History of body piercing

Body Piercing has been practiced by many cultures for thousands of years! It is suggested that for as many as five thousand years people have been using body piercing for many reasons, but often associating it with royalty, or as a sign of courage and virility.

Indeed, Egyptian Pharaohs had their navels pierced as a right of passage, Mayas had their tongues pierced in spiritual rituals, Roman soldiers had their nipples pierced as proof of manhood and both sexes of Victorian Dignitaries and Royalty had nipple and genital piercings.

Body piercing healing times

Body piercing healing times vary, and depend on various factors such as diet, lifestyle, immune system and irritation to the piercing during healing, the following is only intended as a guideline, and we cannot give any guarantees or exact times.

Body Part	Healing Time
Ear lobe	6 to 8 weeks
Ear cartilage	4 months to 1 year
Eyebrow	6 to 8 weeks
Nostril	2 to 4 months
Nasal septum	6 to 8 months
Nasal bridge	8 to 10 weeks
Tongue	4 weeks
Lip	2 to 3 months
Nipple	3 to 6 months
Navel	4 months to 1 year
Female genitalia	4 to 10 weeks
Male genitalia	4 weeks to 6 months

Body piercing procedure

A hollow needle is passed through the body part followed by the insertion of the body jewellery in the hole. A small amount of bleeding may occur as a result of the body piercing.

Piercers recommend non-toxic metals such as surgical steel, 14K gold, niobium, or titanium to avoid infections and allergic reactions. The type of jewellery used must accommodate the swelling that follows the body piercing procedure. The type of body jewellery inserted will depend on the body part. For example, a short barbell in the tongue will lead to problems when the tongue starts to swell.

Body piercing aftercare

Navels, nipples and eyebrows (male & female)

These can be amongst the hardest to heal, due to clothing and lack of air to the body piercing. Any crust formations on the body jewellery should first be soaked off with clean, warm water. A small amount of antibacterial solution should be applied to the body piercing and gently worked into it, repeated 4 times per day.

The most common irritation with navel piercing is clothing, waist bands of trousers, skirts, underwear etc., These should be kept off your piercings at all times. Also try to avoid aggressive exercise. You may also find chlorinated swimming pools, jacuzzis or saunas may cause irritation.

Cleanse the body piercing 4 times daily with the anti-bacterial solution, applying only a few drops each time Always clean hands, and if necessary, cotton buds Move bar up and down or rotate ring to work solution into body piercing and flush out . Remove any natural discharge Do not change body jewellery within 12 weeks of piercing Never substitute the TDC with any other solutions or creams Avoid clothing directly over the new body piercing Feel free to contact us if you feel you need advice

Oral: tongue, lip(Labret), cheek

An oral piercing is when all or part of the jewellery is inside the mouth. The following instructions are to be used to care for the inside of the mouth.

To clean the inside of an oral piercing, we suggest Oraldine (antibacterial mouth wash) it should be used after everything you eat, drink or smoke until the piercing is fully healed. With all oral piercings there will be some swelling. This is perfectly normal and the jewellery you have been pierced with is large enough to allow for this Sucking on ice can help reduce the swelling If you are at all worried by the amount of swelling or if the jewellery starts embedding, please call to have it looked at by your piercer. For the first few days of your piercing, eating may be difficult (you may notice this especially with Tongues). Take it easy, start on soft foods like soup or yoghurt, and work your way up to tougher foods. We suggest you avoid hot spicy food at this stage. It is also advisable to change your toothbrushes, your old one may habour bacteria. The tongue is covered with a very thin, natural healing agent called 'peptide' which will help in the healing process. EXTERNAL CLEANSING OF LABRET AND CHEEK PIERCING. Remove all discharge, cleansing the external part of the piercing with TDC solution 3 times daily.

Remember:
If you require your body jewellery changing, we fit any body jewellery we sell from our extensive range