Part II: Confessions of an Ear Piercing Marketing Manager

Part II – Ear Piercing Aftercare Tips

As I shared last month, I have been head of marketing at Inverness for over 5 years now, but had my first piercing with our system a little over 6 weeks ago.

Though I like to think I understand almost everything there is to know about ear piercing and our Inverness ear piercing system, I’ve learned there is no substitute for firsthand experience. As promised, here are a few tips I’d like to share from my experience taking care of a new piercing:

1. Wash your hands! To prevent infection during healing, the most important thing you can do is to keep your piercing clean and dry. I had to work hard to remind myself not to touch or play with my new earrings unless I’d washed my hands first.
2. Keep a second bottle of aftercare solution and cotton swabs in your bag – just in case. We went away for the weekend in the middle of my healing period, and I forgot to pack my aftercare solution. Thankfully, I could buy a bottle at a nearby Inverness piercing location, but I would have been much happier if I’d had a spare in my purse.
3. Clean your piercing 3X a day for your entire healing period. I have another confession: I got a bit lazy about cleaning my piercing in the 6^th week and developed a minor infection in one ear. It turns out that I had accidentally scratched my ear (see #4 below), and my new piercing became red, swollen and tender over the course of just one day. It was bedtime when I realized what was happening, so I cleaned the inflamed ear carefully with my Inverness Ear Care Solution and then applied a liberal dose of antibacterial ointment. Thankfully, when I woke up, the redness and swelling had disappeared. If not, I would have seen my doctor right away for proper evaluation and treatment. Note: because of this injury, I decided to wait an extra two weeks before changing out my earrings, and I am still cleaning my new piercing and earrings once or twice a day!
4. Be careful not to bump or scratch your new piercing. I am still not sure how I injured my piercing (see #3 above). I may have caught it with a fingernail while pulling my hair back into a ponytail or scratched it a hairbrush. I learned the hard way that new piercings need to be treated with extra TLC – even at the end of your healing period or in the first few months after you change to new earrings.
5. Develop a routine so that you remember to clean your piercing 3Xs a day for your entire healing period. I found it was easiest to stick to a routine if I cleaned my piercing at the same times each day and kept my ear care solution out on the bathroom counter where I couldn’t miss it. I cleaned my ears right after my morning shower, when I got home from work, and then again before bedtime.

If you’d like more tips and information about ear piercing aftercare, visit our website. As always, if you have any questions about Inverness or our ear piercing system, please feel free to contact us.