How to Clean a New Ear Piercing

Co-authored by Sasha Blue

Last Updated: December 24, 2022 References Approved

If you recently got a new ear piercing, you're probably excited to be able to switch out your piercing stud for new styles. Before you can do that, you need to properly clean and care for your new piercing in order to avoid infection. While you need to be patient and devoted to the task of cleaning your piercing, the process is thankfully quite simple.

Things You Should Know

Start by cleaning the surrounding skin and your hands with a mild antibacterial soap.
Apply a simple saline solution with clean, disposable gauze or cotton balls twice a day.
Gently wiggle the piercing back and forth so the saline solution works its way throughout the entire piercing.
Keep your piercing as dry as possible in between cleanings as it heals.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Protecting Your Ears While Getting Them Pierced

1
Choose a clean, professional place to have your ears pierced. Health professionals strongly advise that you never pierce your ears yourself at home. Instead, you ought to find a place where trained professionals will do it for you. While there's no guarantee that you won't later get an infection, starting by going to a clean place will help ensure that your ears will heal properly.
- There is no federal regulation of the piercing industry, and many states don't have legislation on the topic, so you'll want to research and visit different shops and parlors in person so that you can check for cleanliness and learn about how experienced the piercers are.
2
Get reviews of the parlors you have in mind. If you've never had a piercing before, a great way to find a safe place is to survey your friends for personal recommendations. Ask them what the procedure was like and if they had any difficulty cleaning their piercings or if they later got infections.
- You should also study their piercings: do you like how the piercings were placed?
- Besides seeing what your friends recommend, you can also go online to look for reviews of the shops you are thinking about going to for your piercing.
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3
Make sure that the piercing equipment and earring(s) are sterilized. When you're on your scouting mission to find the best place to have your ears pierced, stick around and watch other people as they are pierced, and also interview the staff. Make sure that all of the equipment that will be used, and also the jewelry, is sterilized beforehand.
- Experts recommend that you look for an autoclave at the shop, which is a sterilizing machine.^{[1]
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4
Verify that only fresh, disposable needles are used. Health experts also recommend that you avoid piercing parlors where needles are reused, even if they are supposedly sterilized between uses. ^{[2]
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- Avoid going to a parlor or shop that uses piercing guns. Even when the needle is changed out between uses, the gun may still have blood or tissue on it from previous customers. Piercing guns also cause a great deal of tissue damage compared to piercing needles.
5
Take extra precautions if you are having your ear cartilage pierced. While you always want to choose the safest, cleanest place possible when you're getting a piercing, you should be extra vigilant if you want your cartilage pierced. Because cartilage doesn't have its own blood supply, it can take longer to heal, and it can also be much harder to effectively treat an infection should one develop. ^{[3]
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- Health professionals firmly recommend that only fresh needles be used to pierce your cartilage.
Warning: Piercing guns can cause serious damage to cartilage, including shattering and permanent scarring. They can also increase your chances of developing a cartilage infection. Never get your cartilage pierced with a piercing gun.
6
Make sure the piercer takes proper safety precautions. Only let someone pierce your ears if they begin by washing their hands thoroughly or using hand sanitizer. They should also wear gloves and properly clean and sterilize your ear before piercing it.
- Don't be afraid to get up out of the chair if your piercer skips any of these steps.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Cleaning Your New Piercing

1
Clean the surrounding skin and your hands with a mild anti-bacterial soap or wash. Before you clean your new piercing directly, it's important that your hands and your entire ear are clean so that you don't introduce dirt or bacteria into your wound.^{[4]
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- Choose a mild soap, and avoid any cleansers with perfumes, which can irritate your sensitive skin.
EXPERT TIP

Sasha Blue
Professional Body Piercer
Sasha Blue is a Professional Body Piercer and the Owner of 13 Bats Tattoo and Piercing Studio in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sasha has over 20 years of professional body piercing experience, starting with her apprenticeship in 1997. She is licensed with the County of San Francisco in California.

Sasha Blue
Professional Body Piercer

Try to avoid touching your piercing as much as possible. Every time you touch your piercing you can irritate it and make it take so much longer to heal. Also, if you haven't washed your hands, you can transfer bacteria to the piercing.
2
Use a simple saline solution to clean your piercing. Medical professionals recommend that you use a saline (salt) solution for cleaning. It’s best to buy a sterile saline solution or wound wash from your piercer or a drug store, but you can also prepare one yourself:
- Mix 1/8 teaspoon (0.6 g) of sea salt with 8 fluid ounces (240 mL) of warm water. Don’t use table salt, which contains anti-caking ingredients that can cause irritation. Be sure to measure the salt carefully so you don’t create an overly salty solution, which can damage the healing tissue.
3
Apply the saline solution with clean, disposable cotton 2 times a day. Instead of reusing washcloths, you should dip gauze or a cotton ball in your saline solution each time you clean your piercing. Don’t use cotton swabs, which can irritate the piercing.^{[5]
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National Health Service (UK)
Public healthcare system of the UK
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- Then, gently apply the saline solution all around your piercing.
4
Gently wiggle the piercing back and forth. In order to get the saline solution throughout the entire piercing, many experts recommend that you carefully move your piercing back and forth as you clean it.
5
Take care not to over-clean your piercing. Washing your new piercing more than twice a day could lead to irritation, which can extend the healing process longer than necessary.^{[6]
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National Health Service (UK)
Public healthcare system of the UK
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6
Avoid using rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide on your piercing. While you might think that alcohol or peroxide will sterilize your piercing, both of these can actually slow the healing process by over-drying your wound and killing healthy skin cells.^{[7]
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7
Refrain from applying additional medicine to your piercing. Experts also recommend that you do not use any ointments or antibiotic creams unless directed to by a physician for an infection. These too can be counter-productive to the healing process as they can slow the flow of oxygen to your wound.^{[8]
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- Because they are so sticky, they can also trap dirt and bacteria, potentially setting you up for further trouble.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Continuing to Care for Your Piercing

