Care for a Lip Piercing

Like all other forms of body art, be it piercings, or tattoos, the easy part is enduring it, the hard part is taking care of it until it heals completely. I know what it's like to take care of something so susceptible to an infection, that it requires days or even weeks of constant care and attention. For those who haven't had the experience of going under the needle, so to speak, in getting a tattoo done, or haven't been through a pin-shot wound by a piercing gun, are in for some news. First off, to be able to withstand pain brought on by a piercing/tattoo artist, deserves nothing less than grand kudos. Now your job is to make sure you care enough to have it all taken care of and in shape, during the healing time. So for those of you who want to know exactly how to care for a lip piercing, those details will be revealed to you here.

Types of Lip Piercings

Cultures that fell under the Precolumbian bracket of South America, wore lip piercings called tembeta, and is also a well known tradition among the African tribes, who have more decorative and intriguing looking jewelry covering their lips/faces. Not all piercings have to be adorned on the lip portion of one's mouth, and can be anywhere around the oral region, close enough to the mouth. So before we get into care for a lip piercing, here's your guide to some of the most common, and sort after kinds of body piercing.

Medusa Piercing
This form of upper lip piercing, falls in the space between your nostrils, and your upper lip, where the philtrum dent is. Find out more about the weird and shocking on, facial piercings list.

Snake Bites Piercing
This kind of piercing is done on either side of one's lower lip, at each corner, to look like bites done from a snake. Find out here, about lip piercing cost.

Vertical Labret Piercing
This piercing enters the middle of the lower lip, exits the mouth from within, re-piercing the skin from the inside, and exiting from the inside out of the mouth, on the lower part of the lip line.

Horizontal Labret Piercing
This labret piercing, lies in a straight line across one's lip, entering one part of the lip, and exiting from the other, at the center. This is also done on the chin, in the same manner, much like that of a 'venom bite' piercing. Look here for some ideas on lip piercing jewelry.

Madonna/Monroe Piercing
A Madonna piercing is another name for the Monroe piercing, since both women have beauty spots nestled into one side of the upper lip. A piercing done on either side of the lip on the upper corners, resembles a beauty spot much like that of Madonna and Marilyn.

Spider Bites Piercing
This piercing is like the snake bite and labret combined, where the piercings are placed on either corners of the lower lip line, and one in the center. Sometimes this is done using only two piercings, or lip rings side by side, entering and exiting the lower lip. This can also be done on the tongue for that matter.

Dahlia Piercing
The dahlia piercing is done where the mouth lifts, in a say a smile, where these two points have a piercing each, usually in studs.

Lip Piercing Care Tips

Caring for a lip piercing is not easy, and you need to be extremely careful when handling the healing of your wound around the piercing punctures. It takes a period of about 6 - 10 weeks for lip piercing healing, and if taken care of in the right way, can help steer you away from a lip piercing infection. Experiencing things like bleeding, pain, redness, peeling and so on, is natural during the healing process. Here's how you can use the following lip piercing care, to have yourself showing off that fancy body art - scar and infection free.

1. Use a saline solution, to gently soak your mouth into twice a day.
2. Avoid smoking or drinking / eating at least three hours from when the piercing was inserted.
3. Make sure your mouth is clean after you eat / drink or do something to invite bacteria.
4. Brush teeth regularly.
5. It is advisable to stay away from alcohol or cigarettes, until the wound has healed.
6. Try eating cold foods often, and avoid anything hot / pungent. It will help to reduce the pain and swelling, and quicken healing time.
7. Keep chemicals away from the piercing wound.
8. Make sure your hands are clean before touching the piercing area.
9. Do not attempt to remove the piercing ring / stud, since wounds can close fast. Putting them back on will just worsen the wound.
10. My piercing artist tells me to always turn piercing rings around, or in and out if using a labret sort of piercing, to let it move more freely.
11. Suck on anti inflammatory lozenges, to lessen the chances of an infection, or swelling.
12. If you experience any extreme signs of pain or swelling that doesn't pass for days, then you need to go back to your piercing artist and get it checked out.
13. Avoid wiping your face swiftly with a towel or cloth, since this can snag your piercing.
14. Use anti bacterial cream or soap, and gently dab it around the wound twice a day, to remove any foreign elements stuck around it (do not use anything alcohol based).

