When Is A Piercing Healed?

How will I know when my piercing is healed? You have been religious about your soaks/compresses, cleaning and you've become as anal as a surgeon but you are still unsure if the piercing is healed. The issue is that often the piercing may seem healed, but it isn't completely healed, and one of the primary causes of infection and other problems is ceasing the aftercare before the piercing is fully healed. In this installment, I'll cover what happens during the healing process and the signs that indicate the piercing is healed.

What happens during Healing:

At the heart of healing a piercing, what you are doing is forcing your body to accept a foreign object and then grow a flesh tunnel or fistula around the jewelry. The body will first try to reject the foreign object, or make you fully aware that the object is there. When the body finds that the object can not be rejected, it will begin the slow process of growing the fistula, starting at each side and working inward.

The Stages of Healing:

1. Acceptance - During the first week to two weeks, the body will do everything it can to reject the jewelry and give off signs that the jewelry should be removed. During this period, there will be many of the usual signs of trauma. The area will exhibit inflammation, be discolored, tender, and experience throbbing pain, as well as heat in the affected area. This is caused by the chemicals released from damaged cells. This not only protects the wound from pathogens but also triggers the new skin growth.
2. Proliferative Phase - Epithelialization is the act of your body producing new skin. It begins at both ends of the piercing and then works inward. Angiogenesis, or the creation of new blood vessels to supply blood to the tissue and to repair damage that was caused during the piercing. This stage can take up to a year and requires long-term care and precautions to ensure that the piercing doesn't become infected or have other problems. During this period, it is normal for scabs to form around the piercing early on, Lymph discharge to collect on the jewelry, during the tender phases, and the piercing to tighten to the point where the jewelry will not move freely. Often, the piercing will not be painful and will seem healed, but the fact is that the piercing is still an open wound.
3. Toughening and seasoning: This stage begins once the fistula has completed its growth and the two have connected; the piercing is no longer an open wound. However, the piercing fistula or tunnel is thin and fragile. During this phase, the body produces additional skin cells to expand and strengthen the fistula. There should be no discomfort during this phase; the discharge should have stopped, and the piercing holes will pull in and be more even and uniform. This phase can last several years. Changing the jewelry is usually not an issue, but it should be left in the piercing at all times. Changing the jewelry before the second stage ends or even shortly after it has ended can damage the piercing. When in doubt, see your piercer. It is always best to have the jewelry changed by a professional and not often. Since the tissue is thin and fragile, there is always a risk of damaging the piercing during jewelry changes.

Average Healing Times:

I always provide clients with an average healing time for their piercings. This is not a magic number due to the many differences in healing time from person to person. Factors that may affect healing time from person to person include diet, health, physical activities such as sports, and genetics. Healing times from one piercing to another are also extraordinarily vast and depend on several factors, including the location of the piercing, trauma that occurs during the piercing itself, blood flow to the area, the size of the piercing, and the type of tissue. For example, a blood-rich area like the tongue can take as little as two weeks, but a navel, where there is less blood supply and there is additional stress on the area, may take up to a year to get through the Proliferative Phase.

Everyone is different and has different challenges to address when healing a piercing, but on average, most:

• Ear piercings take from 8 to 52 weeks, depending on the location
• Facial piercings take from 8-12 weeks
• Tongue piercings take from 2 to 4 weeks
• Lip and Labret piercings take from 8 to 12 weeks
• Nipple and Navel piercings take from 6 months to a year
• Genital piercings take from 8 to 12 weeks

Some situations and piercings I will suggest average healing time that maybe longer than needed. For example, with genital piercing where the person is sexually active, I recommend at least 3 months of healing, even though the piercing completes the Proliferative Phase within 6 weeks. The reason is that with sexual activity, there is an increased risk of damage to the healing piercing, causing prolonged healing. A 'better safe than sorry' approach is often preferable to relying on a set time for healing.

Signs that a Piercing is Healed:

I don't know how many times I've had someone stand in front of me and argue that their piercing is healed when clearly it is not. Just because the piercing area is no longer red and there is no pain, that doesn't mean the second stage of healing is complete; it's still an open wound. Yes, you may not have seen discharge for a week, and you can grab the thing and pull it out from the body without pain, but it isn't healed.

Discharge will often harden on the right at the piercing entrance for weeks at a time, then suddenly stop, only to return a few weeks later. Sometimes there is no discharge at all, or maybe you shower so often that it never has a chance to collect. So, do not rely on discharge no longer happening alone to assume the piercing is healed.

Pain or lack of pain is no indication that the piercing is healed, either. Often, within a week, the acceptance phase has ended, and there will be little or no pain even when handling the piercing. No longer having tenderness to touch only means that the acceptance phase has ended, and your body has gotten down to the tasks of repairing the area and building new tissue.

Just like infections, a piercing that is completely healed will give off several signs that it is healed. Instead of looking at individual signs, you need to consider that three things have happened:

1. The discharge has completely ended. Understand that there are periods when it will cease during healing, so never use discharge as the only sign that the piercing is healed.
2. The edges of the piercing holes are smooth and pull inward. When the tissue connects in the center, the holes will pull inward, resulting in a smoother and more natural appearance. Take notice of the other holes on your body, both the pierced ones and the ones nature gave you. They are all smooth and rounded, and a healed piercing will be too.
3. The jewelry is loose and moves somewhat freely. This looseness will increase as the piercing toughens and strengthens. When you try moving the jewelry, it seems to pull the piercing in the direction you are moving the jewelry; additional time may be needed.

Whenever in doubt, see your piercer. Nothing beats the expert opinion of someone who deals with piercings, whether they are healed or still healing, daily. I always encourage follow-ups, even if everything appears to be fine. I'm happy to see how the healing is going and, in most cases, be more effective than a Groundhog in predicting the end of the long winter of healing.