1.
Suck on ice chips to soothe the interior of your mouth. The cold will also help squash the swelling of cheek, tongue and lip piercings. If you don't like sucking on plain ice, add some chips to your favorite beverage so you can enjoy the added flavor.
2.
Indulge in your fave frozen drinks or eats to make mouth piercings feel better and bring down swelling. Of course, if the piercing isn't in your mouth, this won't do any good, but go ahead and have that smoothie or sundae anyway.
3.
Chill your lip, nose, eyebrow, chin, cheek or ear piercings with an ice pack. Leave it on for 10 minutes, and then take it off for about 45 minutes to one hour before putting it back on again. You can also apply a warm, wet chamomile tea bag to your piercing if you don't care for the chill. Cover it with a folded, dry towel to keep the warmth going. When it's no longer warm, remove it. Repeat if you want.
4.
Pop OTC anti-inflammatory pills to prevent puffiness. Make sure you read the dosage directions for safety.
5.
Try not to give your mouth or other area of your face a workout while you're healing. That means don't gab with your girls all night long or start doing those facial toning exercises you've been wanting to try. Bottom line: the less movement the better.
6.
Prop your head up on pillows when grabbing some shut-eye. This will keep your head above your heart and help keep the swelling from sneaking up on you while you sleep. You don't want to wake up looking like a blow-fish, right?
Your body's healing time will be different from other people's healing times. As long as you don't have any signs of infection such as pus, extreme redness, excessive pain or fever, be patient.
No extra pillows in the house? Take a snooze in a reclining chair.
Small amounts of whitish-yellow fluid leaking from the piercing site area are normal, but thick yellowish pus is a signal of an infection. If you see pus, drop everything and get to your doc as soon as possible.
Don't take your jewelry out of the piercing site unless you want it to close up. Yes, it can happen very quickly.
