A piercing is only a success once it has healed well. Below are the five phases of healing, and below that the questions I am asked most often. Click on a question to open the answer.
Healing happens in stages. What is right in week one is too much in month five.
In the first few days the piercing is a fresh wound.
CareThe outer skin begins to close; inside, healing is still active.
CareThe skin often looks finished already, but it is still sensitive inside.
CareThe piercing stabilises deeper in the tissue.
CareOn the outside the piercing is often considered healed. But it remains a channel through the body.
CareHealing is individual. The body part, the immune system, friction in everyday life and the jewellery material all influence how it goes.
Sterile 0.9% saline solution from the pharmacy. That's enough. More products are generally not necessary.
If you do want more: Prontolind, or Octenisept if necessary. Both are a supplement, not a replacement.
If you don't have a ready-made solution to hand, you can mix it yourself. It is then, however, not sterile — the pharmacy solution is always the better choice, especially in the first fourteen days.
For a smaller amount: 2.25 grams of salt to 250 millilitres of water.
Fever means the problem is no longer just local. See a doctor; outside surgery hours go to A&E or, in Germany, call the on-call medical service on 116117.
At the same time, message me so that I know and can help you further: WhatsApp to +49 151 61000002. A photo tells me more than a description.
Don't take the jewellery out on your own. The channel can close up and trap an infection inside — a piercing is nursed out, not ripped out.
Tap a question and the answer opens below it.
Section 1What is normal right after the appointment.
Yes. The ear has a good blood supply, and slight bleeding in the first few hours is nothing unusual. Sometimes a small vessel is hit that needs a little time.
What helps:
If you take blood thinners, discuss this with me and with your doctor beforehand. If the bleeding still doesn't stop, see a doctor.
In the acute phase that is part of it, as is a little clear wound secretion. The body is reacting to a fresh wound.
Pay attention if the symptoms increase instead of easing, or if pus appears. Then what is written above under “When you need to act” applies.
Yes. Just make sure shampoo or shower gel doesn't keep running over the area, and rinse it briefly with clean water afterwards.
As little as possible, and if you do, only with thoroughly washed hands. Every touch brings germs to the channel.
Clear to slightly yellowish discharge is part of healing — that's wound secretion. It dries into the crusts you know.
It's different with thick, yellow-green pus together with increasing pain. Then what is written above under “When you need to act” applies.
That happens, especially with cartilage piercings, because the channel is narrow. Don't prick anything open yourself and don't squeeze anything.
Send me a photo and I'll tell you what to do.
Like a bruise: blood that stayed under the skin instead of coming out of the channel. It changes colour and disappears on its own.
Everyone feels it differently, and how you feel on the day plays a part. The piercing itself takes a moment.
What helps: eat something beforehand, come well rested and bring some time. Anyone who arrives tense feels more.
For minors I need the written consent of their legal guardians, who must be present at the appointment.
Gently and regularly. More is not better here.
Apply saline solution to the area and let the rest dry. Don't scrub, don't rub, don't pull on the jewellery.
Only what comes off on its own after softening with saline solution. Don't scratch off or pull off anything that is still attached — there is fresh tissue underneath.
No. Twisting rubs inside the channel and disturbs exactly the cells that are growing back. The ball can also come loose.
Yes. Your skin has its own protective layer, which is part of healing. Anyone who cleans too often and with harsh products attacks it and achieves the opposite. Stick to the phase plan above.
Not without a recommendation. Ointments seal the area off, and that is exactly what a fresh piercing channel shouldn't be.
What's fine straight away and what has to wait.
Not until at least week six. Chlorinated water, heat and UV further irritate the fresh area.
Not on the fresh piercing. A travel neck pillow helps with the ear — the ear then sits in the opening instead of on the pillow.
Anything that presses or rubs puts strain on the area. Avoid it as much as possible in the first few weeks. If you can't do without it for work, tell me before the appointment and I'll take it into account when choosing the position.
None of these belong near the piercing channel. Leave the area out when doing your hair and clean it briefly afterwards.
Exercise, yes. Contact sports and anything where something can knock or pull on it are better avoided in the first months. Clean once after heavy sweating.
The terms circulating online, and what's really behind them.
This term causes more fear than the finding deserves. In the vast majority of cases it isn't proud flesh at all.
What is meant are two completely different things that happen to look similar: a fluid-filled bump and a keloid. One is harmless and goes away, the other doesn't. That's why it's worth knowing the difference.
The fluid-filled bump
During healing, the body produces wound secretion. Normally it drains out of the channel and dries into the crusts you know. But if the channel is narrow — in cartilage it almost always is — or something presses on it, the fluid can't find a way out. It then collects under the skin and pushes it up next to the piercing into a small, soft bump.
This isn't a growth but trapped fluid. It always has a cause, and once the cause is gone, it goes down.
The keloid
A keloid is something completely different: excessive scar tissue. It is firm, grows beyond the original wound and doesn't regress on its own. Keloids develop slowly, often only months later, and some people are more prone to them than others.
Keloids belong in medical hands. Care won't get you anywhere with them.
How to tell them apart
And then there's the firm layer that forms around the jewellery. That's part of it, protects the channel and is neither one nor the other.
