Piercings offer a great way for you to express yourself, and they can be exciting to have. But they also have their downsides, and the main one is that you might need to wait for your piercing to heal before you change your jewelry. Or do you? It's one of those myths and misconceptions that a lot of people have these days. We are here to help you better understand if/when you can change your jewelry if your piercing is healing right now.
Let your piercing heal first!
Ideally, you don't want to change the jewelry when the piercing is healing. The reason for that is you can end up damaging or infecting the area with various bacteria or viruses. That becomes an issue, so making sure that you are healing the piercing first is a major priority. It makes a lot of sense to allow the body to heal itself naturally. And once that's done, you can change the jewelry without a problem. Of course, many of us want to experiment with different piercings and we want to change the jewelry. The truth is that it can be an issue and it can lead to infections.
What happens if you switch the piercing too soon?
One of the first issues that will appear is that you will scratch the partially formed skin that appears during the healing process. Usually, that leads to an irritated piercing and long healing times. If bacteria is also involved, then you will have an infection, and that won't be easy to deal with. In some cases, people also suffer from allergies. Or, at the very least, that region will be swollen for a very long time and uncomfortable to touch.
How much time should you wait until you change your jewelry?
It depends on the location of your piercing. Some piercings that are done on the cartilage part of your ear will require more patience; those can take 3 months or more. However, lobe piercings will need 6 weeks. It certainly depends on the piercing's location and a variety of other factors. But one thing is certain: if you rush, you will develop certain side effects. That's why you want to listen to the piercing experts and follow their instructions. If they tell you not to switch your jewelry for at least 2-3 months, make sure you follow their advice.
Naturally, there's always that innate feeling of changing your jewelry right after you do your piercing. However, you should try to avoid that as much as possible. More often than not, if you do so, that will lead to negative situations and problems. It can bring infections, allergies, and other things that you want to avoid. Following the expert's advice and not rushing is usually the best approach. You always want to make sure that you protect your ears and avoid any infections. That's why you should wait around 2 months or even more before you switch your jewelry, just to be on the safe side!