BlackStar Body Piercing

Make a leap of faith, and stop washing the piercing. You do not have to scrub through the piercing, and every time you do you are doing damage. You do not make it heal; you ALLOW it to heal. When you have a shower, wash your chest normally, and allow the warm water to run over your nipple to clear the crusties. Do not try to move the jewelry.

Put a little moisturizing hand cream on a q-tip and moisturize around your nipple (once only for now) and try leaving it alone for a few days. Let me know what happens.

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Blackstar Forum Moderator

I put moisturizer on it, it didn't really do anything, it just made the sore parts burn...haha.

I haven't washed the piercing until that night since a couple weeks after i got it done, i have left it on its own virtually the whole time (until the night of my first post), this is why i am so confused. Since the crusties are making the barbell like...attatch to my nipple, letting warm water run over it didn't seem to do much either. I feel that if i just leave it as i have been for a year, it won't make a difference since, well..that is nearly all i have done. does knowing that i haven't cleaned it in a long time (except for that one night, and i haven't since then) spark any other ideas? it's very upsetting, i love my nipple ring...or i would if it would get better!

If the moisturizer burned, then you have a problem developing under the balls.

Sometimes excessive washing will dry and chap the tissue right at the margin of a piercing, and the skin cracks admitting bacteria. The resultant infection shows up as a red bump right at the opening of the piercing, and, if caught early, will respond to moisturizer.

If the piercing becomes infected, and the barbell is sized so the balls will seal the ends of the piercing, the pressure of the balls, and the constant irritation, will cause the tissues under the balls to begin to break down. In your case, the time for the simple fix is obviously past. To eliminate the effect of the balls, I would recommend that you change to a ring, or a longer barbell. When I say to do a warm water rinse, it is like washing but without the soap through the piercing. When you have a shower, wash your chest with soap and water normally, just do not work the lather through the piercing, Use warm water only to soften and wash away the crusties, and try to irrigate the piercing with water to rinse out any pus or other discharge which may have accumulated. If the problems do not begin to subside within two to three days, we can look at the next stage.

Good luck.

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Blackstar Forum Moderator

How often should i be doing the warm water rinse? just once to get everything out? once a day?

Also, i put a bit of moisturizer on it today and it didn't burn, when i said it burned, this was when the scabs i described earlier sot of underneath the ball towards the front of my nipple, had just fallen off...when they fall off it is always raw and tender, so maybe the moisturizer will help, now that it isn't hurting?

Just let the warm water play over your nipple at the end of your shower. The less you have to do to the piercing, the better.

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Blackstar Forum Moderator

Should i keep doing that, and if so how often? it seems like it may be getting a bit better

You moisturize to correct the drying effects of other things you do. If the skin appears dry, apply some moisturizer. If not, don't.

Like anything, too much moisturizer can cause problems. You only do it when necessary.

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Blackstar Forum Moderator