The Healing Process and Body Piercing Aftercare
The aftercare process for body piercing has evolved gradually through practice, and many myths and harmful recommendations persist. A reputable piercing studio should provide clients with written and verbal aftercare instructions, as is in some areas mandated by law.
The healing process of piercings is broken down into three stages:
- The inflammatory phase, during which the wound is open and bleeding, inflammation and tenderness are all to be expected;
- The growth or proliferative phase, during which the body produces cells and protein to heal the puncture and the edges contract around the piercing, forming a tunnel of scar tissue called a fistula. This phase may last weeks, months, or longer than a year.
- The maturation or remodeling phase, as the cells lining the piercing strengthen and stabilize. This stage takes months or years to complete.
It is normal for a white or slightly yellow discharge to be noticeable on the jewellery, as the sebaceous glands produce an oily substance meant to protect and moisturize the wound. While these sebum deposits may be expected for some time, only a small amount of pus, which is a sign of inflammation or infection, should be expected, and only within the initial phase. While sometimes difficult to distinguish, sebum is "more solid and cheeselike and has a distinctive rotten odor", according to The Piercing Bible.
The amount of time it typically takes a piercing to heal varies widely according to the placement of the piercing. Genital piercings can be among the quicker to heal, with piercings of the clitoral hood and Prince Albert piercings healing in as little as a month, though some may take longer. Navel piercings can be the slowest to heal, with one source reporting a range of six months to two full years. The prolonged healing of navel piercings may be connected to clothing friction.
Read more about this topic: Pocketing, Risks Associated With Body Piercing
Famous quotes containing the words healing, process, body and/or piercing:
“America needed recovery, not revenge. The hate had to be drained and the healing begun.”
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)
“The American, if he has a spark of national feeling, will be humiliated by the very prospect of a foreigner’s visit to Congress—these, for the most part, illiterate hacks whose fancy vests are spotted with gravy, and whose speeches, hypocritical, unctuous, and slovenly, are spotted also with the gravy of political patronage, these persons are a reflection on the democratic process rather than of it; they expose it in its process rather than of it; they expose it in its underwear.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
“I shook off the sweat and the sun. I understood that I had destroyed the balance of the day, the exceptional silence of a beach where I had been happy. Then I shot four more times at an inert body which the bullets penetrated without appearing so. And it was like four brief knocks that I struck on the door of misfortune.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“Old, aching God, grey with endless care,
calmly piercing evil’s new disguises,
glad of good surprises, wiser than despair
Hail and Hosanna, old, aching God!”
—Brian Wren (b. 1936)