It’s fast. The piercing itself will only take a few minutes. Your piercer will swab your skin with alcohol and confirm where you want the piercing. Then they’ll use a sterile needle or piercing gun to make the hole and place your new jewelry. They may have you remain sitting for several minutes to make sure you don’t get dizzy from the piercing.
What to Know About Cartilage Piercings
A cartilage piercing is a type of body modification in which you have a decorative hole in one of the cartilage-filled parts of your body. A piercing of your nose or the stiff upper part of your ears is a cartilage piercing. It’s important to know how to take care of these piercings so they heal correctly.
Cartilage piercings take longer to heal than soft-tissue piercings through your earlobes or eyebrows. They may take anywhere from 4-12 months to fully heal.
These piercings heal from the skin inwards. So you may think your piercing is healed before it actually is.
Impact of Cartilage Piercings on Your Health
Like any piercing, a cartilage piercing needs to be cared for correctly or it can cause health problems. All piercings are technically wounds. They need good wound care to heal without complications.
A well-done cartilage piercing will be slightly sore to the touch at first. It will likely itch and ooze clear or white-yellow fluid that crusts on your jewelry. You may also notice minor bleeding and bruising or redness around the piercing. These are normal and will go away as the cartilage piercing heals.
Infected cartilage piercing. Not every cartilage piercing is done well, unfortunately. Your piercing can get infected if it’s done poorly or with unclean tools.
An infected cartilage piercing may:
- Hurt
- Ooze a thick or smelly discharge that’s gray, yellow, or green
- Feel hot to the touch
- Turn bright red or pink
- Lead to a fever, chills, and nausea
Talk to your doctor if you have any of these symptoms.
Cartilage piercing bump. Whether or not your cartilage piercing gets infected, you may also develop a keloid in the area. A keloid is a type of raised scar tissue that looks like a bump around the piercing.
Some keloids are caused by infection. Others just happen. A keloid isn’t dangerous, but some people don’t like the way they look. If you get a keloid from one cartilage piercing, you’re more likely to get them on additional piercings.
What to Expect From a Cartilage Piercing
If you decide to get a cartilage piercing, make sure you get it from a trained professional piercer. Professionals know how to sanitize their equipment and give you a piercing that will heal neatly.
Look for a state license or certification when you go to a piercing parlor. This ensures that your piercer knows what they’re doing.
Good hygiene. Your piercer should provide a clean environment and use sterile tools to do your piercing. They should wear a pair of new disposable gloves during your piercing. They should also use each tool only once before sterilizing it.
If you’re not sure whether your piercer is using safe methods, it’s better to go to a different piercer than risk an infection.
It’s fast. The piercing itself will only take a few minutes. Your piercer will swab your skin with alcohol and confirm where you want the piercing. Then they’ll use a sterile needle or piercing gun to make the hole and place your new jewelry. They may have you remain sitting for several minutes to make sure you don’t get dizzy from the piercing.
Once your piercer is confident you’re feeling OK, they’ll give you information on caring for your piercing. Follow their instructions to make sure your new body modification heals correctly. This will also help you avoid infection.
What to expect afterward. Right after your piercing, you might have minor pain, bleeding, or redness. A bit later, you may notice itching and see a clear whitish-yellow fluid that forms a crust around the piercing or on your jewelry. This isn’t pus – it’s just part of your skin’s healing process. This crusting can last for a few weeks.
How to Clean a Cartilage Piercing
Once you’re home, it’s your responsibility to help your piercing heal. One of the most important ways to do that is to regularly clean it to keep germs from getting into it. Here’s how:
- Wash your hands before you start.
- Clean the piercing with either a sterile saline solution or a fragrance-free antimicrobial soap. Do this once or twice a day. Look for saline solutions whose labels say they’re intended for wound care use. Avoid homemade salt solutions.
- Rinse any soap from around the piercing.
- Gently dry the area with a clean, disposable paper towel or tissue. Avoid drying with cloth since it may carry germs or catch on the jewelry.
How to Help Your Cartilage Piercing Heal
Here are some other ways to care for your cartilage piercing at home.
Don’t touch your jewelry. Touching your new piercing with unwashed hands before it heals is the best way to get an infection. Avoid touching your piercing unless you’re cleaning it.
Avoid contaminants. To keep your piercing clean throughout the day, steer clear of:
- Contact with body fluids, including saliva
- Contact with open water, including lakes, rivers, pools, and hot tubs. Showers are better than baths since bathtubs can hold onto bacteria.
- Makeup or beauty items, including lotions, sprays, and powders.
- Antibacterial ointments, as they can prevent your piercing from getting the air it needs to heal.
Keep phones, headphones, hats, and anything else that touches your piercing clean.
Be careful with hair care. Avoid contact with your piercing while you wash, dry, or style your hair. If you’re having your hair cut or styled, let the barber or stylist know about your piercing.
