Healing Your Piercing
Spider-Bite Body Piercing (located in Manchester, New Hampshire) is a long-standing piercing establishment that proudly serves the Queen City.
Below you will find some general information and tips about healing a piercing you received from us at Spider-Bite. Please be sure to follow all effective and gentle instructions given to you by your body piercer at the time of your piercing.
Need Help?
If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to visit our location or give us a call at 1.603.645.1449.
We have a piercer on staff seven days a week (from 12pm – 8pm) and we would be happy to help.
WHAT TO DO?
- Clean your piercing, then leave it alone!
- Use clean bed linens and change them often
- Wear comfortable and breathable clothing (day and night)
- Take showers instead of baths
- Use a waterproof bandage (Tegaderm) in the water
- Keep jewelry in your piercing to ensure that it stays open
- Keep up with aftercare to ensure a happy, healthy piercing
- Get plenty of sleep and rest
- Eat your fruits and vegetables
- Drink plenty of water
- Exercise (but be sure to listen to your body)
- Take multivitamins to boost your immune system
WHAT IS NORMAL?
- Some bleeding
- Some discoloration
- Some itching
- Localized swelling, tenderness, and/or bruising
- Some secretion of a whitish-yellow fluid / crust (not pus) may form on the jewelry
- The tissue around the piercing may tighten
- Once healed, the jewelry in your piercing may not freely move around… do not force it
- If you do not regularly clean your piercing, smelly (but normal) secretions can build up on the jewelry
- Sometimes the piercing seems healed before it actually is (the tissue heals from the outside in). The inner parts are still delicate, so be mindful.
- Even healed piercings that you’ve had for a long time can shrink or close in just minutes.
WHAT TO AVOID?
- Rotating your jewelry during the healing process
- Baths, lakes, pools, rivers, and hot tubs
- Over-stressing the piercing
- Using chemicals (hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol
- Using Bactine / Dial soap / ointments
- Using solutions or products w/Benzalkonium Chloride BZK
- Trauma to the area (can prolong healing)
- Excessive motion in the area (can have negative effects)
- Oral contact / rough play
- Contact with other people’s bodily fluids
- Mental stress
- Using recreational drugs (caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, etc.)
- Using beauty products (cosmetics, lotions, sprays, etc.)
- Hanging charms or other objects from your jewelry
Tips for Specific Locations
EAR / EAR CARTILAGE / FACIAL
- Get a clean surface while sleeping by putting a t-shirt over your pillow. Use the first side for one night, flip it over and use the second side for a night, take the t-shirt off, turn it inside out, and you get two more nights out the same piece of clothing.
- Be sure to clean your phones, headphones, eyeglasses, helmets, hats, or anything that comes in to contact with the area.
- Be mindful of hair products as well, as they can cause problems and alert your stylist to any new piercings you get when you go to see them.
- Blend makeup away from the piercing and remember to clean your piercing with sterile saline and a qtip after your apply any makeup.
NAVEL
- Pharmacies tend to sell hard, vented eye patches that can be useful under tight clothing to prevent snags. You can also use this while sleeping, or if you are doing activities such as the gym or playing sports.
NIPPLES
- Wearing a clean sports bra to bed will limit snag potential and mobility in the area while you sleep. We are unconscious of our movements while we are sleeping and this can cause the jewelry to sometimes snag or catch on sheets.
- You can also wear a sports bra during the day if it is more comfortable, as long as it is clean.
- Avoid lacy or knit tops during healing. Any shirt with holes big enough for the jewelry to fit through should be avoided, as the snag potential is incredibly high.
SURFACE ANCHORS
- These piercings require constant maintenance during their lifetime because soap residue, dead skin, and makeup can build up under the threaded top, causing irritation and a breeding ground for bacteria.
- Saline rinses or letting warm water cascade over the piercing in the shower will help to dislodge any buildup.
- Avoid putting makeup on these piercings even after healing.
- Even with proper care, surface anchors tend to be less permanent than other body piercings.
GENITALS
- Genital piercings can bleed for the first few days because of their location so don’t worry if you notice any bleeding.
- When using the bathroom, urine can sometimes burn. You can cascade bottled water over the piercing while using the bathroom to dilute it.
- When using soap in the area to clean the piercing, it is important to urinate afterwards.
- Be sure that your hands are clean any time you touch the piercing or around it.
- In regards to sexual activity, it is recommended that you refrain for the first few weeks and then ease yourself back into it. If your body doesn’t like what’s happening, it will tell you. Be gentle.
- Use barriers with all sexual activity, even if your relationship is monogamous.
- Use clean, disposable barriers on sex toys.
- Avoid saliva in the area and use a container of new water-based lubricant.
- After you engage in any sexual activity, it is recommended that you clean the piercing with sterile saline.
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Safety
Spider-Bite Body Piercing is open daily and adhering to the State of New Hampshire’s COVID-19 safety guidelines. Your safety is always our top priority.
We recommend that you wear a mask and use the hand sanitizing stations located at each entrance to the shop. If you are (or have been) feeling unwell recently, please come back when you are feeling better.
Age Requirements
We ID* all of our piercing customers. We offer earlobe piercings for kids ages 8-14.
For anyone under the age of 18, you must bring your legal parent or guardian along with your original birth certificate (no copies or cell phone pictures allowed) and an acceptable, non-expired ID*.
**If Parents name has been legally changed, you must provide marriage, divorce or name change legal document(s).
Thank you so much for your understanding.
