Ear piercing goes back thousands of years. Today we have the benefit of sterile techniques and disposable needles. You can go to any number of stores or kiosks in the mall and have your ears pierced in minutes, but what takes such a short time to do can become a nightmare if not taken care of properly.

Piercing is a surgical procedure in which the skin of the ear is incised by a needle to make room for an earring. It is a small opening but still needs to be cared for post-operatively.

The skin around the piercing will begin to heal. You want to avoid the healing from encasing the earring and also from reclosing the hole that has just been created. If your teenager wants to have her ears pierced, you should teach her how to take care of the piercings to avoid infections.

Tips for Care of Piercings

* Don’t remove your earrings – Just in case they don’t tell you this when you have it performed, for the first six weeks, do not take out the studs. This is the primary healing time and the piercing can easily close over.

* Clean the earring hole every day – Before doing anything near the earring, wash your hands with soap and water. Since you can’t remove the stud, take a cotton ball or cotton swab and dip it in alcohol. Swab the stud on both sides of the ears. If you are given a specific cleaning solution, use that instead. When participating in sports or other activities that can introduce dirt around the studs, clean them more than once per day.

* Turn your earrings daily – As the tissue heals, it will try to attach to the studs. Daily turning prevents this so you don’t end up with earrings that you can’t remove without reopening the wounds.

* Keep chemicals away from your newly pierced ears – Hair dyes, perfumes, cosmetics and hair oils can all introduce an infection into the ears as they heal.

* Protect your ears from injury – This can happen if you play sports. Any blow to the ears or tugging on the studs can reopen the healing tissue.

* Don’t play with your earrings – It’s an unconscious thing to twirl earrings as you talk, but this action can also introduce bacteria and dirt into the healing ears.

An infection is one thing that you want to avoid when you get your ears pierced. Just like anywhere else, an infection here can be painful and can mar your dreams of donning dangles from your newly pierced ears.