piercing expect askew. Swelling is a natural response to piercings as your trunk begins to heal. As the swelling fades, the piercing should return to normal.

Swelling usually goes down after 1-2 weeks, but some people heal a little faster or slower. Fortunately, there are steps you tin accept to reduce the swelling sooner.

Tips to Reduce Swelling

In add-on to sometimes causing piercings to appear kleptomaniacal, a swollen piercing can be painful. Although swelling volition become away on its own, there are a few like shooting fish in a barrel tips to reduce swelling faster.

  • Hands Off!
  • Cleaning
  • I.C.E.
  • Aftercare
  • Anti-Inflammatory Medication

Hands Off!

The more yous touch your piercing and the surrounding expanse, the longer healing takes. A new piercing is sensitive and touching will irritate it and may prolong swelling. For ear piercings, yous may desire to avoid hats and/or wear hair up to avoid unnecessary contact.

Cleaning

Although nosotros merely told you to keep your hands off, you even so need to keep your piercing clean. In our Is My Ear Piercing Infected? post nosotros suggest a chamomile soak to relieve swelling.

For a chamomile soak, y'all mash a chamomile tea. Y'all then use the tea handbag to gently apply the solution to the swollen surface area. In add-on to reducing swelling, this also cleans the piercing and relieves pain.

You tin do as many chamomile soaks as you desire. Merely make certain the temperature is warm, just not hot enough to irritate your skin.

R.I.C.Due east.

R.I.C.E. is one of the all-time known first-assist acronyms. Information technology means rest, ice, compress, and elevate and is a great strategy to reduce swelling.

Rest helps your body recover. While you lot heal from a piercing, brand sure you get plenty sleep. During the first few days, it'southward usually best to take it easy equally well.

Ice is the go-to for swelling around the globe. You can wrap ice or an ice pack in a make clean paper towel and carefully apply it to the swollen area. Ice reduces local blood flow, relieving hurting and reversing swelling. Y'all tin ice every bit often as you want, but should merely go out it on the area for ten-15 minutes at a time.

You can skip compression. For injuries, compression is valuable in reducing swelling, simply for piercings it's amend to avert touching.

Elevation is some other way to reduce blood period to an area. For piercings on the face up and ears, this is pretty like shooting fish in a barrel, as your head is normally elevated already.

Aftercare

Following your piercing aftercare regimen means faster, safer healing. Your piercer will include all the necessary information for recovering from your specific piercing. If you accept any questions or concerns with your piercings, give them a call.

Anti-Inflammatory Medication

Painkillers are a lot of peoples' become-to solution for any injury. With piercings, yous can take painkillers to reduce swelling, only we recommend waiting for 24 hours. They are best avoided until inflammation occurs as they can actually inhibit healing.

What if the Piercing is However Crooked Subsequently the Swelling Recedes?

One time the swelling goes down, the piercing should go back to normal. If it nevertheless looks crooked, you should consult an experienced piercing artist to hash out your options. This happens almost often with at-dwelling piercings, where the initial piercing has a high likelihood of being crooked.

Some other possible cause is a severe infection or intense pulling on the piercing. If the skin within the piercing is damaged, information technology can heal incorrectly. Your piercer can assess the damage and decide what the best steps are. In some cases, yous tin just go along with aftercare – in others, it may demand to be pierced again.

Tin You Re-Pierce?

If a piercing is done incorrectly or heals poorly, information technology sometimes needs to be re-pierced. Information technology'south a uncomplicated solution, just it'southward a lengthy one. You need to wait until the piercing closes over and heals to become it pierced over again. If y'all pierce information technology once more to soon, y'all'll end up with the same trouble again.

Your piercing artist can give you an estimated timeline, but you'll likely have to wait at to the lowest degree 2 weeks. In the meantime, continue following aftercare to promote faster healing and forbid infection. If the piercing closes over an infection it volition create a host of new problems.

Get Adept Piercings & Communication

When y'all get pierced by experts, you go more than a high-quality, prophylactic piercing. You get piercing communication and back up that yous can rely on throughout the healing procedure.

Our piercing shop has Toronto & Vancouver's first piercers to receive APP memberships. The Association of Professional Piercers (APP) is dedicated to condom-focused training. When you book a piercing at Chronic Ink you become top piercing artists, who put your safety first.