Congratulations! You’ve just been inducted into the ear stretching society of individuals who has greater appreciation for the art. Now that you’ve finally gotten your wish, there are important health and care notes for your gauged ears. They should be strictly followed to ensure you’re free from risks or complications.

Here is your guide to taking care of your ear piercing:

For starters, don’t touch the piercing and the area close to it while it is healing. Your hands and fingers carry plenty of bacteria that might infect the new piercing.

Stretched ears as they carry bacteria that might cause infection, so wait until the piercing has completely healed before using acrylic pieces.

Allow your ear lobes to relax after every piercing. This allows proper circulation of oxygen and blood to the pierced or stretched area. This goes the same after a while that you’ve gotten a new gauge. Take out the jewelry a few hours each day so that the tissues continue to grow.

Also, do sea salt soaks after the first pierce and all stretching you will get thereafter. To do this, submerge your ears one at a time on clean water teaspoon of for about 12-15 minutes, at least twice a day for three days. This results to faster healing. Use milder forms of antibacterial soap products on the pierced areas as well. A great product to use in the healing process is Dial Anti Bacterial Soap. Just get a cue-tip and add some soap to it , gently clean your ear gauges.

When you get smelly gunk on your jewelry, it’s most likely the dead cells piling up. It’s natural and no cause for worry. Simply clean with your ears milder forms of antibacterial soap products.

In case of blowout, you must take off what you have on your stretched ear immediately. Then have sufficient sea salt soaks for fast and complete healing before you resume to your stretching. It also might be a good idea to down size your lobes to insure they get healthy. This might take a few months, but it’s always safe to wait.