With these tips on care for a lip piercing, I'm sure you'll have no trouble at all, if you follow the above mentioned care advice. Should you experience any problems, like I said, please go back to the place you got it done in, and have him/her look it over. Always go to someone you trust, that has a hygienic and safe way of doing piercings. Stay safe.

Nose Piercing Bump Treatment

Today, nose piercing is one of the most popular form of body piercing. It makes a unique style statement that help you to stand out in the crowd. On an average, nose piercing healing is around 2 to 4 months. During this period, bumps may develop at the site of piercing. With proper nose piercing aftercare, the chances of such bumps can be reduced to a great extent. However, sometimes, despite all efforts, they may develop. If you start nose piercing bump treatment early, it ensures faster healing and reduce the chances of further complications.

Causes Behind Nose Piercing Bump

There are a number of factors that can lead to formation of nose piercing bumps. Some of them are as follows:

• Some people have the tendency to touch the newly pierced hole again and again. When it is done with unwashed hands, then dirt and bacteria comes in contact with the area and causes infection. As a result, red, pus-filled bumps may develop after sometime which are very painful.
• Improper piercing technique can be responsible for nose piercing infection. This happens when an inexperienced or non-professional piercer uses unsterilized equipment for piercing the nose.
• Using the wrong type of nose piercing jewelry is one of the main cause of bump formation. If the nose ring is very small, then the hole can get choked easily resulting in hard but painless bump.
• Wearing of a poor quality nose ring or jewelry can be responsible for this kind of problem. Inexpensive nose rings have rough surfaces which get rubbed in against the delicate skin of newly pierced hole, forming bumps.
• If the nose jewelry is changed or removed a number of times when the nostril piercing has not healed properly, then also there is chance of such bumps.

How to Heal Piercing Bumps at Home

When you first discover a bump around the piercing hole of your nose, check out if it looks like a boil or pimple. Such bumps are quite common and can be easily treated at home. Try seal salt treatment on it. First of all, wash your hands properly with antibacterial soap. Then take some soap on a cotton ball and clean up the area surrounding the piercing hole with this cotton. Now, pour some boiling water in a wide bowl and add 2 teaspoons of sea salt in it. When the water is lukewarm, place your nostril into the solution for 5-10 minutes. Finally, rinse off to remove the salt from the area and apply an antibiotic ointment on it. I know it is not very comfortable for you to dip your nostril into water but, trust me, it works wonders on the infection. It dissolves out the pus inside the bump and will provide you much needed relief.

Hot compression with chamomile tea bags is another effective home treatment used for this purpose. Take some warm water and dip a tea bag into it till it becomes warm. Then place the tea bag on the bump for 10 minutes. This should be done twice a day for best results. For faster recovery, you can use both sea salt soak and chamomile tea alternately.

If the bump is hard and refuses to go, then you can use tea tree oil on it. Dilute one drop of tea tree oil with a suitable carrier oil like olive oil. Take this mixture of oils on a cotton bud and apply it on the bump. It should be used twice daily. Tea tree oil has strong antiseptic properties that can fight off the infection really well. However, it may cause skin irritation. So, do not use directly on the skin.

Nose Piercing Bump Treatment

The home treatments discussed in the previous section should show desired results in 3-4 days. If it does not happen, then it could be a serious issue and it requires medical attention. When you visit your doctor, the will first try to treat an infection with oral as well as topical antibiotic medicines. Sometimes, to facilitate draining out of the bump, doctors remove the jewelry and insert a wick into the hole. However, you should not try removal of the jewelry on your own. This can aggravate the infection. You may feel a strong urge to pop of squeeze the bump with your fingers, but you should not do so. For a hard lump, doctors recommend corticosteroid therapy where the bump is softened and flattened with the help of steroid injections and topical creams. Collagen injections, skin resurfacing and dermabrasion are the other techniques that are popularly used to reduce the piercing bump. There is a serious type of dark colored piercing bump known as keloid which are bigger than usual bumps. These bumps cannot be treated with any medicines. It has to be removed surgically.

Hope you have clearly understood about the various methods of nose piercing bump treatment. If you take a few precautionary measures then you can prevent formation of such bumps. You have to keep the pierced area clean. However, too much of cleaning is not good. Make sure your hands are clean before you touch the area. Use jewelry made of pure metals such as gold or titanium on the newly pierced hole.