Curing infected body piercings with a natural sea salt soak

Body piercings are more prone to infection than other popular body modifications, such as tattoos. Body piercing jewelry must enter through one edge of the skin and then exit through another. This creates a very deep puncture wound that normally is capable of draining itself from either of these open holes. When one or both of the holes becomes plugged, either through improper care or accidentally getting dirt inside of it, an infection can occur.

Don’t worry. As long as you’re serious about healing your new body piercing it’s completely possible to cure an infection without causing any additional damage, as many antibiotics cause.  

 1. Place hot water into a shot glass or another small lipped glass. Shot glasses are preferably because the size is perfect for surrounding a body piercing closely.

2. Pour non-iodized sea salt or dead sea salt into the water. Pour only as much as can be dissolved.

3. Tip the shot glass up over the piercing.

4. Press it firmly against the skin and a seal should form that stops the salt water from leaking out.

5. Hold the glass up for five minutes. This will give the saltwater time to move through the puncture.

6. Remove the shot glass and rinse with clean, warm water.

Use twice a day to clear up an infection. If an infection does not clear up in three days visit a doctor for more specialized treatment or to receive antibiotics.

When you have an infection, never remove the body piercing. If you remove it while the skin is still infected then the holes can begin to close up. This will stop any possible drainage and may force the infection deeper into the skin where it can cause sepsis, a blood infection that can lead to death.

This is also very useful for surface piercings and should be performed even if they are not infected as they are more sensitive than other body piercings. A special method is necessary to do sea salt soaks on back surface piercings, such as the corset piercing.