Tattoo, Piercing and Oral Piercing Aftercare Instructions

Tattoo Aftercare Instructions

1. Leave your tattoo covering on for 3-4 hours because the new tattoo will continue to discharge fluids for a while after its been finished. It is normal for any excess ink to also leak out.
2. When you get home, give it a wash with clean water. Gently pat dry and leave uncovered. After drying, smooth over a thin layer of tattoo aftercare cream* (or Bepanthen**).
3. Next day, clean your tattoo with a non-scented, antibacterial soap to keep it clean and to avoid potential infection. After drying, smooth over a thin layer of tattoo aftercare cream (or Bepanthen**).
4. Repeat this process for upto 2 to 3 weeks or until the tattoo is healed. Don’t touch your tattoo unless you have clean hands!
5. First 2 weeks, AVOID wearing tight clothing that rub up against your tattoo, sunbathing, swimming, or soaking (showers are ok) so you don’t affect the healing process.
6. Do NOT pick, peel or scratch when it scabs. These scabs are normal and picking them off will damage or remove colour.
7. Your tattoos will lighten up after they have fully healed. Use sunscreen when going outside, especially in the summer.

Piercing Aftercare Instructions

The aftercare of a piercing is just as important as the piercing event itself. After leaving our studio, it is YOUR responsibility to look after your piercing and follow our guidelines to help your piercing to heal. IMPORTANT- ALWAYS WASH YOUR HANDS BEFORE TOUCHING YOUR PIERCING UNTIL IT IS FULLY HEALED. After getting a piercing, please clean it 2-3 times a daily, for upto 4 weeks (or until its fully healed or if it becomes irritated) using either your piercers aftercare solution or a saline solution. You can make your own saline by dissolving 1/4 teaspoon of salt in 250ml water. Use a soaked cotton bud or ball to help clean the area gently. Please don’t spin the piercing around (it could do damage to the healing skin and/or unscrew the ball). Instead, gently clean one side and then push the piercing through and clean the other side carefully. Initially the area may feel hot, swollen, bruised and may bleed or leak white fluid a little bit but this should calm down if a good cleaning regimen is followed. If the area becomes really red, swollen, very painful and has green, yellow pus then it may be infected. Please check in with us if you are concerned. Avoid sleeping on the area if possible and be careful of your hair, earphones, hoods, masks, make up, perfume, hair products and scarfs etc that may come in contact with your piercing as they could all introduce unwanted substances into your healing piercing. Please do not change your piercing jewellery too quickly. We recommend that you wait a minimum of 6 weeks for a lobe piercing and 12 weeks for a cartilage piercing before changing it. A lobe piercing can take upto 6 months to heal 100% while cartilage piercings can take between 9-12 months to heal 100%. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to get in contact with us.

Oral piercing Aftercare Instructions

If you’ve just had a mouth piercing and want to know how to help it heal quickly, here’s our guide to oral piercing aftercare.

DO:

• Every time you eat, drink or smoke you should wash your hands thoroughly then rinse out your mouth with saline solution (see below) or glycol mouthwash. The barbell/ring should also be moved up and down/turned to remove trapped food.
• Reduce the intake of hot drinks, hot/spicy foods, tobacco and alcohol.
• Increase the intake of liquids (non-alcoholic) to avoid any dehydration.
• Choose easy to chew foods that are liquid or soft, soup is ideal.
• Avoid alcohol and non-prescription drugs since they can aggravate the piercing leading to swelling.
• Keep healthy; a nutritious diet with some form of vitamin/ mineral supplement will help the body fight infection and heal itself.
• You can take one Zinc tablet on the day of the piercing and one each day for a full week. This will aid the healing process.

 DO NOT:

• Do not use alcohol mouthwash, this will aggravate the piercing.
• Do not fiddle with your piercing while it is healing, or allow anyone else to do so. This will inevitably lead to infection.
• Do not turn or move the body piercing jewellery in the bath, and do not immerse in hot soapy water for any longer than necessary. Rinse any soap or shampoo off afterwards. Soap and shampoo in the piercing can lead to infection and delay healing.
• Do not remove or replace jewellery until piercing has completely healed. Your tongue piercing is liable to close over upon removal of the barbell for 1 hour, even after many months.
• Don’t expose your piercing to dirty environments and don’t touch or fiddle with it unless cleaning
• Swimming should also be avoided for the first few weeks.
• Avoid oral contact with your piercing, as everyone’s mouth harbours bacteria.
• Avoid coming into contact with other people’s bodily fluids as you have an open wound and you could exchange more than just bacteria.

Tongue Piercing Aftercare:

Tongue piercings will swell to begin with. Reduced the risk of swelling by sucking ice cubes for the rest of the day (don’t overdo it!).

This swelling can last between 3-7 days, after which time the swelling will go down and the barbell you were pierced with will start to feel too long.  You should go back to your piercer to have your barbell replaced with a shorter one.

The swelling may continue to reduce for another 2-4 weeks.

How long will my oral piercing take to heal?

It can take three months to a year for your piercing to heal completely. Although your piercing may look healed, this might only be surface healing. Be patient with the healing process and you are less likely to encounter any problems.

Saline Solution:
Saline solution is ideal to help healing since it agrees with all skin types and does not damage the pH of the skin or irritate the wound.

How to make saline solution:
Boil a pint of water and add a teaspoon of sea-salt, allow this to cool and apply to the pierced area as indicated above.

All piercings weep until they heal. This is lymph and should not be confused with an infection. The lymph will form a dry crust formation that you should soak off with saline solution during the cleaning procedure.

Seek medical advice immediately if:

• your tongue swells, making it difficult to swallow or breathe

• you cannot stop the bleeding at the piercing site after compressing it firmly with clean linen (e.g. handkerchief) for up to 30 mins.

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