The most important step isn't care but finding the cause. As long as the trigger remains, the bump keeps coming back.
The most common causes
What you can do
What you shouldn't do
Send me a photo. I can often see from it whether the bar is the wrong length — and that's something I can change in two minutes.
Then it's no longer a question of care. Keloids don't regress with saline solution, nor by waiting.
Signs that you should see a doctor about it: the area is firm rather than soft, it keeps growing slowly over weeks, it only appeared months after the piercing, or you have had something like this before after another injury.
The place to go is a dermatologist. There are treatment options there — which one is suitable is decided by the doctor based on the findings.
What you can do in the meantime: leave the area alone and don't put pressure on it.
The word gets used far more often than it applies. Redness alone isn't an infection, and neither is swelling in the first week.
You recognise an infection by several signs coming together: the area is thick, red, warm and painful, and the symptoms increase instead of easing. If fever is added, it is no longer local.
Then what is written above under “When you need to act” applies: go to the doctor. A normal care product is no longer enough, and treating it yourself makes it worse.
Message me at the same time and send a photo so I'm in the picture.
In short: it hardly makes sense.
What actually helps: eat something beforehand, come well rested, bring time and keep breathing calmly. The piercing takes a moment. Anyone who works themselves up beforehand feels more.
The term dates from the time when ear piercing with a gun came with a steel stud that was supposed to stay in for weeks. That no longer exists in this form today.
Today there is a clear material requirement for initial jewellery, and what meets this requirement is the stud you get — with me, Bioplast or titanium to ASTM F136. There is no additional “medical” stud on top of that.
The only real difference is the length. The initial stud is longer so that the swelling has room. Once it has gone down, I adjust it.
Usually it isn't. In almost all cases the ball has simply unscrewed. The break you think you see is the thread.
Bioplast is flexible and practically doesn't break. With titanium, too, the ball is more often the problem than the bar.
What you should do: leave the rest in so the channel stays open, and get in touch with me. I'll bring a replacement or we'll find a solution until we see each other.
Then time matters. A fresh channel can close within a few hours to the point where nothing goes through any more. The older it is, the more leeway you have.
Don't try to force the jewellery back in. If it doesn't go in almost by itself, stop — otherwise you'll create a second channel or injure the old one.
Get in touch with me. If I'm not nearby, I'll tell you what makes sense in the meantime.
The most common reason is tension: the jewellery pulls on the skin, and the body pushes it outwards bit by bit.
How you notice it: the channel gets shorter, or the jewellery shows through the skin.
Get in touch early. As long as there is still enough tissue, something can often be done. If you wait until it comes out on its own, the scar left behind is much larger than the channel itself.
Why only certain materials belong in initial jewellery.
Both are suitable for contact with fresh tissue and are included in the price. The titanium meets ASTM F136, the standard for titanium in surgical implants. I prefer to work with Bioplast; if you want titanium, you get titanium. Fashion jewellery has no place in the channel while it is healing.
Not at all in the first six weeks. After that only if it's really necessary, and preferably after talking to me. The change costs you nothing.
This is the question most often bounced back to me from medical practices. The blanket answer “everything has to come out” dates from a time when other materials were used.
Bioplast is a plastic. It is not magnetic, does not conduct electricity, does not heat up in a magnetic field and does not cast a shadow on any image.
Titanium is not magnetic either and is not attracted by the magnetic field. It can, however, cause image artefacts in the immediate area of the scan. If exactly that region is being examined, it makes sense to at least remove the ball.
Important: the decision is always made by the treating doctor or the radiologist on site, not by me and not by you. I'm not trying to overrule an instruction — I want it to be based on knowledge of the material rather than on an old rule of thumb.
You'll get one. For doctors and medical facilities I issue a letter listing and confirming the composition of the material used.
That gives the practice something in writing, so it doesn't have to rely on what you tell them. Especially before examinations and procedures, it saves discussion at reception.
Tell me which facility and which appointment you need it for, and I'll send it to you. Contact
Because the area swells and needs space. Once the swelling has gone down, a shorter bar can make sense — I'll adjust it for you.
In the earlobe from week eight at the earliest. In cartilage only after healing is complete, at the earliest after six months. In both cases after talking to me. I never use a ring as initial jewellery. The exceptions are septum, smiley and frowny: a straight bar doesn't sit sensibly there, so I use a horseshoe. For all other spots there are four reasons against a ring:
Patience is the most important part of aftercare during healing.
Allow six to twelve months until the maturation phase. The fact that the skin looks calm after a few weeks doesn't mean everything inside is finished.
No discharge, no crusts, no feeling of pressure, and the channel feels insensitive. If you're unsure, ask before you change anything.
Possibly, yes — very quickly with a fresh piercing. The older the channel, the longer it lasts. There's no guarantee.
Get in touch early. If the channel gets shorter or the jewellery shows through, something can usually still be done. If you wait too long, a larger scar remains.
Your question isn't here? Message me on WhatsApp at +49 151 61000002
A photo usually helps me more than a description. Just send it along.
The information on this page is general aftercare advice and does not replace a medical examination or treatment. If symptoms persist or get worse, see a doctor.
