General aftercare instructions

If you are pierced by Big Redz, you will leave with full detailed aftercare instructions, below is a summary of the main points to help look after your piercing.

• DO NOT touch your piercing with dirty fingers - the quickest way to get your piercing infected is to poke it with dirty fingers, always wash your hands before touching a healing piercing.
• USE a salt water solution of approx 1/4 teaspoon of rock/sea salt in a standard mug size of boiled & cooled water. Too much salt will dry out the skin. If you are using lavender oil, one drop applied after cleaning, once a day is all you need.
• DO NOT use cotton wool buds to clean your piercing - Fibres from the bud can easily dislodge and become stuck in your piercing encouraging infection.
• ALWAYS take great care when cleaning your healing piercing. Sounds like a basic rule but it is really important. Treating a new piercing roughly will increase the healing time.
• REMEMBER you have a new piercing. Again, this sounds like a basic one but its easily forgotten. Every time your healing piercing is caught on your clothes or tugged with a towel drying off after a shower etc...the healing time will be increased and the piercing can be dislodged to the point where it no longer sits correctly in the body.
• DO NOT put plasters or dressings over a healing piercing. Our method of piercing means you do not need a plaster to hold your piercing in place.
• BIOPLAST/BIOFLEX/PTFE - We offer these materials for a number of piercings due to the fact that they are totally flexible and aid the healing process in certain circumstances. If you are pierced with one of these and need to take out the jewellery for any reason, please be aware that the jewellery MUST be pulled directly away from the bar. There is no thread on the jewellery so turning the gem WILL NOT release the gem from the bar.
  

Lumps on your piercing

Lumps on your piercing can occur for a number of reasons, one of the main reasons is trauma, where your piercing has been knocked or bumped during the early healing process. These lumps are known as hypertrophic scarring and can lead to a more solid lump or keloid if not dealt with.

In the first instance, do not remove the jewellery, you can deal with the issue with the jewellery in place. Follow the instructions below as a start to solving your issue.

1. Boil water and let it cool to a temperature that is safe and comfortable but still as hot as you can safely manage.
2. Pour in to a normal sized mug and add a quarter of a teaspoon full of rock/sea salt. Stir well to ensure the salt has completely dissolved.
3. Get some kitchen roll (or lint free product) and fold it in to a small pad.
4. Soak the pad in the solution.
5. Place the pad on the lump, apply a little pressure and gently massage the lump.
6. Repeat this process no more than three times with a fresh pad each time.

This information is gleaned from years working in the business and not from specific medical training, so if you are at all concerned please feel free to come in to the studio where we will check the lump over for you.

In the event of a lump becoming keloid, or solid, we do stock the world famous NoPull discs, which are a medical grade silicone disc which is worn on the jewellery next to the lump. The NoPull disc has been very successful in reducing keloids or getting rid of them completely.

• Watch for excessive swelling of the pierced area. The jewellery used in initial piercing will be oversized to allow for the swelling, however, if the swelling becomes excessive, an anti-inflammatory tablet may help (if it is safe for you to take them), alternatively you can apply a cold compress to the area.
  
• IF YOU catch a new piercing a small red lump may appear, this should be treated and not ignored. Either come back to us to look over it or consult a medical professional.
• ALWAYS wear jewellery in your healing piercing. If you take your jewellery out during the healing period, the hole will close over very quickly and can close over completely where a re-pierce will be needed in a very short space of time.
• DO NOT take the initial jewellery out until the advised healing time has passed. We pierce using titanium jewellery which has no nickel content and is recommended for initial piercing. Replacing it with jewellery containing nickel before the piercing has healed can result in infection, blood poisoning and more.
• DO NOT take any risks if you are unsure about the health of your piercing. We are more than happy to speak to you, examine the piercing and advise you on the best way forward.  Our advice is based on our professional experience, we are not medical professionals and would advise you to seek professional medical advice if you are still concerned about the health of your piercing after speaking with us.

The above advice is provided as just that, advice. These are general rules which we believe help your new Big Redz piercing heal. This list is not exhaustive and we strongly advise you to contact us if you have any concerns which are not covered here, we are very happy to take your call.