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Aspirin paste can be used in a pinch to temporarily shrink a piercing bump. To understand when you should be using aspirin paste, you must first understand why piercing bumps form. Another word for piercing bump is “irritation bump“, and it gets this name because it appears when something is irritating your piercing. Aspirin paste works because it’s very drying, so it dries up the bump. However, the piercing will continue to reappear so long as the cause of the irritation is still there.
How To Get Rid of a Piercing Bump Fast
If you have an event where you need to quickly look presentable, aspirin paste can work. For example, if you need to attend a wedding in a few days and your nose piercing sprouted an irritation bump.
How To Make Aspirin Paste for a Piercing
To make aspirin paste, you’ll need to have an uncoated and un-gelled form of aspirin. Crust three to four aspirin tablets and mix it with a tablespoon of hot water. Take care not to make the paste too thick as you don’t want any solids to be stuck in your piercing hole. If the mixture is too thick, add hot water until you get a good consistency. Allow the mixture to sit until it won’t burn you (but don’t let it sit so long that it dries up).
How Long to Leave Aspirin Paste on a Piercing
We’ve seen people recommend to leave aspirin paste on a piercing bump overnight. This is way too long! You should remember that aspirin paste works because it’s very drying, but drying out a piercing is one of the things that causes irritation bumps in the first place. Aspirin paste should only be applied for 10 minutes before being rinsed off to avoid irritating the piercing. You should also avoid applying aspirin paste more than once per day. If you still have your piercing bump the day after using aspirin paste, you may reapply the paste for 10 more minutes.
How to Treat a Piercing Bump
As previously mentioned in this article, aspirin paste is not a treatment for piercing bumps. Irritation bumps occur because the piercing is irritated and simply removing the bump will not treat it. After you stop applying the aspirin paste, the piercing bump will come back. You can only treat a piercing bump by finding the underlying cause and fixing it. Most times, irritation bumps are caused either by bad jewelry (jewelry of the wrong size or made of a poor quality material). Or because the piercing is being touched too often (either intentionally or while sleeping). If you can’t find the root cause of your irritation bump, visit your piercer for help.
Conclusion
Aspirin paste can be used for a short term emergency when you need your bump to disappear. To actually treat your irritation bump, you’ll need to treat the underlying cause. Visit your piercer for help changing out your jewelry if you don’t know what could cause the irritation. To use aspirin paste, use three to four ground up uncoated tablets mixed with a tablespoon of hot water. Don’t apply the paste for longer than 10 minutes per day.
