How To Clean Ear Piercing

Ear Piercing Aftercare: How to Clean and Maintain

Ear piercing is a fashion for both men and women of all ages children included. These types of piercings are not perilous like those of other body parts although some can be complicated. It is crucial to gain knowledge of how to clean ear piercing before doing it; this is to ensure you don’t get infections of the same. You can clean your ear piercings in the following ways:

how to clean new ear piercing

Clean Your Hands Carefully with Antibacterial Soap

Cleaning your hands well will impede exposure of germs when cleaning the piercings. Our pro team piercers love the antibacterial H2Ocean Blue Green Foam Soap to clean their hands and prep the piercing area.

Use a gentle Cleaning Solution

Packaged sterile saline (with no additives, read the label) is a gentle choice for piercing aftercare. You can use any of our H2Ocean body piercing aftercare products: Piercing Spray with Lysozyme, Sea Salt Body Piercing aftercare spray or Healing Sea Salt Soak. If sterile saline is not available in you region a sea salt solution mixture can be available alternative. Dissolve 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon (.75 to 1.42 grams) of non-iodized (iodine free), fine grain sea salt into one cup (8 oz. / 250ml) of warm distilled or bottled water. A stronger mixture is not better; salt solution that is too strong can irritate the piercing.

Process to Clean the ear piercing

WASH your hands thoroughly prior to cleaning or touching your piercing for any reason.
SALINE rinse as needed while healing. For certain piercings it may be easier to apply
using clean gauze saturated with saline solution. If your piercer suggests using soap, gently lather around the piercing and rinse as needed. Avoid using harsh soaps, or soaps with dyes or fragrances. We recommend H2Ocean Blue Green Foam Soap.
RINSE site as needed to remove cleaning solution residue. Moving or rotating jewelry is not necessary during cleaning or rinsing.
DRY by gently patting with clean, disposable paper products. Cloth towels can harbor bacteria and snag on jewelry causing injury.

What to Do

• Wash your hands prior to touching the piercing; leave it alone except when cleaning. During healing it is not necessary to rotate your jewelry.
• Exercise during healing is fine; listen to your body.
• Make sure your bedding is washed and changed regularly. Wear clean, comfortable, breathable clothing that protects your piercing while you are sleeping.

Showers tend to be safer than taking baths, as bathtubs can harbor bacteria. If you bathe in a tub, clean it well before each use and rinse off your piercing when you get out.

Tips for keeping ear piercings clean

• Use the t-shirt trick: Dress your pillow in a large, clean t-shirt and turn it nightly; one clean t-shirt provides four clean surfaces for sleeping.
• Maintain cleanliness of phones, headphones, eyeglasses, helmets, hats, and anything that contacts the pierced area.
• Use caution when styling you hair.

Jewelry Suggestions

• Unless there is a problem with the size, style, or material of the initial jewelry, leave it in the place for the entire healing period. See a qualified piercer to perform any jewelry change that becomes necessary during healing. See the APP website to locate an APP member, or to request a copy of our Picking Your Piercer brochure.)

• Contact your piercer for a non-metallic jewelry alternative if your metal jewelry must be temporarily removed (such as for a medical procedure).

• Leave jewelry in at all times. Even healed piercings that you have had for years can shrink or close in minutes! If removed, reinsertion can be difficult or impossible. See the APP brochure Preparing for Medical and Dental Procedures for more information.

• With clean hands or paper product, be sure to regularly check threaded ends on your jewelry for tightness (“rightytighty, lefty-loosey”).

• Should you decide you no longer want the piercing, simply remove the jewelry (or have a professional piercer remove it) and continue cleaning the piercing until the hole closes. In most cases only a small mark should remain.

• In the event an infection is suspected, quality jewelry or an inert alternative should be left in place to allow for drainage of the infection. If the jewelry is removed, the surface cells can close up, which can seal the infection inside the piercing channel and result in an abscess. Until an infection is cleared up, leave in quality jewelry or an appropriate substitute.

It is also imperative to retain good ear piercings. You can do this by:
• Removing the earrings every night after they have healed sufficiently; this makes the skin contact with air keeping the ears fit.

• Cleaning the earrings whenever you remove them with H2Ocean body piercing aftercare products. Do this regularly to maintain the jewelry at no cost from germs that might foster infection.

If you follow the above guidelines you shouldn’t experience issues with your ear piercings.