How to Care for an Ear Piercing

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Kerri and I'm at Zebra in Berkley and I'm here to tell you how to care for your ear piercing. When cleaning your ear piercing you are going to want to make sure that you wash your hands first. Your hands are the most dirty part of your body so you don't want to get that anywhere close to your brand new healing piercing. The first thing you are going to want to do is use some type of antibacterial cleaner such as Benzoclonium Chloride which is what we sell here at Zebra or you can use Dial Antibacterial Soap, something that does not have an alcohol base. Twice a day you are going to put that on with a Q-tip, clean and brand new, spread it around the outside of the front and the back of the ear piercing and then you want to wash it off with plain water. You are putting the solution on to kill the bacteria and you want to wash the dead bacteria off. In addition you are going to want to soak your piercing for 15 minutes once a day every day for four to six weeks. The way you soak your piercing is by using a clean brand new small cup. Some people can use a shot glass and salt. Sea salt or Epsom salt. Definitely do not use table salt. It contains iodine which is an irritant. You want to take one pinch of the salt and put it in your cup of warm water. You can use either tap water or distilled water. Distilled is better but tap is fine, mix it up and give your ear a bath. That happens once a day every day for 15 minutes."