Femaie Genital

What To Expect

2007-12-23T22:56:16.872-08:00

Most piercings will almost always swell to a miia degree, The swelling is usually short lived, about a week to 3 weeks, But in some cases the swelling will last the entire time that the piercing is healing. The swelling is usually concentrated around the openings of the hole and a mild redness or pinkness will be present. On darker skin, the skin around the h~c)le is usually darker than the surrounding tissue. On the edges of the piercing and on the jewelry, there will be a buildup of dried lymph fluid (basically a scab). You can expect to have the redness or darkness and some mild swelling for the entire time that the healing process is happening, Sometimes during the healing process you may notice that the piercing will go from looking healed to looking mildly infected, It's completely normal to have a piercing change appearance like this, Sometimes when people don't take care of the piercing, and sometimes even when they do, the piercing can get inflamed on the edges. The description that our customers often give is a "bubble" of skin is bulging out of the hole. That's a sign of the piercing beginning to get infected. In this case, the piercing will take on a deeper red color and will ooze lymphatic fluid. It may even bleed under these conditions. Usually this condition occurs because someone either didn't follow the aftercare instructions or that they didn't follow the "do's and don'ts". If this problem starts to be evident, then revert back to the original instructions. Occasionally the problems outlined above occur from over cleaning the piercing as well. Basically, follow the instructions. They work well for most people,

Healing Times For This Group Of Piercings

2007-12-23T22:56:16.543-08:00

Clitoral hood: 3 to 21 days
Inner labia: 3 to 21 days
Forchette: 2 to 3 months
Triangle: 2 to 3 months
Clitoris: 2 to 3 months

Do's and Dont's

2007-12-23T22:56:16.272-08:00

It is very important that you follow other instructions than just the aftercare that we give you. The things that you do or don't do will make all the difference in the world to how your piercing will heal. If you don't follow these do's and don'ts your piercing will probably take longer to heal or may never heai properly, due to prolonged infections.

Do:
Call Sub-Q If you have any questions. But if you're worried about your piercing, come in.
Wash your hands with soap and water before cleaning your piercing
Follow the aftercare instructions that we have outlined.
Eat food on a regular basis. If you don't, your healing time could be prolonged.
Take lbuprofen for Swelling or soreness.
Make sure to take care of your piercing even after it's healed. Washing these types of piercings once daily with soapy water is usually enough.

Don't:
Forget to follow the aftercare instructions that we have outlined.
Exchange body fluids with other people, on or near the piercing while it is healing. Other people's body fluids contain things that are harmful to the healing process and cause infections, inflammations, and sometimes diseases (yikesl).
Overdo your intake of lbuprofen. Too much can cause stomach issues and even liver or kidney problems. The recommended dosage on the package is the amount you should take.
Forget to eat. Your immunities could be affected by not eating. If your immunities drop, your piercing could take longer to heal or you could more easily contract an Infection or disease.
Touch your piercing with your fingers unless you're cleaning it. Hands carry germs. Germs mean infections.

Aftercare For These Piercings

2007-12-23T22:56:16.008-08:00

Aftercare for these piercings
There are too many ways to list to take care of the types of piereings outlined in this pamphlet, but these steps work great, and if you follow the instructions that we recommend, your piercings will usually heal fairly quickly. See the list of healing times here. These piercings have a 2-step aftercare process for the first 3 days. Once the third day is over, then the last step will be dropped. After the first 3-day time period, you will still follow the other step. We supply Dr. Bronners liquid soap. and a small tube of Bacitracin zinc ointment with many of the piercings that we perform at Sub-Q. both of the steps will involve one of the above items, Every day, twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening you'll want to follow both of the steps for the first 3 days. A great place to wash your piercing is the shower. But you probably won't be doing all of the 3 steps in the shower .

Twice a day, both morning and evening:
Wash your Piercing with a small amount of the Dr. Bronners soap by putting a few drops of soap in your hand and a few drops of water. Use your hands or a Q-tip to wash the openings of the piercing and the jewelry. After you wash the piercing, move the jewelry through the hole making sure that you get soap in the hole. Rinse the piercing off with clear tap water. While you rinse the piercing, move the jewelry through the hole to get the soap out of the piercing. Immediately after you wash the piercing, apply a small amount of the antibiotic ointment to the openinas of the i)iercina. This is the st!p that you only do for the first 3 days. After the 3 day, you discontinue this step. You should only do this step 6 times. Keep in mind not to over clean your piercing. If you clean your piercing too much you may cause a reaction that looks and feels much like an infection.

