It is important to note that your piercing may be tender or painful for up to 3-5 days after the procedure was performed. This is normal. Sleeping directly on your ears or side may prolong the tenderness due to the pressure on the piercing site.
It's normal to have some redness, swelling or pain for a couple of days after getting your ears pierced. But your ears should look and feel better each day. If you find that your ears do great and then suddenly start to become red, inflamed or crusty a week or two later, that's usually a sign of infection.
The normal stages of healing are; first Inflammation, then epithelialization and angiogenesis and then the maturation stage. These stages are not separate but overlap slightly and may be happening at the same time. Inflammation is the body's response to harmful stimuli such as damaged cells caused by the piercing.
During the first few weeks, some bleeding, localized swelling, tenderness, and/or bruising is expected. Throughout your healing process, you may also notice some discoloration, itching, and the secretion of a whitish-yellow fluid (not pus) that will form some crust on the jewelry—this is also normal!
Piercing complications and infections do happen sometimes, which is why proper aftercare is key. Beyond using a saline wash and keeping your fingers away from the piercing, you also don't want to put pressure on it, hence why side sleeping is not ideal.
There's no reason to rotate your piercing. You could damage the delicate, healing skin by rotating the jewelry. In the past, rotating the jewelry was recommended, but it has been found to cause damage that can lead to infection and scarring. For happy healing, NEVER rotate your body jewelry.
What's normal for a new piercing. For the first few weeks a new piercing might: be tender, itchy, and the surrounding area may look slightly red on white skin, or a little darker than usual on dark skin. produce a pale fluid that forms a crust.
When you have an infected piercing, your first thought might be to take your jewelry out. While that might seem like the best thing to do, it's best to leave this to your doctor. If your piercing is actually infected, and you remove the jewelry on your own, you may spread the bacteria.
9. DON'T: Take out the piercing until it's completely healed. You should never swap out your jewelry before your piercing has completely healed. Doing so can lead to infection, scarring and even a rejection of the jewelry.
Your newly pierced ears will heal faster and will be less prone to infection if they are not touched. Rotating will cause irritation or injury of the new piercings. A piercing is essentially a puncture wound that heals around a piece of jewelry.
Stay out of pools, hot tubs, rivers, lakes and other bodies of water while your piercing is healing. Don't fiddle with your piercings. Don't touch a new piercing or twist the jewelry unless you're cleaning it. Keep clothing away from the piercing, too.
3) It is normal for dried blood or serous fluid (yellow crust) to form around the edges of your piercing. DO NOT pick it away while it is dry.
Sleeping on your healing piercing, especially ear piercings, can cause it to heal angled and crooked. The pressure from laying on it causes the jewelry to become tilted, and VERY irritated. This will do all of what not downsizing your piercing will do. It's the same thing.
For ear piercings, it is recommended to wait 6-8 weeks before attempting to change your earring. This is recommended as 6-8 weeks is the length of time that it takes for a piercing to heal.
#1: Take Earrings Out Before Showering
To properly wash your earlobes, you must remove your earrings and gently massage the earlobe with water and soap. Also, earrings can get damaged when they come in contact with liquid, so removing earrings before showering will help preserve them.
Don't: Sleep with sharp earrings
Sharp earrings can cause discomfort, pain, and even damage to the piercing. If you find that sleeping with sharp earrings is causing issues, try switching them out for a pair of silicone plugs at night.
Signs that a piercing is migrating and possibly being rejected include: more of the jewelry becoming visible on the outside of the piercing. the piercing remaining sore, red, irritated, or dry after the first few days. the jewelry becoming visible under the skin.
However, an ear piercing infection can happen anytime during the 6- or 12-week healing period and will generally be more tender (as opposed to itchy), explains Dr. Farber.
There Is No Need To Twist Your Earring
Contrary to popular belief, you should not twist your fresh piercings as it will not actually assist with the healing process. In fact, the more you move and touch the piercing the longer the healing time may take.