I told him "forever" and now he's scared!

Bwahaha!

srsly, your healing progression sounds pretty normal to me so far.

Yep! I think it's going great. I only hope that crusties won't be a constant companion for long.

The morning woody with crusties = ouch!

Sometimes sitting, getting in & out of a car, etc with crusties = ouch!

I might add that the piercer put in a 14 gauge curved barbell and I'm thinking that a shorter straight barbell might eliminate that, when I'm able to change jewelry.

LOL, yeah, I can see that. If it were me, I'd apply a little oil after a nice long sea salt soak at night. This would draw out the fluid and maybe that and the oil would prevent the crusties from building up and being painful in the morning.

I'd like to get opinions from some of the guys, though.

If you want more info on oil, here's a link to my Tribe blog with that stuff in it:

http://www.tribalectic.com/Drupal/content/cloud-says-oil-those-piercings

so, I encouraged you to post for more replies, and no go, LOL!

Try this routine tonight before bed:

1) wash and soak (NOT IN URINE!) with a hot sea salt soak to draw out fluids and remove any crusties that are already there.

2) dab a little bit of oil (like olive oil if you have that around the house) around--not in- the holes after cleaning and soaking.

Let me know if that helps in the morning. I really think it should.

It's early yet! People will weigh in, I'm sure.

I can dab some oil. Now, you mean right to the edge of the hole, right, but not in the hole?

(What ya got against urine? If that was bad, a PA would never heal, would it? They heal faster than most. It's sterile, salty, warm & wet. Anyway, I can give that up if you know of something bad about it.)

it's fine if urine gets on there, but it's not the same as soaking with salt water.

and yes, dab around the edge of the hole where the crusties tend to form (not in the hole itself)

OK, but I need more than that. What do you base that on?

I have nine frenums and they vary in age from 5yrs to 1yr. You will always get crusties, but it does lessen with age. A lot depends on what activities you do and how well your boys can breathe down there. The more of a sweat you work up, the funkier the crust. Sea salt soaks are your best friend right now, but the older your piercing gets the less you will have to soak it. Just be gentle with it and all will be well.

Thanks, man.

I was hoping that wouldn't happen.

time heals all wounds...for now...keep using sea salt or saline (for contact lenses) and a little aloe vera gel once in a while. also, be sure that your jewelry allows for "expansion" (not too small). avoid a lot of flapping around.

I don't think urine has the same osmosis action, acting to pull out the lymph etc. Besides, sterile or not, it's gross.

I mean, theoretically you might want another person to put their mouth there someday, right? "Hi, I soak my junk in pee" just does not sound right as a come on line . . .

Well, you need to think about it and research it.
I suppose if they are willing to put something I pee out of in their mouth, something that was once dipped in it to treat crusties (which crustied would be 10 times worse!), then washed, probably wouldn't bother them.

Why does a PA and inner labia heal faster?

Blood flow? I'd say that's marginal when compared to an upper frenum, or a frenum in general.

The answer must be the urine. It's not gross when clean.

I don't, but some people drink it as therapy. I do not advocate Urine Therapy, but research it before you dismiss dipping crusties in it to loosen and rid yourself of them.

I think I healed fast. Maybe due to urine; maybe not. But, I'm sure it didn't hurt.

The lingering tenderness and the crusties, I hope, will resolve itself .. sooner, rather than later. Without a better reason, it will be using urine.

I don't have any organic oil, but I'll look for some at the grocery tomorrow. Maybe that'll help, as well.

Almost any tip is a good tip.

I had 3 Frenums & 11 Scrotals for years and crusties were pretty much a fact of life. I washed well in the shower daily, did occasional sea salt soaks, but they were just there. They definitely were not as bad as they were originally, but I still got them. That being said, everyone is different.

As for the whole urine thing… try knocking that off and see if things clear up. If you are doing everything else correctly, as you stated, there is no need for the urine step. People get all gung ho on that, but there are many differences. The skin is thinner, it is a urine stream, not urine being applied, urine is only sterile immediately upon exiting your body but your body it getting rid of it because it is waste, so on. Not to mention urine goes rancid which can just add to problems. If basic common sense doesn’t make you stop, just remember you are hear with a problem and urine sounds like the only thing urine doin’ wrong! LOL!

BTW- I deserve some kind of credit for not making more jokes about the urine thing!

Good Luck & let us know!

Okay, lets handle this whole urine thing. Yes, in most cases (i.e. unless you have a UTI or kidney infection) urine is sterile. But do you know what is in urine? Ammonia and urea. Ammonia will undoubtedly aggravate a wound. Also, with urine you cannot guarantee proper salinity.

Example: Urine has a specific gravity of around 1.003 while 0.9% saline solution (isotonic to our body) has a specific gravity of 1.09. Assuming that the only substance other than water in urine is salt, then we can conclude that urine is less saline than an isotonic saline solution and is therefore hypotonic. Hypotonic saline solutions actually force water into cells via osmosis and you risk "blowing" the cell up until it ruptures. Obviously, this isn't too good for healing tissues! Now, considering there are a vast number of compounds in urine other than salt, we can conclude that it is even LESS saline than the specific gravity might indicate, meaning is is also even MORE hypotonic.