If you like You can also use a hot compress once or twice a day. Get a clean washcloth and run it Linder really warm tap water. Not hot enough to burn you, but very warm. The washcloth should be really warm, but at the same time should feel really good 9. Put the compress on the pierced area and hold it there until it starts to show a noticeable drop in temperature. You can immediately repeat the process if you feel the need. Some people claim that it is soothing. This step can also really help piercings that have mild infections. The heat causes a localized fever in the area. That in turn kills bacteria that are present and increases the blood flow, Higher blood flow is good for healing or infected piercings.

How You Know Your Piercing is Healed

2007-12-23T22:56:15.727-08:00

Keep in mind that each person is different for how they heal for each piercing one may get. And with different people there can be different indications for healing. What we give you for information is a general idea of what most people go through. You may not show the same types of indications written below. If you pay attention to how the piercing looks and feels during the healing process, then you usually can tell fairly easily when the piercing is healed.

How It Look and Feels

2007-12-23T22:56:15.425-08:00

After it is healed, the outside openings of the type of piercing mentioned in this pamphlet are very similar to the rest of the surrounding tissue. The edges of the piercing will have no irritation, redness or 'crusty" buildup on or around it. The color is usually almost identical to the surrounding tissue, but in some cases there is a slightly darker hue to the edge and sometimes it's a bit lighter in color on the inside. But for the most part, there's very little difference to the color. The texture of the edge is almost identical to the surrounding skin as well. The inside texture is a little different most of the time. The edges will usually be turned into the hole and as the hole deepens, the inside will usually take on a slightly wrinkled appearance, The piercing may take on a hard feeling to the entire length of it, once it's healed, Don't concern yourself with the hardness. Most of the time if the piercing is displaying all or most of the things that are described above, then if it's hard it's normal. The hardness is just scar tissue. Since all are basically scars, then the formation of scar tissue is normal.

Since the piercing actually forms new skin inside the hole, the inside of the piercing has many of the same qualities as the rest of your skin, But unlike the rest of your skin, it's difficult for the body to slough off the dead cells. Consequently, the dead skin will start to build up once the piercing is healed. The buildup of dead skin and body oils (smegma) will make a paste that looks kind of like a thin layer of white cheese. The paste may take on a distinct odor. The odor smells kind of like the inside of a belly button that hasn't been washed in a while. At Sub-Q we call that smell "the funk".

Once the piercing is healed, you can avoid the funk by washing the piercing and the jewelry once a day with soap and water.

Your Rights

2007-12-23T22:56:15.079-08:00

At Sub-Q we believe that your rights as our customer and as a consumer are important. And since the services that we offer are a bit out of the norm, it's important that we define those rights.

We believe that all of our customers have the same types of rights as they would have at a typical retail establishment, but we want to take it the extra mile for our industry. Typically in the body piercing industry, some of the rights that you would have as a consumer would be eliminated. Most places that perform body piercing don't allow for things like 'trade-ins" forjewelry or refunds of any kind. Sub-Q offers both. And we go the extra step of putting it in writing. Our refund and return policies are simple and direct, Within the first 4 days, if you don't like your new piercing for any reason, simply return with the jewelry still in, and we'll refund your money, minus the cost of the aftercare products that we supplied.

Jewelry purchase is a bit different. If you purchase jewelry, have opened the package and wish to return it, we offer only 25% credit. Since we have to put the jewelry through a remanufacturing process, we can't offer a full price refund. But if the jewelry is still in its original, sterile packaging, we can refund your full purchase price. All refunds and trade-ins, are strictly at the discretion of Sub-Q employee's.

Your Responsibilities

2007-12-23T22:56:14.792-08:00

Your responsibilities, like your rights, are also direct and simple. The aftercare of your new piercing is strictly up to you. The closer that you follow the instructions that we give to care for your new piercing, the faster and more smoothly your piercing will heal. There are different ways to care for a piercing and many work well. Some ways may not work so well, and some may be outright bad. But from the experience of the staff at Sub-Q the aftercare instructions that we give work very well, It's also your responsibility to contact us for your needs. We want to help you in any way that we can, but we can't help you if you don't contact us. Even if you think it's trivial, your concern could be important. Please let us know how we can help you.