How to Clean a Septum Piercing: The Complete Guide

Did you know that 72% of people who get piercings are women? While only 14% of Americans have piercings apart from their ears, it's still a popular way to wear jewelry.

Other interesting facts about piercings are that the oldest earrings date back to 2,500 BC and the record for most piercings is currently 6,005.

The second most popular piercing is a nose piercing and that includes the septum. If you're interested in getting a septum piercing, taking care of it afterward is as important as the jewelry you chose for it.

If you want to learn how to clean a septum piercing keep reading.

Make Sure It Stays Clean

The most important part of learning how to clean your septum piercing is making sure it stays clean. Make sure you're not touching the area with dirty hands, this could lead to infection.

Clean your septum with cold water and a Q-Tip first. You'll also want to make sure that you're doing proper septum piercing aftercare by using a good saline spray about 3-6 times a day. These sprays will help clean the area and prevent any bacteria from lingering and causing any bad reactions.

Sea Salt Soaks Can Help Too

If you're wondering how to clean a septum piercing at home, doing sea salt soaks twice a day is the right way to go. If you do this for the first month after getting your piercing, along with the aftercare spray, you'll help move the healing process along.

What you'll want to do is sterilize some water by boiling it for five minutes. Add 1/4 of a teaspoon of sea salt to a cup of water and 2-3 drops of tea tree oil. Once you've seen that the salt has dissolved, you can use some cotton balls to gently clean your septum for up to 5 minutes.

Keep up a Healthy Routine

Keeping a healthy routine is great for your physical and mental health. It's also the best thing you can do to help heal your septum.

If you eat healthy foods, maintain good hygiene, and avoid stress you'll help improve your immune system. This can help keep you from getting sick which could jeopardize your septum healing.

Remember, you also want to stay hydrated and get enough sleep. Try to stop the spread of germs by washing your hands and avoid touching your face.

Be Gentle With Your Nose

Of course, the area around your piercing will be extra sensitive for quite some time and part of cleaning it is being as gentle as you can to avoid any injury to it. Most of us blow our noses regularly but this simple act can become quite difficult with a healing septum. When you feel like you need to blow your nose do so very softly and under no circumstance reuse the same tissue.

Only touch the jewelry when you're cleaning the area and try to wear gloves when you do. If you'll be kissing anyone during your healing, make sure you're doing it gently to avoid hurting the area.

Avoid Products That Can Make Healing Harder

Part of septum cleaning includes avoiding products that could cause problems during the healing process.

It's completely normal to experience some bleeding after getting your piercing. The blood tends to crust up around the area and you'll need to clean it off as gently as you can.

If you want to avoid excessive bleeding try to avoid products that tend to lead to blood thinning. These include things like alcohol, caffeine, and aspirin. This doesn't mean you need to cut out these products completely but try to minimize your use the first month after you get your piercing.

Watch Out for Bacteria

Germs are everywhere so it's not possible to avoid them completely. There are, however, things you can do to lower your risk of coming into contact with bacteria right after getting your septum pierced. This is part of the process of cleaning your septum.

Try to avoid public swimming pools, this type of shared water can expose you to a lot of bacteria that can lead to infection. Taking long baths or going into the ocean are also bad ideas.

Hold Off on Changing Your Jewelry

While you're probably excited about all the different type of septum jewelry you'll be able to wear, it's crucial that you wait until you've fully healed to make any change. This will help keep the area as clean as possible.

The area will still be sensitive, even after it's completely healed, so it's a good idea to go back to where you got your piercing and ask if they can change the jewelry out for you. They'll know how to do it safely until you learn and it becomes easy to do yourself.

Avoid Clogging Creams and Ointments

Your septum piercing might get irritated but you never want to put any heavy creams or ointments on it. While the irritation might go away, you'll end up with a bigger problem.

Applying creams and ointments might end up clogging the fistula and lead to a bad infection. Avoid irritations and dry skin but continuing to do the saline solution aftercare and sea salt soaks.

Soap Is a No Go

While soap is the perfect solution to dirty hands, it doesn't work the same way with your septum piercing. Soap is known to dry your skin and if you try to wash the pierced area directly with soap it can lead the area to get irritated.

The best thing you can do is continue to use the saline and sea salt on the piercing. This will clean, disinfect, and help your piercing heal as quickly as possible.

Now You Know How to Clean a Septum Piercing

If you want to know how to clean a septum piercing, this guide has all the answers.

Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have about different jewelry options you'd like after your septum piercing heals. We'll also be happy to help with any other questions about our products, reach out!