So, using urine to soak (ick!) a new piercing is actually extremely counterproductive. Not only do you not have the proper salinity to facilitate removal of debris, etc from the piercing site, but you also aren't getting the benefits of the heat from a SSS, which causes capillaries to dilate and allows for increased blood flow, bringing with it more nutrients for new cells and more white blood cells to fight off any bacteria that may have made its way into the wound.

I love science...

Now, why does a PA heal faster? Yes, it is due to increased blood supply. The tissue that is pierced with a PA is FAR more vascular than that little bit of skin a frenum is pierced through. A frenum is more akin to a lobe piercing than it is a PA/reverse PA, etc.

I defer to the wisdom of others, but I'd like to point out, I never said urine took the place of SSS, just an addition to it.

Also, the 'problem' I'm having is the crusties and pretty much everybody has said they are here for good, even without urine.

That's really the "ick" part on so many levels.
Even if they no longer hurt when healed, as long as they are there: ick!

I'll give it time and if they persist, the frenum's gone. But, that's me.

This aspect should be advertised more.

Even with a bundle of research and questions, I didn't come across that. Maybe if nothing else, this post will serve that purpose to a few.

I think the crusty situation is just a fact of life of all piercings. Really, crusties aren't that disgusting... its just dried lymph.

Maybe I'll get used to them or come to accept them, but I doubt it.

Only time will tell.

Thanks everybody!

Man if you are saying ouch for a frenum erection i'm going to revoke your man card

just like the rest of your body, piercings need to be kept clean. This should not be a surprise.

Is that suitable behavior for a moderator? Pity.

Of course it's kept clean; a lot cleaner now than it has ever been.

Crusties have become a surprise, not cleanliness.

I just never expected them to continue after healing and I doubt that I'm healed yet.

I'm hoping it'll go away.

I don't mind my man card being revoked. I never was a macho being anyway.

I'm hoping that a less loose piece of jewelry that doesn't get caught on stuff will help. I'm going from a 14 gauge curved barbell to a 10 gauge straight barbell that, hopefully, just fits.

It's all a learning process, ain't it?

Rad, I wasn't insulting you, subtly or otherwise. I offered some pretty good advice, I thought. Sorry if you took it some other way.

However, you expressed your surprise at the continued presence of crusties, and that this aspect should be talked about more, so this is what I'm trying to do.

It's common sense, really--just like any other orifice of the body, piercings do exude fluid and need to be kept clean. Continued maintenance of all piercings to remove exudate, even after healing, is a fact of life.

Getting back to the oiling thing, I had my frenum pierced yesterday and was interested to see that you can dab a little olive oil on it to prevent snagging. Can this be done right from day one or is it advisable to let it heal a little first?

yes, you can use the oil from the beginning; but you may not need to, because the crusties typically don't show up immediately.

Nice one i will get the oil on standby ready for the dreaded crusties

Recently, I was told to get gold jewelry.

I was told that crusties are the body's response to a metal it doesn't like.

It's on order and I'll report how that goes.

I hope that you purchased gold jewelry because you like the looks of it. It will not be crusty free anymore so than any other metal. The crusties are just a product of the healing process. Keep soaking and enjoy the bling.

The healing process? That's what I thought, but read this whole thread.

People are telling me it's a fact of life forever (and that they're not so bad!).

Gold or not, I don't care. I don't like crusties, but if it's for a few months or so, I can deal with that.

Alot of crusties are part of the healing process, but piercings can get crusties/gooey forever. When they do, you just need to wash them off. I just spend a bit more time in the shower cleanign them than the rest of me.

There's a difference in the exudate depending on the stage of healing.

"Crusties," as we call it, typically refers to what you get during the initial healing stage, when the flesh tube on the inside is still healing, and it mainly consists of of lymph fluid, dead skin cells, and other secretions.

Even after complete healing, crusties can still occur, but it's more common for the exudate in a healed piercing to be composed of sebum, a substance from the oil glands, which collects in healed piercing channels. Sebum is a naturally occurring product of the body, containing fat, keratin, and cellular material, and is often foul smelling.

So, yes. Some kind of build up on your jewelry is common for the life of the piercing; and that includes even a fully healed piercing with the jewelry removed. Just like toe jam and belly button smut, the body will produce sebum where it wants.

If that is a problem for you, then you may want to remove your piercings immediately so they have a chance at closing completely, and refrain from getting new piercings.

Anecdotally, you can reduce the incidence of foul-smelling exudate (and speed up healing for new piercings) if you keep your health in top condition and stay well hydrated.

P.S. The body can react to metal it doesn't like, but to say crusties are a reaction to such metal is not true, or at best, incomplete. Furthermore, if that's the case, gold is not the best solution; although it is the more costly solution (I hope the person telling you that was not the same person selling the jewelry). Titanium would be a better choice for that, and much, much cheaper.