Healing times will vary from person to person. All sorts of things can increase the healing but a good choice of metal (i.e. Titanium), good and careful aftercare as well as a zinc supplement will help reduce your healing time. But, please remember, you and your body MUST work together to make a piercing successful. With nipple and navel piercings, you have to be extra careful as they are constantly under clothes. This will cause the piercing to become hot and sticky (a perfect breeding ground for germs).

Average healing times are as follows:

Cartilage: Three to six months

Nipples / Navels: Three to six months

Facial: Within three months

Your body piercer will advise you on aftercare.

We do recommend using a Saline Solution to clean your piercing. We do offer NeilMed Piercing Aftercare Saline Solution at all of our piercing studios.

Infections are prevented with proper care and attention to your piercing. Alloy metals like stainless steel can often tire your immune system making you more prone to infection. But even implant-certified titanium or implant-grade steel won't stop you from getting an infection if your piercing is being aggravated or rarely cleaned. Proper aftercare is essential and a must if you want to avoid infection.

Make sure you are well rested, well hydrated and have eaten recently.

There is no charge to have one of our piercers insert your new jewelry that was purchased here (insertion/jewelry change must be done at the time of the jewelry purchase - piercing also must be completely healed to insert/change jewelry.) There is a $10 charge per piercing if you bring in your own jewelry (price varies depending on piercing and complexity of the jewelry insert/change, our piercer will provide a quote after assessing what is needed.) If you were pierced at Certified by one of our piercers, we will also gladly help remove or adjust your jewelry as needed at no cost. Retainers are available for purchase, if needed.

We’ve all seen the storefronts and kiosks advertising free ear piercings with the purchase of jewelry. You may think, “That sounds like a good deal?” The problem is not in the price but the procedure. So what’s wrong with ear piercing guns? While we won’t go into all the reasons you shouldn’t get pierced with a guns, here are the main ones:

Piercing guns cannot be effectively sterilized, and there are documented cases of disease transmission from piercing guns.

Gun studs do not accommodate for the different thicknesses of ears and earlobes, and the studs can easily become embedded. Additionally, piercing studs are not usually made from implant-grade materials, and as a result, reactions to the jewelry are not uncommon, especially for those with a sensitivity to nickel.

Operators working at piercing kiosks are not trained in bloodborne pathogens and disease transmission. There are documented cases of disease transmission from piercing guns because of the ignorance of aseptic technique and a lack of basic knowledge of disease transmission.

Here’s why you may want to consider getting pierced at Certified Tattoo Studios instead of your local mall:

- We use single-use, disposable piercing needles and aseptic technique—the same as your dentist. Jewelry is sterilized prior to insertion, and any other implements used (forceps, etc.) are sterilized as well.

- We use jewelry at a length selected specifically for you, made of material proven to be safe for the body. The posts we use for initial ear piercings are either implant-certified titanium or implant-grade steel, which are considered safe for initial piercings.

Everyone on our staff is certified with bloodborne pathogens training by the National CPR Foundation.

No. There is the opinion still held by some that if you do not rotate your jewelry occasionally during healing that your skin will adhere to or “grow into” the post. This is not true. With implant-grade titanium and steel jewelry (and even glass) the surface is non-porous and will not adhere to skin. This is not to say that you won’t have some scabbing and dried lymph that adheres to your jewelry during healing. Just keep with your regular cleaning regimen and this will wash away naturally. As for twisting the jewelry: just leave it alone. If you’re not cleaning your piercing, keep your hands off it.

The initial jewelry should be left in for the duration of the healing period, but you can change your jewelry as soon as it is healed. For earlobes, this means six to eight weeks; for cartilage, six to twelve months, minimum.

For most, earlobe piercings tend to stay open (even without jewelry) after a year or more (but this is no hard, fast rule), while cartilage piercings can take considerably longer. A good rule of thumb: if you want to keep your piercing, keep something in it.

Looking through images in our galleries or other places online is a great way to get ideas, but ears can vary greatly from person-to-person, so something that works well online (or on your friend) may not work for you.

If there is a piercing configuration that appeals to you, bring in the picture and talk to one of our piercers. Even if you’re not suited for what you’re asking about, they can recommend something that will work for your particular ear.

This is perfectly OK to be pierced with, just make sure you’re not allergic to the metal you have chosen.

Biologically, everyone differs, so what happens to one person after a piercing may not necessarily happen to another. You can always ask your piercer to look at your piercing if you suspect any healing problems or infection.

If you are happy with the service provided, you are encouraged to tip your piercer to thank them for a job well done—but this is in no way required. Like in other service-based industries, 20% is standard, but if you love the service you’ve received you can always tip more! All tips are appreciated.

For inserting jewelry or other free services, $5 to $10 is gracious, but more is always appreciated if the service we've provided is especially difficult or time-consuming.