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Bactine spray should never be used on piercings – especially healing piercings. It contains harsh chemicals that delay the healing process. Remember that your piercing was done in a sterile environment so there’s no need to clean it. It will heal fine on its own. Bactine will dry out your piercings, which could give you irritation bumps and cause your healing process to take even longer.
What is the Best Aftercare Spray For Piercings?
The only kind of aftercare spray you should be using on your piercings is a wound wash composed only of sterile saline solution. We recommend Neilmed’s wound wash. You can purchase any wound wash or saline spray from your local drug store, but make sure it only has two ingredients: salt (sodium chloride) and water. Any other ingredients will dry out your piercing and cause more harm than good.
What Can I Spray on an Infected Piercing?
If you know your piercing is infected, don’t spray anything on it. Go to the doctor. They will give you oral antibiotics which is the only way to clear up your infection. Piercing infections are very serious and you should not attempt to self medicate – it could be deadly. Visit your doctor as soon as possible and do exactly what they say and nothing more or less.
It should be noted that many people think they have an infection when it’s actually just the signs of a perfectly healthy healing piercing, or an irritation bump. If you have any doubts, you should still visit your doctor or your piercer.
What Can You Use to Clean Piercings?
You don’t need to clean your piercings – really! Many people believe that all wounds need to be cleaned in order to stay healthy. But the reason you need to clean your average wound is because bacteria and other debris were present when the wound occurred.
For example, if you were scratched by a cat, all of the bacteria that was on the cat’s claw would be in your scratch and you need to wash it out to prevent infection. If you skinned your knee on the driveway, all of the bacteria off the driveway would be in your skinned knee, so you need to clean it. But if you were pierced professionally, the needle that wounded you was sterile, which means it didn’t have any bacteria on it. It’s the same reason you don’t need to clean out a wound caused by surgery.
You should never use anything other than water/salt water on piercings or you will hinder the healing process.
Why is Bactine Bad For Piercings?
If you take a look at the back of your Bactine bottle, it will say “Consult a doctor before use if you have a puncture wound”. Piercings are puncture wounds, so you should never use Bactine on a piercing without first asking a doctor.
But we’ll save you a step and tell you that you should never use Bactine on a piercing – period. Bactine contains many harsh chemicals (Lidocaine and Benzalkonium for example) that should never be used on a healing piercing. The chemicals will do nothing more than dry out your piercing, causing irritation bumps and a longer healing period. The only chemical you should ever put on your piercing is dihydrogen monoxide (water) and sodium chloride (salt).
Conclusion
Bactine should never be used for healing piercings. Not only is Bactine generally unsafe for puncture wounds (a piercing is a puncture wound that goes all the way through the flesh), it contains harsh chemicals that will only delay the healing process and cause you pain. You don’t need to clean your piercing because it was (hopefully) performed in a sterile environment and therefore, there is nothing to wash out. If you like, you can use saline solution to “wash” your piercing.
