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Shoutout to sterilizing my own piercings with a pressure cooker
I used to just soak my homemade piercing tools in rubbing alcohol for 10 minutes before poking. Lost count of how many infections I got from that method, probably 4 or 5 over two years. Then a buddy in nursing school told me about using a pressure cooker at 15 PSI for 20 minutes to kill everything. I started doing that six months ago and have had zero problems since. The setup cost me $40 for a used cooker at a thrift store. Has anyone else tried this or do you still stick with the chemical soak approach?
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dylan_brown302mo ago
Pressure cookers are fine for canning food but they don't automatically mean sterile jewelry tools. You're trusting a thrift store gasket and a gauge that might not even be accurate anymore. If that pressure cooker is off by just a few PSI you're basically steaming your tools not sterilizing them. Plus most home pressure cookers don't hold the precise temperature required for medical grade sterilization the way an autoclave does. I'd rather do a proper chemical soak with a hospital grade disinfectant than gamble on a secondhand pot from Goodwill.
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elliotm572mo ago
Zero problems since" is exactly what I needed to hear... I've been doing the alcohol soak method for years and honestly I'm tired of the constant worry about whether it's actually clean. Might have to hit up some thrift stores this weekend, $40 is nothing compared to what I've spent on antibiotic ointment.
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