Sleeping on piercings

[[NUTs]]

ok, obviously on a fresh one, it's painful, but what if it isn't so fresh. like my industrial is a month old, so obviously it's still tender to press on it, so i never sleep on it.... well i try >.< but i often roll over in my sleep without realizing it and wake up and be like aw crap.

is sleeping on it bad? will it slow down healing?

a freind of mine said sleeping on it reduces swelling.. to me it sounds liek the complete opposit would in fact happen, so i just don't know. though i mean i don't think i'd recognize swellign in my ear anyways, though i guess if it was swollen it would be more tender ninja

discuzz this ninja  

[Warninglv100]

Sleeping on piercings put pressure on them, and they really don't like that. Avoiding unecessary pressure is best, so not sleeping on it would be less of a hinderance to healing.

I'm not exactly sure about swelling, but I'm almost positive that it isn't going to reduce swelling. For one your ear is being slept on, so that means the blood in your head is going to rush down to that side, so that wouldn't reduce swelling a bit.

I still don't sleep on my right ear. My oldest piercing, my snug, I've had for 1 year and 5 months, and my newest two, helix and tragus, are 5 months. I couldn't imagine sleeping on one at a month old. gonk  

[[NUTs]]

i know but it's purely unintentional rofl  

[Warninglv100]

[NUTs]

i know but it's purely unintentional rofl

It takes some training to avoid it. It pretty much solved itself for me when my head like spasmed to the right and hit against my pillow. My ear decided it didn't like that and wouldn't be slept on again. blaugh  

[[NUTs]]

omg well the first night i got it, i was like a CORPSE. i didn't move an inch, whereas usualy i flip and flop around in my sleep liek mad. that night i didn't move my head, OR anything else. i was amazed xp i was probably scared shitless that why. now it' slike ok yeah i know it'll hurt but i wont worry about it i just want sleep rofl  

[Das Ist Mein Hamburger]

Lol. I arranged my pillows into an odd position. It would still cushion my head but then there would be a small gap between that wouldn't put pressure on my ear.

Try sleeping with a freshly pierced nape (Yes I got it done again because the other one popped out). I couldn't lie on my left or back so really I can only sleep on my right.  

[[NUTs]]

yeah i try to do that sometimes too, i put the pillow under my cheeck and forhead but not on my ear. not too confortable but when your aching for a position change, it's all u can do >.< that and i absolutely can never fall asleep on my back ninja  

[Zombina Corpse]

Often times, sleeping on a fresh piercing will cause it to irritate because it squeezes up against your body/the skin around it, and has no room to "breath". Not only will it cause pain because it's tender, but it'll infect, and could possibly reject.

If you have trouble with sleeping because you move in your sleep frequently, try wearing a hairclip on the side of your head with your industrial, that way when you roll over, your hairclip hits the pillow and not your industrial and you will realize "Oh s**t, my industrial *rolls over to the other side*" or something.
I never had a problem with it and just got used to sleeping on my left side. I can now sleep on my right again/on my industrial. My boyfriend who has BOTH industrials done, often will move his arm under his head and rest on that so he can lay on one side, but he is resting on his arm rather than his ear on the pillow, that way he isn't bothering his ear because the ear is in that little hole his arm made between him and the pillow beneath him.


So hopefully either of those work for you.  

[[NUTs]]

ooo the hairclip sounds like a really good idea eek maybe i'll try it if i get desperate. and i do that arm thing sometimes if i'm lieing on my bed to watch tv, but i odn't think i'd be able to fall asleep on it. too unfomfortable and i'm thinking my arm would go really numb xp  

[Muddud]

oh hell, did your friend really say it REDUCES swelling? wow, there's one i haven't heard before.

even completely healed piercings (i.e. piercings you've had for over two years) can get infected if there's too much pressure on it. i used to sleep under the kitchen table when i was a kid (my dog wasn't allowed in my bed, so i joined her by the heater) and the piercings i had would be pressed against the floor. i didn't think anything would happen after three years of them being healed but when i woke up one morning the pain was excruciating! it's happened several times due to uncompromised sleeping positions. usually you realize it halfway through the night when it starts to hurt and flip over. but if you're a deep sleeper, it's probably best to develope a preferred sleeping side.  

[Warninglv100]

This topic is fitting for me today. Apparently I must have fallen asleep on my back with my head tilted to the right where my piercings are. My snug is so very irritated from that, swollen too. It's 1.5 years old too. I can't decide if my two outer cartilage are affected or not.

But yea, sleeping is going to cause swelling, no reduce it. My snug proves it. xp

Side note: A piercing is not going to get infected from having pressure on it or sleeping on it. It can get irritated, but it's not going to get infected unless it's an open wound and something bacteria infested gets in it.

Using the term infected for any sign of irritation is a pet peeve of mine. I try to let it slide, but I saw it used at least twice in this thread. sad  

[[NUTs]]

gah, will your snug ever be suitable for sleeping on? a year and half, well thats a really long time eek i thought cartilage was supposed to be completely healed after a year  

[Warninglv100]

[NUTs]

gah, will your snug ever be suitable for sleeping on? a year and half, well thats a really long time eek i thought cartilage was supposed to be completely healed after a year

I don't know. I think it's a spoiled brat that needs to learn to deal. I still won't be sleeping on it til I finish my right ear project, so it still has time to be a brat. xp

Cartilage can take as long as it wants. The snug is a lot of tissue, and I even have a small one. It just depends on how your body heals and your anatomy.  

[Das Ist Mein Hamburger]

Oh hell. I slept on my nape and now it's a big swollen ball. Hmm what exactly are Hot Compresses? Because as soon as I had a hot shower, the swelling went down immediantly. I'm assuming heat can help your piercings somehow?  

[Fatal Fudge]

Your piercings needs air. Seriously. It will heal quicker if it gets to breath a little. It is logical you roll over in your sleep, because you will automatically will avoid uncomfortable positions. So it's only natural, especially when it isn't your ear lobes, but a more sensitive part of your body.