You should try to avoid sleeping on your side with a fresh earlobe piercing as it causes pressure, irritation, and can delay healing, but if you must, use a travel or donut pillow to cradle your ear in the middle hole and change your pillowcase often to prevent infection; sleeping on your back is best until the piercing is less tender.
you can actually sleep on it right away, but its recomendend not too. sleeping on it can irritate it. it takes 6--8 weeks to fully heal.
Try and sleep on your back to keep pressure off of the ear piercing, use a U-shaped travel pillow if you have to side-sleep, and, if needed, pull back your hair at night to prevent the piercing from getting caught. If you need, you can also consider an over-the-counter painkiller before bed.
The risk is higher if you sleep on your side, as the earrings can press against your head and cause discomfort. To address this, try sleeping without earrings and observe if your headaches improve. However, if you have a new piercing, you must keep your earrings in place.
Trauma or pressure: Excessive pulling, twisting, or sleeping on the piercing can disrupt the healing process and invite infections.
The 3/2 piercing rule is a guideline that helps determine a safe number of piercings for your ear's upper cartilage, specifically the helix and flat areas. The rule suggests that for every three units of unpierced cartilage, you can safely have two units of pierced cartilage. Think of it like a ratio.
Sleeping on a fresh piercing can lead to irritation and swelling, which may result in uneven healing. The truth is, piercings are often fitted with longer bars initially to accommodate any swelling that might occur.
A list of things to avoid. No touching, twisting, or rotating cartilage piercings. No sleeping on your new piercing without a Piercing Pillow. No rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide to clean your piercing.
If you are neglecting your piercing or doing things to it that may irritate it such as playing with it, sleeping on it, exposing it to harsh chemicals or changing it too early then it will be much more likely to experience complications, slow healing or not heal at all.
Other than to clean your piercing, avoid touching it as much as possible—do NOT rotate or twist. Spray the front and back of your piercing with sterile saline solution, 2 to 3 times a day. For certain piercings, it may be easier to apply using a clean non-woven gauze saturated with saline solution.
Ear piercing aftercare tips
the least painfulThe earlobe consists primarily of soft, fleshy tissue that facilitates piercing. Most people describe the sensation as a brief discomfort followed by a mild burning or stinging sensation. Its healing time usually lasts from 4 to 6 weeks.
Your piercing might be infected if:
Sleep on your back
But, if you're a tried and true side sleeper, use a piercing pillow to protect the new piercing. Pro Tip: Slip a clean pillow case or t-shirt over your piercing pillow and sleep on each side of the pillow just once in between changes to prevent additional bacteria from entering the site.
If your piercing is fully healed (usually after one year), sleeping without earrings for one night is typically fine.
Don't sleep on your jewelry. Putting pressure on your new piercing can cause issues like jewelry rejection (including pressure from headphones, hats, and anything you put near the piercing site). When you pierce your ears, a common issue is sleep.
There are three stages of wound healing your piercing will undergo; the inflammatory phase, the proliferative phase, and the remodeling phase (Komarcević, 2000). The inflammatory phase is the first phase and starts at the time of piercing and lasts approximately two to four days (Armstrong & Meyr, 2022).
Lobe Piercing
Lobe piercings are the classics. These guys are usually the fastest to heal and least likely to give you trouble. You still need to follow a good aftercare routine, especially if you're stacking multiple lobe piercings. For more details, peep our lobe ear piercing healing chart.
The "3/2 ear piercing rule" (or 2:3 ratio) is a styling guideline for a balanced ear curation, suggesting that for every two piercings (often in the lobes), you have three units of space, or alternatively, for every three piercings, you have two units of space, aiming for a harmonious, uncluttered look with graduating jewelry sizes and clear gaps between piercings for visual appeal and healing. It's about proportion, often pairing two lobe piercings with three upper cartilage piercings, or spacing piercings out to avoid crowding, with larger jewelry on the lobe and smaller studs higher up.
What piercings reject the most? Surface piercings have the highest rejection rate. Surface piercings such as microdermals as well as eyebrow piercings and navel piercings reject the most because they are closest to the surface of the skin.
Typically, we tell clients to stay out of the water for the full healing time of their piercing but the minimum time you should avoid submerging the new piercing is 3 months after you get it to drastically decrease chances of irritation or infection.
When you sleep on a fresh piercing, several issues can arise: Pressure on the jewelry can cause inflammation and delay healing. Bacteria from pillowcases may enter the piercing site. Jewelry can shift position if you toss and turn.
Rinse under running water or use a peri-cleanse bottle (available over the counter in most drug stores); it has a squirt top which is ideal for rinsing the area. Urine may irritate the area but usually does not cause infection. Keep the new piercing clean. Never touch it with dirty hands.
If you have a piercing, chances are you've probably slept on it at some point and may be wondering if it's okay to continue doing so once it's fully healed. The short answer is yes, you can sleep on your piercings after they are healed.
Gently wash your piercings with a mild, fragrance-free cleanser and water at least once a day. Thoroughly rinse your piercings after washing them. Avoid cleaning your piercing with hydrogen peroxide or antibacterial soaps, which can damage your healing skin.