It' very important to take a proper care of your new piercing so that you can heal comfortably and avoid infections. Nowadays the tattoo and piercing industry has a big progress. There are new wonderful supplies, new methods of after care etc. But there is still a potential risk for any piercing. There are many types of piercing as well, so their aftercare process is probably a quite different for each other. In generally, every kind of piercing needs antibacterial products, Betadine, aftercare cream etc.

The typical antibacterial ointment contains a combination of three broad-spectrum antibiotics which protect against infection from bacteria commonly found on human skin. Most bacteria that live on the surface of the skin are harmless under normal circumstances, but become infection-causing, or pathogenic when exposed to inner layers of skin.

An antibacterial ointment is best used on a minor cut, burn or scrape. After cleansing the area thoroughly with a mild cleanser (harsher cleansers like hydrogen peroxide or rubbing alcohol are not necessary, and can actually damage tissue), apply a thin layer of the antibacterial ointment and cover with a sterile dressing if you desire. In addition to preventing the protective dressing from falling off, antibacterial ointment allows you to maintain a moist, sterile environment, ideal for facilitating the healing process.

How to choose a proper ointment?
An ointment which contains more than one antibiotic is preferable to a single antibiotic cream or ointment for your garden-variety cuts and scrapes. It is better to attack possibly pathogenic bacteria from all sides. When shopping for antibiotic ointment, make sure the packaging is intact and you are not allergic to any of the ingredients.

It's nice to contact your piercing artist.

During the healing period
Be sure to monitor any wound for signs of infection, which include: excessive redness with streaks radiating from the wound, drainage, increased pain, and no demonstrable improvement in healing. Do not be alarmed by some redness immediately surrounding the wound. This is normal and shows that the healing process is indeed taking place.

Betadine solution- It's appropriate for healing the fresh pierced hole. There are two types of betadine. The firs one is for external use and the second one is for internal use. Both has a different percent of solution so you can see a betadine for external use 10% and betadine for internal use of 15%. Betadine is sometimes used by piercers to clean an area before piercing as a very outdated method of skin preparation). Nowadays betadine became more useful only for the most infected areas. Because of the betadine's content (Chemicals) it can help to kill the infected skin cells. After you see that something is going wrong with your fresh pierced area you should visit your piercing artist and ask for help. In some cases probably the best choice is to visit a dermatologist.

Sea salt soaks are probably the best thing for a healing piercing as they balance with your body's own PH and wash out the bacteria while promoting the healing of the skin inside the piercing. The proper mixture for a traditional sea salt soak is as follows:

1/4 tsp Sea Salt to 1 cup of water.
2 tbsp Sea Salt to a full gallon of water (if you want to pre-mix and use whenever needed). To do the soak, you will fill a cup (dixie cups actually work best so that you do not cross-contaminate because they're meant for single-use only) and use it like a suction cup over the piercing (all around) for 5-10 minutes 2-3 times daily.

Antibacterial soap
There were a lot of discussions about the antibacterial soaps in the past years, and we came to realize that neither Betadine nor Antibacterial Soap is good for healing a fresh piercing as you're attempting to heal the skin within the hole and the chemicals are far too harsh and actually kill off skin cells rather than help with healing. This kind of soaps are good for your personal hygiene. Wash your hands every time you change your piercing jewellery.

Do Not use alcohol-that could sting if it gets too close to the new piercing and is far too harsh for a fresh piercing. And removing the unattractive coloration isn't just an aesthetic issue. Iodine should be removed from the skin after the piercing is done to prevent any irritation.

CHECK OUT:

Piercing Mistakes
Piercing Risks
Piercing Pain
Piercing Rejection
Piercing Jewelry Safety