Jewellery
The two most common types of nose studs worn in New Zealand they are a straight stud with a ball at the end… or a straight stud bent into a L shape to hold it in; experiment with these to find out which type suits you best.
It is also a good idea to paint some clear nail polish over your jewelled nose studs (this stops the jewels from coming out) make sure this is only on the top surface and doesn’t come into contact with your piercing.
For contact sports you can tape your nose stud using a little pad under the tape so that the pad protects the stud when removing the plaster.
Trying to hide your piercing by taking the jewellery in and out just leads to delayed healing and infections.
Why don't you try an invisible stud (an invisible stud is a normal nose stud painted with flesh-coloured nail polish). Then afterwards you can take out your invisible daytime stud and put in something more decorative.We stock a product called invisi studs.
Healing
Nose piercings will generally take 6-8 weeks to heal. There should hardly be any redness surrounding the piercing and only a small amount of discharge, mainly from the inside of the nose.
The most common cause of delayed healing is by knocking or tearing the stud and taking the stud in and out before the wound is fully healed. This will lead to a small lump forming around the piercing. These lumps are called granulomas.
The best course of action to heal granulomas is to apply hot compresses to the wound once or twice a day. Soak a clean paper towel under hot tap water, making sure that it's not so hot that it burns your skin, but hot enough to penetrate the wound. Leave on till the heat dissipates.
Continue this remedy twice a day
Aftercare
. Do not use hydrogen peroxide, mentholated spirits, alcohol swabs, or alcohol-based cleansers on the piercing. They are very astringent and delay healing.
We recommend that you use “Studex” cleaning solution morning and night.
Make sure you don't have any allergic reactions to products before you apply them.
DO clean the piercing every day in the shower.
Soak a cotton wool ball or tissue in saline solution (dissolve a teaspoon of salt in a cup of warm water)
Place the wet cotton wool ball, gauze or tissue on the piercing and soak for 3-4 minutes until any crusting is removed, be careful not to pull the stud out!
DO remove any crusting from the inside of the stud/ring by cleaning it with a cotton-wool bud soaked in salt water. Be gentle, as you may cause the stud to come out. Any crusting must be removed from a ring before you turn it, or you might damage and inflame the piercing
DO dry the piercing afterwards carefully by "patting" not rubbing the piercing dry with a clean tissue, piece of paper towel or toilet paper.
Don't rub your face dry with a towel; as dirty towels harbour bacteria. And by rubbing your face dry, the stud may get dislodged; you must pat your nose dry while you are wearing a stud.
DO use B-vitamins with a Zinc supplement as this promotes healing
DON'T pick at or pull at the scab; as this can cause lumps to form, and cause infections
DON'T remove the jewellery in the piercing till it's healed; pulling it in and out can delay healing and cause infections and lumps, try to leave it in at least 2 weeks.
DON'T remove the jewellery from the piercing for more than 1 day for the first 6 months, or it will close up.
DON'T apply make-up, cleansers, sun tan lotions etc. directly on the piercing, when using hairspray, cover the piercing with your hand
If the stud comes out, the piercing will close up very quickly, in less than 10 minutes in the first 2-4 weeks. The trick is to always carry a spare nose stud in your wallet.
For more information on why a piercing gun should not be used
http://tattoo.about.com/cs/psafety/a/piercing_guns.htm
