Tragus Piercing 12 hours Later

Tragus Piercing 12 hours Later, originally uploaded by ahwareham.

Some interesting info and common sense advice re. piercings.

Photo note:

"A little bit of swelling and a tiny bit of blood when I took the saline compress off, but no pain, really. The only time it hurt so far was when I answered my phone with the wrong ear (and at the same time dropped a strawberry with the other hand, causing me to slam the phone into my ear...). If you didn't know, the latest suggestion for cleaning your piercing is not to use anything anti-bacterial. I've gotten piercings through the time of cleaning with rubbing alcohol, watered down bactine (that's what Claires still uses, I think...epic fail, Claires), bacitracin (to keep the piercing moist so it heals quicker) and now, the all-natural saline solution. It's the same stuff you use in a neti pot, if anyone out there cleans your nose. The idea is that you want to clean with water, but your skin rejects water (if you've never noticed, water beads on your skin rather than soaking in. If it soaked in you'd become hugely bloated every time you showered and you would die of dehydration because your body would not be able to process water.) What saline solution (1/4 tsp sea salt, 1 cup water) does is changes the pH of the water so your skin accepts, rather than rejects, the water. In this way the water can slip through your piercing and clean it without triggering any rejection processes. This helps keep the area from infection, jewelry rejection, and other trauma more than regular water would. Cool, right?"