Common problems with piercings and care

If done by a professional piercer and cared for according to your piercer's recommendations, a piercing can rarely go wrong. However, sometimes problems can arise. Issues can occur for many reasons, depending on the piercing’s location and the way you treat it.

Proper hand and nail hygiene is the biggest priority when it comes to a neat and infection-free piercing.

Why is my new piercing swollen?

Only wash your piercing in the morning and at night or as needed. If you clean your new piercing too often, you are removing the skin cells that are newly formed around your piercing, as well as its natural fat layer, which the body uses to regenerate. It's a bit like taking a bath too often. The skin can become red and irritated as you remove the skin's natural properties.

To allow your new piercing to heal, wash it only in the morning and evening, except when it is particularly dirty.

What can I do if my piercing gets swollen?

If your piercing gets swollen, in addition to washing it regularly, you should also use isotonic salt water to reduce the swelling. Using this mix has enormous advantages:

• The spray makes it easy to apply on any piercing.
• The liquid inside the container is kept clean.
• The mix has the correct mixing ratio.

If you’re traveling and don’t want to pack a big container, you may use mono-dose cotton swabs instead.

You can also prepare an isotonic saline solution at home. Just remember never to use table salt.

Can my new piercing get infected?

A piercing infection occurs when your piercing comes into contact with bacteria. If you’ve had your piercing done by a professional piercer, they will have used gloves, sterile forceps, a sterile needle, and, last but not least, sterile jewelry. Hygiene is a top priority for piercers. Less than 5% of all infected piercings occur at a piercer’s studio. The remaining 95% occur during the healing period.

How do I know if my piercing is infected?

If you just got your first piercing done, you may have some doubts about whether your piercing is infected.

In new piercings, wound fluid may appear, which has the same yellowish color as the fluid in an infected piercing. It’s easy to mistake one for the other. However, you can tell if your piercing is infected by checking these four characteristics:

• There is redness around the piercing.
• The piercing is sore.
• The piercing has swollen up.
• The piercing area is hot.

If you experience all four symptoms, with or without wound fluid, you should treat your piercing as if it were infected.

What should I do if my piercing is infected?

If your piercing is infected, do not remove the jewelry, as the infection may get trapped inside the skin. Take care of your infection with an isotonic saline solution.

If your infection persists, have it checked by a professional piercer.

Infections may be treated with soap or chlorhexidine if there is an open channel to the inflammation. But if the infection is trapped in the skin, it should be treated with penicillin or similar antibiotics.

What if I have allergies?

When it comes to piercing jewelry, allergies are an important topic. Whether jewelry produces an allergy is usually related to its nickel content.

You can rest assured that all of Bodymod’s products comply with EU legislation regarding nickel release in our piercing jewelry.

Therefore, you can safely use piercing jewelry from Bodymod without the risk of developing a nickel allergy.

What is nickel allergy?

Nickel is a substance found in many materials. Nickel allergy appears on the skin as red patches where the skin has been in contact with nickel-releasing metals. It may cause itchy eczema and blisters.

If you’ve ever had a rash or an allergic reaction when wearing silver, you are probably allergic to nickel.

What kind of material should I use if I have a nickel allergy?

There is a difference between piercing jewelry that contains nickel and piercing jewelry that releases nickel. Surgical steel, for example, has traces of nickel but does not release nickel thanks to its micro-polished finish.

However, if you are allergic to nickel, you should stick to nickel-free materials such as titanium, PTFE, and acrylic.

What can I do if my piercing hurts under my clothes?

Piercings usually covered by clothes, like dermal, navel, nipple, and intimate may feel uncomfortable when you’re wearing tight clothes. New piercings can even hurt. The first step to avoid this discomfort is to loosen your clothing. If the problem persists, you could consider using more flexible piercing jewelry made out of PTFE. Speak to your piercer if none of these solutions work for you. Your piercer will be able to assess whether the piercing is too exposed or try out a different piece of jewelry that doesn't have sharp edges that can get stuck in your clothes.

Can my body try to reject my piercing jewelry?

When we insert foreign objects into our bodies, they might try to get rid of them. So it is perfectly natural if your body tries to reject your piercing jewelry.

In some parts of the body, this is more likely to happen. For example, the body more commonly rejects dermal piercing jewelry.

With proper care and the right material, you can do a lot to prevent the body from rejecting the piercing.

As long as the piercing is healing, there is a higher chance that the body will repel the jewelry, as it is in direct contact with the body. Once the body has formed a new layer of skin between the piercing hole and the jewelry, the new skin forms a barrier between the body and the piercing. This reduces the chance of rejection significantly.

You can help your body form new skin by providing proper piercing care and using PTFE jewelry, as it is flexible and therefore follows the shape of the hole and the body. This way, you don't put as much strain on the piercing as you would with steel. But in some cases, such as with dermal piercings, you cannot use PTFE.