How long should you wait before you change your lip piercing (jewelry), and what will happen if you remove or change the piercing after just 2 weeks?
Well, this article takes you through everything you need to know about lip piercings, the healing time, and when it’s safe to change the jewelry – 2 weeks or 8 weeks? So, let’s get right into it!
Can I change my lip piercing after 2 weeks?
The standard healing time for lip piercing is generally between 6 and 8 weeks.
Unfortunately, not everyone is able to hold on to the new piercing jewelry for that long.
You may love how the new piercing looks, and you cannot wait to start wearing all the cool lip piercing jewelry you just added to your collection, but after 2 weeks, you feel a lot of discomfort with the existing piercing jewelry. So, what do you do then?
Even if you don’t like the initial jewelry for the piercing, we recommend leaving the jewelry on until the piercing heals.
Others may recommend changing the piercing jewelry after 2 or 4 weeks, but removing the jewelry before the piercing heals fully is not the ideal thing to do, and you may reopen the healing hole when removing or putting in the new jewelry.
So, we recommend against removing or changing out your lip piercing after just 2 weeks. Instead, wait until the lip piercing is fully healed – that would take between 6 weeks and 3 months, depending on the type and the position of the lip piercing.
Once the piercing starts to heal, say after about 3 or 4 weeks, then you may replace the starter lip stud with a different and safer kind of jewelry that is least likely to have a negative impact on the healing of the piercing and your oral health in general.
If you must change the lip piercing after only two weeks, the discomfort is unbearable; you might want to make an appointment with the piercer who will fit get new piercing jewelry re-fitted for extra comfort and to encourage faster healing.
That said, not even your piercer can recommend the jewelry change for the piercing if it is still unhealed for aesthetics. In most cases, the change is only acceptable after the piercing starts to heal and the swelling goes down.
When making these changes in the 2-4week window, you want to make sure that the substitute jewelry is made of the safest nickel-free materials like titanium metal or even Bioplast.
How long do I have to wait after lip piercing to remove jewelry?
As long as the lip piercing is unproblematic and healing well, and you are following all the aftercare instructions, it will be safe to remove the lip piercing stud after 6 to 8 weeks. This is also the time it takes for the lip piercing to heal.
But this is not always the case, and the healing period or the lip piercing is variable depending on the type of piercing.
If you have a Monroe Piercing, Joker Bite, or Medusa Piercing, you’ll need to be extra careful because the piercing takes up to 3 months to heal, and others take longer.
The healings times also change depending on the person and also how diligent you are when taking care of the piercing as it heals. It’s important to also note that the piercing doesn’t heal in 2 weeks.
When can I change my lip piercing to a smaller one?
The initial lip piercing and the piercing stud used initially is often larger than the stud you will need later on. The reason for this is that the initial piercing has to be large to accommodate the initial swelling.
So, after some time, the most sensible thing to do will be to switch to smaller piercing jewelry. But you cannot make this change after a few days – we recommend waiting for at least 2 or 4 weeks before you swap the jewelry out.
And since the piercing site might still be tender, you want to consider going back to the piercer for the swap to be done professionally and safely.
Tips for Changing Your Lip Piercing for the First Time
- If you must change the lip piercing in a 2 to 4 weeks period, these are the tips that will guide you for the safest lip piercing change.
- First, you should be standing in front of a very well-lit mirror that allows you to see the piercing and what you are doing very clearly. Lighting is very important because the hole is usually very small when taking out the initial stud.
- Next, thoroughly wash your hands using water and antibacterial soap. This will prevent infections while changing the piercing. So, after rinsing your hand, dry them on a clean towel or kitchen towels.
- Now to the real task at hand. Open a bottle with sterile saline solution, then pour the saline water on the end of a cotton swab until it is completely saturated in the saline solution. Then pull the initial lip stud from the lip, away from the outside of the lip. Do this very gently using one hand, and then rub the cotton swab around the stud’s a stem/post 2 or 3 times to ensure the complete removal of any debris and also to loosen the stud from the skin surrounding it.
- Next, grasp the stud on the outside of the lip using the fingers of your other hand. Gently spin the stud in the hold once to twice to loosen it, and then reach inside the mouth/ lip using your other hand. Get a hold of the stud’s back portion very firmly with your fingers. This should be easy, but if it isn’t, you may need forceps to hold on to the back part of the studs very firmly. With the back part held in place, grasp the piercing’s front part, then turn it counterclockwise until it’s screwed off its stem; then pull out the stem from inside the mouth with your other hand inside the mouth. Once it’s out, set down the two pieces of jewelry.
- Now, apply some more of the saline solution onto the cotton swab to clean the outside and the inside of the piercing thoroughly and to get rid of any debris present.
- After cleaning the piercing hole, it’s now time to insert the new stud. Insert it from the inside of your mouth, then screw in place the ball and stud portion on the outside in a clockwise motion using the other hand. If you are inserting a lip ring, you’d want to guide the stem from the front then align it to the back inside the mouth.
Conclusion
It’s ideal to wait for the piercing to heal fully before you change the piercing jewelry, but if you must change the jewelry, you can only do that after 2 to 4 weeks.
Read more piercing tips here or here!
Stephanie is a jewelry lover when she was a teenager. Her major was fashion design when she was in college. She is a jewelry designer at SOQ Jewelry and other design companies. Now she is also a writer for our website. She writes a lot of designs&brands posts with very actionable tips.