Are you taking a vacation or a trip in the next month or two? If so, you might want to consider having your new piercing performed after you have taken your trip and/or when you don’t have any swimming or hot-tubbing planned for at least 2-3 months.

It is highly suggested to avoid exposing your new piercing to standing water for the first 2-3 months, due to the increased likelihood of infection. While well-maintained pools and hot tubs may not have as large of a risk as natural water, they do still pose a fairly high risk of infection. Some piercings, such as nipples and navels, can be covered with a waterproof bandage such as Tegaderm, although most piercing placements cannot be properly protected with bandaging. Unfortunately, even if you clean your piercing immediately after swimming or hot tubbing, the initial exposure has already happened, so it is best to avoid swimming and hot tubs entirely, for at least the first 2-3 months of having a new piercing.

Your piercing will be started with jewelry that has some extra length to allow room for swelling. However, air travel can greatly increase the likelihood of swelling more than anticipated, since flying has a tendency to cause swelling in extremities and piercings. It is also common for people to notice some swelling due to major differences in climate and temperature. If you are flying within the first 4-6 weeks after receiving a piercing, please let us know. We can discuss providing a little extra length than we would have originally planned.