Why Your Piercings Aren’t Healing
A troubleshooting guide for you — yes you — before you take out that nose ring
Of my many passions in life, the one I feel most excited to talk and write about to unwilling strangers and captive audiences is body piercing. While it’s widely misunderstood and often simplified, I’m excited by the industry and its limitless shinies, like a modern, fashionable, beseptumed dragon on her hoard of implant-grade jewelry. I dig the craft, I dig the outcome, and I dig the science — and teaching other people about it too.
Talking to people en masse about my passion has led to a lot of people asking me for my unprofessional (for now) advice. And while my first bit of advice is always “go to a piercer”, I love explaining new concepts to people and pushing them in the directions that they may need to go to get the information and resources that they need. And so, Medium readers, I’m here today for you. For you, with the large bump on your nose ring, or the helix that will not heal.
1. You need to see a piercer
I’m not saying you didn’t get this done by a piercer (maybe you didn’t, I don’t know you) but I do know that they’re the most equipped to help you out. Unfortunately, not all piercers are created equally. They don’t all have the same education, same equipment, same quality of customer care, or standards of hygiene. If we’re struggling with a problem, we want to make sure that we’re dealing with someone educated in their craft. So how do we find good ones?
We can start by looking at safepiercing.org. This is the website for the Association of Professional Piercers, a group of piercers that are required to maintain certain hygiene and jewelry standards and keep up with their education regularly in order to best serve their customers. Their website has a directory of active members. Barring that, you can look at store locators for high-end brands like Anatometal, BVLA, and Industrial Strength. Those brands tend to stock higher-quality shops, and will lead you in the right direction.
2. You need to know what kind of irritation you’re dealing with
I am going to look right into my webcam into all of your eyes, readers, and tell you now that 99% of you do not have a keloid, or an infection. What you do have is an irritation bump. An irritation bump is a raised, sometimes fluid-filled bit of flesh around the piercing site that may come and go, and will leave if the piercing is removed (or if the source of the irritation is addressed). While irritation bumps will often disappear on their own or with a bit of treatment, keloids and infections require medical intervention.
Irritation bumps can be caused by poor quality jewelry, poor placement, sometimes just sleeping on the piercing wrong, any number of things — but they are not keloids or infections.
3. You need to know what your jewelry is made of
The vast majority of body piercing shops use poor quality jewelry that they can buy in bulk for pennies. Anything bought from a mall, done with a gun, or labeled “surgical steel” or acrylic is prone to problems for anyone with sensitive skin. Many people have, or develop, nickel (or other metal) sensitivities as they age. Cheap, poor quality jewelry is likely to contain nickel. Much of the jewelry in stores is coated in plastic, or paint, which can also cause problems in the healing fistula over time. Rogue bumps and blistering is often the result of poor-quality jewelry, even from the most trusted hometown piercer.
As mentioned in the first section, there are suppliers for high-quality, nickel-free piercing jewelry. While some of their products can be bought online, many of them only sell directly to piercers. They can generally be made custom for your style, and often even anodized (read: colored) to suit your needs.
4. You need to ditch the DIY treatments
I know that someone in a pyramid scheme sold you some tea tree oil and suggested you put it all over your healing piercing. I’m going to suggest that you don’t. Irritation bumps go away by getting rid of the cause of the irritation. DIY remedies often dry out the irritation bump — temporarily — just to have it come back later. They can often cause more irritation by creating too much dryness, abrasion, or overall upset to the skin’s surface while it’s trying to heal.
The body doesn’t need harsh soaps or oils, no aspirin, nothing wild. You can buy a can of saline spray from most pharmacies that’s suitable for healing piercings. Hot water (and hot and cold compresses) are also great for fresh piercings. Don’t play doctor.
5. You need to be willing to change your jewelry
Some people react negatively not only to jewelry quality — but also jewelry shape. Rings in certain kinds of fresh piercings, especially rings with small diameters and gauges, can cause irritation.
This can be a point of contention to the stubborn piercee who would rather have a nose ring that will never heal than a nose stud that will heal and be switched out easily in six months. If a piercer tells you that you might be better off making a change, be willing to make the change if you want to keep the piercing. Your body will thank you, even if you have to settle for a little while.
If you’re unsure about what’s going on with your new piercing (or even old piercing that’s acting up), it never hurts to go see a piercer, especially one that has elected to become an APP member and keep up their education. They can direct you to healing methods, or a doctor if you need one. These are just little tips for the average person troubleshooting their bling.
