A good rule of thumb is to wait until you are sure the piercing is healed and then wait a few more weeks to be sure. If you try to change it out before it's healed, you could cause immense harm to the piercing.
Keep the jewelry in place.
Most piercings heal within about six weeks, but some might take several months or longer to heal. To maintain the piercing, leave the jewelry in place during this time, even at night, to keep the hole from closing.
PSA: You should never, ever swap out your jewelry before your piercing has healed—doing so can lead to infection, scarring, permanent swelling, and rejection of the earring (aka when your ear literally pushes the jewelry out), says Ava Lorusso, professional piercer at Studs in NYC.
Don't take your earrings out too early! They will close rather rapidly. Leave earrings in for 6-8 weeks, giving your ears time to heal.
No, you can't change your earrings for the first 6-8 weeks. If you wanna change it, your ears might get infected. At this time, the wound is still fresh. Trying to put the earring back in the hole may make your ear bleed.
It's hard to predict how quickly your body will attempt to close a piercing, but as a general rule, the newer it is, the more likely it will close up. For instance: If your piercing is less than a year old, it can close in a few days, and if your piercing is several years old, it can take several weeks.
A piercing can start to be rejected within a week of getting it done, but it can also happen months or years after you think the area has healed.
Surface piercings have the highest rejection rate. Surface piercings such as microdermals as well as eyebrow piercings and navel piercings reject the most because they are closest to the surface of the skin.
Piercing rejection is not very common, but it does happen. Rejection most common in the first few weeks to months after getting a piercing.
Surface piercings are the most common types of piercing to be rejected by the body. Surface piercings travel along an area of skin, rather than going directly through a body part. The jewelry punctures only a small amount of the skin's surface. Examples of surface piercings include eyebrows, neck, hip, and wrist.
Taking Care of Your Ears
This usually takes about 4 to 6 weeks. If you don't, your holes could close up and you'll have to go through everything all over again! You don't want germs with your newly pierced ears, so it's very important to keep your ears clean.
For ear piercings, this can take up to six months. If you remove your jewelry before the full development of the fistula, you risk the chance of the hole closing up. This is why people who've had their ears pierced since childhood can keep their earrings out for weeks with no issue.
Unfortunately, you should be patient when thinking about changing the jewellery in a fresh piercing, as changing the jewellery too early can lead to infection, inflammation and even the piercing closing up.
To help speed up the healing process, Bubbers recommends wearing earrings made of implant-grade metal so your body will form a healed layer around the metal. You also should avoid going any longer than 24 hours without wearing earrings for the first six months of a new piercing to prevent the hole from closing.
Healing time differs from one part to another. The general healing period is 6 weeks for earlobes and 12 weeks for cartilage or helix. If you have a nose piercing, 4 weeks is sufficient. Keep in mind that this period is only possible if you have no infection or nickel reaction along the way.
Typically, ear lobe piercings take around 4-6 months, while upper or inner ear piercings take between 6-12+ months to fully heal. You'll know your ear is healed once any discharge, swelling, redness, flaking, or soreness stops.
Because they occur during the healing process of a piercing, hypertrophic scars don't tend to be permanent. As the piercing continues to heal, the scar should flatten and eventually disappear.
Earring holes usually stay open for at least a day or two once a few months have passed after the original piercing. The holes often stay open for a few weeks or longer if they have been there for several years of earring use. It is unlikely that the holes have completely closed after only a few hours.
It can take anything form a few weeks to a year to fully heal from general piercings. Large gauge piercings (i.e. those where piercings have been stretched) require surgical closure.
What's the healing time? There are different types of tissue in different parts of your ear, so how long it takes to heal depends on your body and the place you've pierced. Earlobes usually take 6-8 weeks. If you pierce the cartilage on the side of your ear, it can take 4 months to a year.
The most attractive spot for a piercing is the belly button. The least attractive is a tie between the nose and the nether regions.
A helix piercing is a cartilage placement on the outer upper rim of your ear. Because the cartilage is thinner on the upper ear, helix piercings tend to be the least painful cartilage piercing. They measure around a 4-5/10 on the pain scale and take around 3-6 months to fully heal.