Taking care of a piercing is an important task as a means of helping to speed up the recovery and preventing the possibility of an infection. During the first couple of weeks, the pierced area will be sore, tender and red, It is important to prevent yourself from the want to play with the piercing during this time period to prevent an infection or complication.
The healing period of a piercing can be separated into two groups, the first is the primary while the second part of the recovery period is the full healing period. It is important to remember not to remove or change the piercing during the primary healing period or an infection can occur as well as the piercing hole can close on you.
When you get a piercing on the head or face, you ca expect different full healing periods. For example, while a Monroe piercing can take three to six months for full healing, an ear cartilage piercing can take more than a year. At the same time an eyebrow piercing can take up to three months and the septum can take three to four months for full healing. It is important to discuss this with your piercing technician prior to the actual piercing so you know what you can and cannot do and for how long.
The torso is not as broad of a range, this mostly has to do with the amount of movement the region does during the full healing period. For example, the nipples will only take between four and six months for healing and a surface piercing will take from six to eight months for healing. However a piercing in an area like the webbing between the fingers will never heal because it moves too much to allow a proper healing.
When it comes to the genitals, the female piercing techniques will generally take less time than the male piercing. For example a clitoral hood and the labia minor and major piercing techniques only take two to three months for full healing while a Prince Albert can take more than six months to heal completely.
Throughout the entire healing process, both the primary and full healing periods, there is always the chance of an infection. The good news though is that once the primary healing period has been completed most of the risks will be substantially lowered. It is important though that no matter what period you are in, that you make sure to keep the piercing clean and free of anything that could possibly cause harm, this includes swimming in some cases as both natural fresh water and saltwater has been known to cause bacterial infections as well as pools, since they contain chlorine have been known to make the pierced skin weaker allowing the jewelry to be easily torn from its piercing.