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What Is Good to Use to Clean a Piercing Near the Mouth?

When your new piercing is located near your mouth, or anywhere on your body for that matter, keeping the new piercing clean so that it heals properly, looks good and you do not develop any unpleasant infections is important. Unless your piercer tells you otherwise, you should clean the area around your new piercing twice a day.

  1. Cleaning Solutions

    • The site of your new piercing needs to be handled quite gently, both with respect to how it is touched and what types of products are used on it. When you clean, be very gentle: dab, swab and nudge; never jerk, pull or tug. You should only use certain soaps or gentle saline solutions to clean your new piercing.

    Soap

    • Use pure and unscented liquid glycerin soap. It is very mild and often used by people who have allergies to normal soap. You can buy it in some pharmacies and health food stores. However, if you cannot find pure and unscented liquid glycerin soap, you can opt to use another type of liquid soap to clean your piercing as long as it is mild and unscented.

    Saline

    • You can also use saline solution to clean your new piercing, which you can find in a pharmacy. You should probably skip the saline solution made to clean contact lenses as it may be too strong; opt for a saline solution for nasal rinsing instead as it will be gentler. Otherwise, you can make your own type of saline solution: a simple salt wash. Dissolve 1/2 tsp. of good quality non-iodized sea salt into 2 cups of water.

    Tools

    • One of the easiest ways to clean your piercing with either soap or saline solution is with the help of clean disposable tools like sterile gauze from the pharmacy, cotton swabs, cotton balls or a combination thereof. For example, you can wet the sterile gauze with a little water, add the glycerin soap and work it into a lather before introducing it to the piercing area. You can dip cotton balls into the saline solution, and use them to dab and swab the area clean.

    Hygiene

    • When your new piercing is healing, you must maintain good hygiene so that you do not introduce germs to the area. Every time you clean or touch your piercing, you should first wash your hands with soap. You have no need to rotate your piercing.

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