piercing care

I got this message from a piercee who is having trouble with  a labret (lip) piercing:

I got my labret pierced on the 3rd of december, and in the last couple days the skin on the inside of my piercing has grown (like a white flap on the bottom of the disc about 1mm tall) that rests next to the disc. i don't know whether it would be growing over it, i have a 10mm long stem which i thought is long enough, but i would still like your opinion

I told her that if she thinks the tissue is growing over the jewelry, she should should see her piercer IMMEDIATELY for a jewelry change! I also explained that I couldn't really evaluate a piercing without seeing it--or at least a photo or two. I requested that she send some clear, close up images, and I received these (below). They do show that the post is long enough so she is not in danger of the jewelry becoming embedded (which is a risk when a piercing is healing if the jewelry is too short).

I recently received a great message from a gentleman who got his first piercings at age 50. He wrote to say how much he likes emu oil, and how well it worked on his piercings and stretches:

Hi Elayne,

This is the second time I've noticed this.  I've had a few piercings since I was young.  I got a batch of piercings a while ago and the old, established piercings started to ache and ooze along with the new piercings.  All seemed to be better and I got a few more piercings recently.  Now all of my piercings, including the last batch are sore and crusting.  Can my new piercings cause my older piercings to be irritated? Thanks, S.

I got a message from a gentleman with a healed Prince Albert piercing. He was alarmed at seeing some blood after masturbating:

Hello, this is a bit scary. I got a PA a while back. About 5 years back to be exact. All went well, I've since managed to stretch to an 8G. Two days ago, I switched to a captive bead ring. This took a little work, as the bead did not want to pop into the jewelry.

Weird thing is, I um. Well I pleasured myself today, and to my horror was a bunch of blood mixed with semen.

1) It doesn't look swollen, infected, etc
2) There was absolutely no pain before during or after this happened, nor while urinating, rinsing, anything.
3) It sometimes feels a tiny bit sensitive, but nothing I haven't felt before when adjusting to new jewelry.

It definitely freaked me out as the only other time it ever bled was 5 years ago when I first got the piercing.

My reply:

I received a question about a tender septum piercing:

Hi Elayne,
I have had my septum pierced for three months. i am having issues with it. There is no discharge from it or crusties on the jewelry but it is very tender to the touch and very difficult when cleaning to start rotating the jewelry.

Thanks! T.

Hi T.,

I received this message today:

Hello Elayne, I was recently cleaning my apadravya and noticed that I have what looks like a tear or some sort of injury on the head of my penis. My piercing is fairly new, I believe it is 4 months old. I don't know if this is simply because it's still fresh or if I have something more serious to deal with. I have been sexually active but I haven't done anything rough or overexerting. I have worn protection and I haven't had any pain during sex. I have included a picture of the wound. It doesn't hurt, but it is (VERY SLIGHTLY) more tender to the touch than the rest of my penis. If you could respond to this ASAP then I would greatly appreciate it. This has been worrying me a lot. Thank you very much.

I received this message from a piercer:

Hey Elayne! I know you hear this all the time but you are amazing! I love the piercing bible and your blog is such a great resource! I have an aftercare question for you, any information you can provide would be such a help. Im a piercer and I recommend Biotene to all my clients with oral piercings, Today I did a piercing on a client who is a representative for Listerine Zero, We spent quite a while discussing the both Biotene and Listerine Zero, She told me Listerine Zero contains four different essential oils and no alcohol but can kill germs, Biotene cannot. I compared the ingredients and they share the same common main indgredients(propylene glycol, sodium benzoate, poloxamer 407 etc etc) but they have many different indgredients. She gave me a case of Listerine Zero, really nice of her, anyways before I start recommending it to clients I'd like your thoughts? My concern is since we recommend clients rinse 4-5 times a day and listerine zero has the ability to kill germs could this to irritating to a fresh piercing? Would you recommend I dilute the Listerine Zero with water to make it milder? I trust your opinion and I hope to hear back from you! thanks for reading this Elayne! M.

My reply:

I got this message from a piercer who is concerned about her clients:

I was wondering what are your thoughts on healing time on navel Piercings? At the shop i work at we have ton of parents with minors getting their navels pierced and plan on swimming at lakes,pools, hot tubs. We try and educate them as much as we can but I feel like it's not getting through to them even college-adults aren't listening to our advice is there any suggestion on what we should do? (we talk to them about it first then hand out the basic care information.

Thanks, P.

Hi P.,

I describe the healing time for navel piercings as 6-9 months. They're likely to have some ups and downs and seem healed off and on within that time, but they can expect to be in an ongoing healing phase for an extended period of time.