Piercing

Navels, Nipples and genitals (Male and Female)

These piercings can be amongst the hardest to heal due to irritation from clothing and lack of air to the piercing. Any crust formations on the jewellery should first be soaked off with clean warm water. A small amount of antibacterial soap should then be lathered over the piercing and left on for a few minutes. Rinse off thoroughly with fresh clean water—preferably in the shower. For best results this should be repeated no more than twice daily. The most common irritation with navel piercings is clothing. Waistbands of trousers, skirts underwear etc. Should be kept off your piercing at ALL times. Also try and avoid aggressive exercise and sleeping on your stomach. You may find that chlorinated swimming pools, Jacuzzis or saunas may cause irritation or infection. To prevent this try using a ’Tegaderm’ or ’Mepore’ patch or similar dressing, which is specially designed to keep the area dry and clean.

Tongue, Inside Lip and Cheek

An oral piercing is when all or part of the jewellery is inside the mouth. The following instructions are to be used to care for the inside of the mouth. To care for the outside, follow instructions for facial piercings. To clean the inside of an oral piercing we suggest a special antibacterial mouthwash, ‘Tech 2000’ which is alcohol free and can be used undiluted. If an alcohol based mouthwash is used it should be diluted 1/3 mouthwash to 2/3 water. It should be used after everything you eat, drink or smoke until the piercing is fully healed. With all oral piercings there will be some swelling, this is perfectly normal and the jewellery you have been pierced with is large enough to allow for this. Sucking on ice can help reduce the swelling. If you are at all worried about the amount of swelling or if the jewellery starts imbedding, please call in to have it looked at by our piercer. For the first few days of your new piercing eating may be difficult (may notice especially with tongues). Take it easy, start on soft foods like soup or yoghurt and work your way up to tougher foods. We suggest you avoid hot spicy food at this stage. It is also advisable to change your toothbrush as your old one may harbour bacteria. The tongue is covered in a very thin natural healing agent called ’Peptide’ this will help to aid the healing process.

Ears, Septum, Nose, Eyebrow and Earl, Outside Lip and Cheek

As facial and ear piercings are harder to soak, cleaning after a bath or shower will make the whole process a lot easier. Wet a clean cotton bud with Benzalkonium Chloride and soak around the piercing and jewellery, making sure to remove any crust formation. When totally clean, dry the area with a fresh cotton bud. Repeat this process 2-3 times daily.

CONCLUSION

When you get a piercing done you must be aware that there may be some minor swelling or scarring to the area. Although not a common occurrence some piercings have the potential to reject, or grow out. This is only a caution and you will find that there is only a very small amount of people which this will affect.

REMEMBER - These are only suggestions any if you have any adverse reactions or questions please do not hesitate to call us.

Hot Compress or Osmosis

(Approx. 1/4 of sea salt to 1/2 pint of hot water) This method works best when used with hot but not boiling water.

Soak a cotton pad with the saline solution and place on the piercing for 5 minutes (until it starts to cool down). This helps to open the pores of the skin. Pour the remainder into a clean container that is just big enough to cover the area (e.g. Navel/mug, Eyebrow/long contact lens case or an egg cup). Soak the piercing for 10 minutes, making sure the water is warm at all times. This draws any of the impurities or trapped fluid out of the piercing.

Your antibacterial solution will then be used to clean the area. This can be Benzalkonium Chloride on a cotton bud or our antibacterial soap (Provon, Satin or Antibac) which should then be rinsed off thoroughly with CLEAN water.

This can be repeated a few times a week to heal a piercing, but when treating a problematic piercing twice a day is preferable.

Angela - I first became interested in body art when i met my husband who owns ancient art. He has encouraged and mentored me along the way but i was unable to really get started as I had a family to bring up. I now have two years training and one years experience in body piercing as well as observing, studying and learning about the different styles and techniques of tattooing, which I am currently practicing on family and friends. With an A level in art I have helped create many customs designs for the many customers who want something different. Now I am itching to get started myself.

Tammy - ‘Body Modification is not a job, I see it as a way of every day life’ My interest in becoming a body piercer started at the age of thirteen, when my dad Mark, commonly known as Framey took interest in building tattoo machines. He now owns a globally known business ENGLISH IRONS. With him building tattoo machines and himself and my mum having a numerous amount of artwork tattooed I was brought up around it all, so I took a lot of interest because I was intrigued with how it all worked and how it was involved in the industry. I have always had a passion for piercing and the idea of becoming a body piercer really stood out in my mind, the more I thought about it the more appealing it became, so I looked into it further. At the age of 16 when I had finished school, my obsessive interest led me to a local studio where I spent many hours alongside a professional body piercer watching and learning techniques which then led me to where I am today. Working for tony here at Ancient Art was the best thing I ever did, I couldn’t see myself working in a better place. I thank Tony for the great opportunity : )