1
Keep your piercing as dry as possible. Particularly when your piercing is fresh (for at least the first 3 days), you should keep it as dry as possible. While it will of course be wet when you apply your saline solution, you want to allow your piercing to dry out quickly.
2
Shower carefully. If you don't need to wash your hair, try wearing a shower cap when you shower or bathe. If you do wash your hair, do your very best to keep the shampoo and water away from your ears.^{[9]
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National Health Service (UK)
Public healthcare system of the UK
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- Don't think that letting the shampoo wash over your ears will be sufficient for cleaning your piercings. If anything, the ingredients in your body wash or shampoo can further irritate your piercing.
3
Skip the swimming pool. You should also look for other forms of exercise besides swimming while you wait for your new piercing to heal. Stay away from public pools and hot tubs, or if you really want or need to visit them, then it goes without saying that you shouldn't dunk your head!^{[10]
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National Health Service (UK)
Public healthcare system of the UK
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4
Allow only clean materials to touch your piercing. Besides making sure that your hands and cleansing materials are sterile, you should carefully wash all of your bedding, hats, and scarves that may come into contact with your new piercing.^{[11]
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National Health Service (UK)
Public healthcare system of the UK
Go to source}
- You may even want to wear your hair pulled back from your piercing for a while.
5
Treat your piercing gently. If you only have 1 ear pierced, you'll probably find it more comfortable to sleep on the opposite side, and your ear may heal more quickly as a result.
- If both of your ears are pierced, then try to sleep on your back and avoid doing anything that will put pressure on the piercings.^{[12]
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6
Adjust your phone habits. You'll also want to be careful when you talk on the phone to not put pressure on your ear and to not bring your phone (which can harbor quite a lot of dirt and bacteria) into direct contact with your piercing.^{[13]
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- Consider using the speaker-phone function for a while!
7
Be on the lookout for signs of infection. Even if you follow all of the above steps religiously, you could develop an infection. See your piercer if you suspect an infection. They can suggest home treatments to try or recommend seeing the doctor if you appear to have a serious infection.
- If your ear or the surrounding skin is red or swollen, you may have an infection developing.
- An infected ear may also produce a green or yellow discharge, and may be extra tender to the touch.^{[14]
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  National Health Service (UK)
  Public healthcare system of the UK
  Go to source}
- Similarly, if your ear is warm to the touch or if you develop a fever, your new piercing may be infected, in which case you should definitely seek medical attention.
8
Leave your earring in if you suspect an infection. While you might be tempted to immediately remove your piercing if you think you have an infection, it's best to wait until you've seen a professional piercer or a doctor.
- If you take the earring out too early, it could begin to heal over and trap the infection inside the wound. This can lead to the formation of an abscess, which can be serious and painful to care for.^{[15]
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  National Health Service (UK)
  Public healthcare system of the UK
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9
Talk to your doctor about stronger antibiotics for a cartilage infection. Your cartilage piercing may be more likely to become infected, and if it does, it will probably be more difficult to treat than a regular piercing. This is because the cartilage doesn't have its own blood supply, and it's therefore harder for your prescribed antibiotics to do their work.^{[16]
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- Talk to your doctor about what is being prescribed for your infection; a stronger drug is often needed.
10
Rule out a metal allergy. If your ear doesn't seem infected, but is uncomfortable, itchy, or slightly swollen, you may have a sensitivity or allergy to the metal used in your piecing. Many people are allergic to nickel, cobalt, and/or white gold.^{[17]
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Cleveland Clinic
Educational website from one of the world's leading hospitals
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- The best choices for a new piercing are niobium, titanium, or 14 or 18 carat gold.
11
Be patient. Even with careful cleaning and no infection, an ear piercing can take a while to heal. If you pierced your earlobe, you should plan on waiting 4 to 6 weeks for it to heal completely.
- If you pierced your pinna (the area above the lobe of your ear), it can take up to 12 to 16 weeks to heal.^{[18]
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12
Keep your piercing stud in until your ear is fully healed. If you take out your piercing before the wound has fully healed, the hole(s) can begin to close over. Thus, you should leave them in, even to sleep, until the piercing has healed completely.
- Even after the piercing has healed, it’s a good idea to keep something in it as much as possible to prevent it from closing up.
13
Continue to keep it clean. Make it part of your routine to wipe down your earrings with rubbing alcohol when you take them out, and again before you put them (or a different pair) in again.
- This simple step will help ensure that your ears are healthy and that you can enjoy experimenting with fun and different accessories.

Community Q&A

Question

Is a swollen and tender earlobe common for a new piercing?

Community Answer

Yes, these symptoms are definitely not uncommon for newly pierced ears.
Question

Do you have to wipe your ears for 6 weeks?

Community Answer

Yes, it's important to keep them clean while they're healing.
Question

Is it normal for a new piercing to have crust around it?

Community Answer

This is completely normal. Gently clean it off with warm water during your normal piercing care routine.