Avoid eating, drinking, and smoking for the first 3 hours. Until your piercing is completely healed, you should also avoid: Alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, and drugs. Sticky foods, including oatmeal. Hard food, candy, and gum.
It can irritate the piercing and delay healing. Avoid oral sexual contact including wet kissing or oral sex during healing. Avoid chewing on tobacco, gum, fingernails, pencils, sunglasses, and other foreign objects that could harbor bacteria.
Don't eat spicy, salty, acidic, or hot temperature foods or beverages for a few days. Be extra careful of your jewelry when eating crunchy food. Cold foods and drinks feel good and help reduce swelling. Foods like mashed potatoes and oatmeal are hard to eat because they stick to your mouth and jewelry.
Be careful what you eat while your lip piercing is healing, particularly during the first week or two. Take small bites of food and chew gently, and avoid foods that may irritate your lip piercing, like chips and crusty bread.
Avoid eating, drinking, and smoking for the first 3 hours.
For as long as possible, and certainly for the first 3 hours after receiving your piercing, leave your lip piercing alone. Avoid talking as much as possible. Until your piercing is completely healed, you should also avoid: Alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, and drugs.
Don't twist, turn or slide your jewelry to loosen crusties. You could push bacteria into your fistula and trigger an infection to develop. Don't touch your jewelry at all unless you really need to, and then only with freshly-washed hands. Don't use alcohol-based mouthwash at all while your lip piercing heals.
Initially, the main concern with oral piercings is reducing the initial swelling and getting it to go away as soon as possible. We find it's important to avoid irritants like smoking/vaping/etc., harsh chemicals like mouthwash and toothpaste, spicy foods, strong acids like lemon juice, alcohol, and excessive salt.
Don't engage in any kissing or oral sex for at least 3 weeks after the piercing. Stop yourself picking at any scabs that form as they prevent bacteria from entering the body and causing infection.
Showering: Shower like you normally do; the last thing you will do while in the shower is clean your piercing. Lather up some mild, fragrance free, non-antibacterial soap in your hands and gently wash your piercing. You want enough friction to clean the piercing, but not so much that you cause trauma to it.
You'll have swelling and pain during the first few days of healing. If it goes on for weeks, talk to your piercer or doctor. It may be an infection or may become one if not checked.
Beyond that, oral piercings that go through the vermillion border of the lip usually cause some quite chapped lips while they are healing. Despite that, its not safe to use any chapstick, oils, or balms on your lips as they will get into the piercing and cause irritation.
It's also recommended that you remove the piercing when you eat, sleep, brush your teeth, and undertake any strenuous activity. This will help to avoid any damage to your teeth or gums both when you use your mouth the most, and when you have little control over the contact between your gums, teeth, and piercings.
Be sure to remove food and debris around the piercing site after every meal. Good oral hygiene habits such as brushing and flossing daily are essential to reduce your risks. Avoid playing with your piercing against your teeth or gums because that may cause gum recession or tooth fracture.
Oral. Oral piercings, or piercings that have constant contact with your saliva, tend to heal a lot easier than most other piercings, due to the healing properties of our own saliva. Tongue piercings have the fastest healing duration of all piercings at only two weeks before you can downsize the bar.
Lip piercing is becoming a much more common thing with women especially, but it doesn't mean the healing process it simple. The intake of food, alcohol or cigarettes leaves pockets of bacteria in the mouth and can sometimes extend to the lips. If a pierced lip is not kept clean, it can get infected very easily.
Lip & Other Oral Piercings
The good news is that you should be totally fine to wear lipstick again in 2-4 weeks. That is unless you are healing a vertical philtrum or vertical labret. For these, we recommend you remain lipstick-free until they're fully healed.
"The lip is red because it's very vascular, so it tends to swell. Your body's not going to reject a lip piercing, but it's too much tissue the hoop is going through."
Studies have shown that over 25% of young people with lip piercings and almost 50% of those with tongue piercings have suffered from some type of permanent tooth damage. Oral piercings can also result in damage to the enamel, fillings, and orthodontic appliances (braces and retainers).
That means don't sleep on it (so for lip piercings, avoid sleeping on your stomach) and be extra careful not to snag it on clothing when getting dressed. Using saline spray is a great and gentle way to keep your lip piercing clean (avoid using harsh products like rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, and soaps).
Center Vertical Bottom Lip Piercing - Vertical Labret
This piercing is an excellent option for those who don't want to risk damage to the teeth or gums, since the actual jewelry never touches the inside of the mouth.