Tips for sleeping. Avoid lying on your cartilage piercing when you sleep. To make sure you have a clean sleeping surface, put your pillow inside a clean T-shirt before you go to bed. Change the shirt from back to front or outside to inside each day. Switch to a new shirt once you’ve used all the surfaces.
Cartilage Piercing Concerns
Cartilage piercings are riskier than piercings of your skin, such as your earlobe. You may have more bleeding when you get your cartilage pierced.
It’s important to keep these piercings clean since an infection could lead to necrosis, or tissue death, in your cartilage. This is more common in your nose because of the mucus inside, which can attract staphylococcus bacteria.
To prevent these complications, stick to a steady cleaning routine and follow all of your piercer’s instructions. Avoid getting your septum pierced if you have allergies or a cold.
If you decide you don’t want your cartilage piercing, you can take out the jewelry. But this can interfere with the healing process. If you do this, be sure to keep cleaning the piercing daily until it’s fully healed.
Show Sources
American Family Physician : “Complications of Body Piercing.”
Cleveland Clinic: “What to Expect When Getting Your Ears Pierced.”
Mayo Clinic: “Piercings: How to prevent complications.”
NCSL: “Tattooing and Body Piercing | State Laws, Statutes and Regulations.”
NHS: “Infected piercings.”
Riley Children’s Health: “Ear Piercing For Kids: Safety Tips From a Pediatrician.”
UC Berkeley: “Body Piercings: Cleaning and Healing.”
American Academy of Pediatrics: “Avoiding Infection After Ear Piercing.”
Association of Professional Piercers: “Suggested Aftercare For Body Piercings,” “Suggested Aftercare For Oral Piercings,” “Taking Care Of Your New Piercing.”
Center for Young Women’s Health: “Body Piercing.”
Pediatrics in Review : “Ear Piercing.”
Seattle Children’s Hospital: “Ear Piercing Symptoms.”
How Long Does It Really Take For A Cartilage Piercing To Heal?
Cartilage piercings are back. Although for some, they never went out of style because they’re that cool. They look awesome, there’s a ton of jewelry out there that can make your boring ol’ cartilage look extra exciting, and, well, it’s definitely not in the same realm as lobe piercing. In other words, this piercing, also known as a helix piercing, is going to hurt more and take longer to heal (via Insider).
“Pain tolerance varies, but generally your helix will hurt more than your lobes as it is less fleshy,” piercer Shannon Freed tells Glamour. “Healing is subjective and is dependent on factors such as your overall health, sleep and stress levels, and your aftercare regimen.” But when it comes to trends and being en vogue, does it really matter if it hurts and takes forever to heal? Probably not. So, if you’re thinking about jumping on the cartilage (helix) piercing wagon, here’s what you need to know about healing time.
Know that aftercare is essential
Like any body modification, the more diligent you are with the aftercare of your piercing, the quicker it will heal and the less likely you are to get an infection. “My top tip is to drink loads of water for three days after and just leave it the ‘eff alone,” Body Electric Tattoo ear piercer Brian Keith Thompson tells Elle. “Clean it with soap and water twice a day. Absolutely NO alcohol or peroxide-based products. You’ve just put a hole in your ear, adding harsh chemicals to something your body is trying to heal is only going to make it worse . And no playing with it. Constantly twisting the earring will slow down the healing process.”
Thompson also says that when you do get that initial piercing, you want high-end metal. The cheap stuff is just an infection waiting to happen. Another thing to keep in mind is to avoid sleeping on the ear that has just been pierced (via Authority Tattoo). Although, as anyone who has had a cartilage piercing will tell you, if you do roll onto it in the middle of the night, you’ll wake up immediately.
What you can expect of healing time
First of all, there’s no definitive timeline as to exactly how long it will take for a cartilage piercing to heal because overall health, as well as aftercare, are part of the healing process. Someone can heal in a few months, while others can take several months. “Cartilage is not very vascular tissue and because blood flow is an integral part of the healing process the healing time takes a bit longer,” professional piercer Ashley of Venus by Maria Tash tells Bustle. “This does not mean that it hurts for the entirety of that time; usually, if the piercing is bumped or snagged during that period, that will feel uncomfortable but otherwise the piercing typically feels healed around the three-month mark.”
But, again, because there are many factors that can contribute to the healing process, although it might feel healed around three months after the piercing, it could take up to 12 months — that’s right, a full year! — to be completely healed (via WebMD). As much as helix piercings are trendy and very fashionable, if you’re not ready for the bit of commitment it takes to keep them clean and basically baby your ear for a couple of months, then maybe stick to other types of piercings. Or you can always get a fake cartilage piercing by purchasing a ring that just clips onto your upper ear. You’ll look just as cool as everyone else, but you’ll get to avoid the upkeep and waking up every night because you accidentally rolled onto it.
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