But wait; do you know how to take care of a tongue piercing so that it heals properly? Well, your piercer must have told you that it is likely to heal in a fortnights’ time.

You will also be educated about how to clean it and what to watch out for. In addition to the obvious care tips, here are certain things on how to take care of a tongue piercing you can do as part of your daily routine to help your tongue piercing heal!

Here You Go:

No hot or spicy foods for at least two weeks. There is plenty of time later to enjoy this. If you are wondering why, it is because your tongue can swell up for a few days after the piercing is done and hot or spicy stuff can irritate it.
Avoid coffee, tea and other hot beverages.
Stock up on cold food items. For example: ice cream, chilled yogurt, ice cubes etc. As soon as you wake up in the morning, the swelling is at its worst. Now is the time to take a few sips of chilled water. It soothes the swelling and brings down the pain. Cold stuff keeps the swelling from getting worse.
The moment you get the piercing done, resolve to eat soft foods like mashed veg, fruits, etc.
Be careful to take small bites. Special care must be taken when you chew to avoid accidentally knocking your teeth against the tongue stud or ring, creating pain and also risking tooth damage.
Cut down on alcohol intake as it slows healing. Some people think alcohol heals and this is not true!
Don’t even touch undiluted mouthwash! Apart from feeling uncomfortable, it kills the bacteria that help in healing and even worse, gives you mouth sores. Opt for antibacterial lozenges to suck on so that you can avoid infection.
Check to see whether your jewelry is screwed on tight. Remember your hands must be totally clean when you do this!
Use germicidal soap to wash your hands.
Clean any plaque on the jewelry.
Forget kissing and oral sex until your piercing heals completely!

Once the piercing heals, you can go in for the right sized jewelry. Do not retain the initial longer ring as it can irritate the teeth. Get it done by your piercer!

Well, this is about it! These steps on how to take care of a tongue piercing will definitely help you enjoy yourself!

So it makes a statement, yet it doesn’t necessarily push it into people’s faces. However, there are a few things that you need to be aware of before you make up your mind that you want a tongue piercing.

Things to Consider

Whilst the tongue piercing is extremely common, there are some exceptions where you should not get the piercing. Generally the piercer should tell you if you are an unsuitable candidate for the procedure. However, just in case they don’t it is a good idea to understand when it might not be suitable for you to have a tongue piercing.

Firstly if you have a protruding tongue web then it is definitely not a good idea to have a tongue piercing. The tongue web is situated underneath the tongue and everybody has a different length web. It can sometimes extend all the way to the tip of the tongue, but in some people it is not really visible at all. The problem with piercing a tongue which has a protruding tongue web is that the piercing would likely end up rubbing the web and this would make it really painful.

Another reason why you may choose not to have a tongue piercing is because you may have prominent veins on the bottom of the tongue. Usually the veins do not cause a problem but a piercer will be able to advise you whether you should go ahead with the piercing or not. It is extremely rare for a tongue piercing not to go ahead because of prominent veins, but there are still cases where it might not be safe.

The above are just a couple of things to consider when deciding whether or not to get your tongue pierced. If you do opt for a tongue piercing then you can rest assured that it will likely heal really quickly and you will suffer very few problems because of it. However it is worth noting that just after the piercing has been done, swelling will occur and this can be very painful. You do not have to give the piercing much aftercare however and once it has healed you can choose from a variety of different tongue studs and jewellery to make the piercing stand out!

Body piercing aftercare guidelines are universal for most of the body piercing types except the oral body piercings – it’s due to the unique location of these body piercings.

The first body piercing aftercare guideline to remember – don’t take the body jewelry out until the fresh piercing hasn’t undergone the first healing stage called ‘primary healing’.

The pierced hole is most vulnerable and prone to infections during the initial healing stage and I guess it shouldn’t pose you any problems with keeping the initial body jewelry in.

As for the best materials for the first time piercings – they are surgical grade stainless steel, titanium and Bioplast. These materials are very body friendly and will provide ideal conditions for healing. And if you have any allergy towards metals, Bioplast should do the trick.

The second body piercing aftercare recommendation – use common sense when handling your fresh piercing. This includes washing hands before touching the piercing and avoiding sexual contacts when you get a genital or oral body piercing, for example.

Remember – there are many infections that can get into your fresh piercing like bacterial and viral infections and also parasitic infections. The last ones can result from swimming in open waters while the piercing hasn’t fully healed yet, like seas and rivers. So bear this in mind, too – while the piercing is healing, no swimming!

A universal body piercing aftercare advice for most fresh body piercing is soaking it with saline solution a few times a day. The reasoning behind this is the healing properties of sea salt solution. Its chemical consistence is similar to that of your body fluids, and on top of that by soaking the fresh piercing with the saline solution you will wash away any excess body fluids that are drying up around the piercing hole. This in turn will prevent bacterial build-ups in the piercing.

Some body piercers advise that good body piercing aftercare includes using antibacterial products as well. For example – antibacterial soap that can be gently applied to the piercing while taking shower and then washed off.

However, this can also lead to destroying the healthy bacteria that resides on your body around the fresh piercing. And you certainly don’t want this to happen, do you?

The most interesting approach to body piercing aftercare is LITHA. Can you guess the meaning of this abbreviation? Common, try!

Are you giving up? OK – let me tell you!

Leave It The Hell Alone! As you can imagine, this body piercing aftercare principle is very simple – just leave the piercing on its own and allow your body deal with it!

If it seems to be too extreme, just think about this. Let’s say, you got slightly injured and have a wound. You cut yourself and applied a plaster on the cut. Then ask yourself now – would you remove the plaster and clean the wound a few times daily just to facilitate the healing process?

Well, most likely – not! So this is exactly what the LITHA method involves – leaving your body alone and assuming that a healthy and strong human’s body should be absolutely fine with healing a comparatively small wound.