Infected piercing?

SunnyDaysDontLie · October 2010

Anyone know what to do? I refuse to let these close up. Period. I love my earrings, I love the hoops I put into my cartilage, etc. Anyhow. The infected one [I have 4 in my left ear, 3 in my right, this one is on my right ear] is mid cartilage. Not quite up on the stiff part of your ear, but not the lobe. And my earring fell out, the little starter one. So, I figure my hair got caught under the back and popped it off. I go to place it back on, and as I do so, I brush a bump on the back of my ear. I figure it's just scar tissue. No. It's huge. Kinda like a zit, but it isn't. <a href="http://i56.tinypic.com/2vbv4ok.jpg"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">http://i56.tinypic.com/2vbv4ok.jpg</a> I had my ear bent in an awkward position with my phone in an awkward position, so I'm sorry... It's the red dot, and the whitish-yellow around it. It's driving me crazy, I had to take the earring out and I'm scared it'll close up, so I hope it's gone soon. Plus, my foods teacher likes to scare people, and decided she was going to inform me of elephant ear. Which, I've heard of, and seen it, but my right ear is the only -decent- ear I have, as in I have lost the majority of my hearing [about 90%] in my left, and a little percentage in my right. D; So elephant ear in my good ear = bad. Does anyone know what to do? I took decent care of it, cleaned it three times a day, every day, and twice a day when school started. I think what happened is my hair is left down a lot since it got longer and isn't as wavy, and it got wrapped around my ear and pulled whenever I would tuck it behind my ears.

Alabama · October 2010

Keep cleaning it with rubbing al-cohol and keep an anti-biotic cream on the bump. You can keep the earring in, just make sure to soak it in rubbing al-cohol anytime you take it out and put it back in.

SunnyDaysDontLie · October 2010

Alabama wrote:

Keep cleaning it with rubbing al-cohol and keep an anti-biotic cream on the bump. You can keep the earring in, just make sure to soak it in rubbing al-cohol anytime you take it out and put it back in.

Alright, I'll be sure to do that. I'll tell mom to get rubbing alcohol tomorrow after work..

Sea Oats · October 2010

My cartilage does that too. It's almost like a huge blister, but it doesn't pop, right? Mine will go down and stay normal for a few months and every once in a while it will flare up and get really sore and tender (usually when I sleep on it weird), but the worst thing to do is take the earring out because it just aggravates it more. It happened to me this past week, actually. It's still really swollen. I don't know where you got that done, but if they did it with a gun, that's probably why. I learned my lesson with that piercing, you never ever ever get anything done with a gun, period. It's just a buildup of scar tissue because of how the gun displaces the cartilage when they pierce it, and the best thing is to either do hot water compresses until it goes down or a saltwater rinse a few times a day. You don't want to use peroxide or alcohol on any piercing because it dries it out too much. It's ok to soak the jewelry in it, but don't put it directly on the piercing, but like I said, I wouldn't take the earring out because that's just causing more damage. If you have something like Bactine (what they told me to use on any new piercing) or H2Ocean, that would be a good thing to spray on it, and if not they sell it at Walmart. Took the back off the earring so you could see it. It's really nasty right now. >.< <a href="http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc40/Sea-Oats/Mobile Uploads/1004101716.jpg" target="_blank" class="bb-url">http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc40 ... 101716.jpg</a> Cartilage just isn't a good thing to have pierced, it hardly ever heals correctly, even when the piercer knows what they're doing. As cute as it is, and I don't want to take it out, I regret my cartilage piercing more than any other one I have. I've had more trouble with it, even now 2 and a half years later, than I ever had with my bellybutton piercing AND my tattoo combined.

SunnyDaysDontLie · October 2010

Holland, thanks. Yeah, that's exactly what it is, only it's huge, and pointy like the top of a zit. It hurts like hell, but I shoved the earring in my jewelry box, so I'll go get it. My other cartilage piercing I have no issue with. I had a bit of an issue getting the curved hoops you get at Hot Topic in, but that's only because of the shape and the fact I couldn't see what I was doing. I get all of them done at Claire's, because I don't know of any other place to get them done.

But, I love them to death. I won't go any higher than that one particular part of my ear, though. So, if I want to have anything else done, I'm going to have to get the grades and the money for my mother to sign off on anything...if she agrees.

Sea Oats · October 2010

Yea, that's where I got mine done, too. Claire's doesn't know what they're doing -at all-. There's a good place I know of that I'm going to for any future piercings (planning on getting my tragus pierced and a Monroe soon), if you want the number or anything. They're kind of pricey, but it's worth it because they actually know what they're doing.

SunnyDaysDontLie · October 2010

Sea Oats wrote:

Yea, that's where I got mine done, too. Claire's doesn't know what they're doing -at all-. There's a good place I know of that I'm going to for any future piercings (planning on getting my tragus pierced and a Monroe soon), if you want the number or anything. They're kind of pricey, but it's worth it because they actually know what they're doing.

Sure. I've been thinking of getting an industrial [not sure if I spelled that right.], and a few other things done here when I turn seventeen, but other than that, I'm not going to get anything else done for a while.

Sea Oats · October 2010

Why seventeen? Haha. I thought about an industrial, but I want my snug and tragus pierced, too, so I feel like that would be too much. We're having a tattoo/piercing party for my birthday. My mom's paying for the rest of my tattoo, and she's probably gonna get another one and then I'm forcing people to go with me to hold my hand while I get my lip pierced haha.

SunnyDaysDontLie · October 2010

Sea Oats wrote:

Why seventeen? Haha. I thought about an industrial, but I want my snug and tragus pierced, too, so I feel like that would be too much. We're having a tattoo/piercing party for my birthday. My mom's paying for the rest of my tattoo, and she's probably gonna get another one and then I'm forcing people to go with me to hold my hand while I get my lip pierced haha.

Deal with mom. She said I can't pierce anything until I'm eighteen. I compromised by saying "seventeen, with good grades and money", so I guess we'll see. Hah. xD I'm not big on tattoos, I doubt I'll get one. As far I'll go with needles is giving blood and maybe a bellybutton piercing. Maybe not even the latter.

SunnyDaysDontLie · October 2010

EWW! Its bleeding! That's nasty, I have to go wash my hair again ):

Alabama · October 2010

LOL, the world of piercings has changed a lot since my oldest got her ears pierced

SunnyDaysDontLie · October 2010

Alabama wrote:

LOL, the world of piercings has changed a lot since my oldest got her ears pierced

Yes, xD My mom has her ears pierced all the way up her cartilage...

Sea Oats · October 2010

SunnyDaysDontLie wrote:

Sea Oats wrote:

Why seventeen? Haha. I thought about an industrial, but I want my snug and tragus pierced, too, so I feel like that would be too much. We're having a tattoo/piercing party for my birthday. My mom's paying for the rest of my tattoo, and she's probably gonna get another one and then I'm forcing people to go with me to hold my hand while I get my lip pierced haha.

 Deal with mom. She said I can't pierce anything until I'm eighteen. I compromised by saying "seventeen, with good grades and money", so I guess we'll see. Hah. xD I'm not big on tattoos, I doubt I'll get one. As far I'll go with needles is giving blood and maybe a bellybutton piercing. Maybe not even the latter.

Yea, my mom told me she's not signing for anything else, so I have to wait till I'm 18 and can sign for myself. ;-; She says I have enough holes in my body.. but I don't even have that many piercings.. only 4! haha. She did agree to pay for my tattoo for my birthday though.. but I have to pay for the lip piercing because she hates it lmao.

SunnyDaysDontLie · October 2010

It's definitely infected. I took the titanium ball out, and cleaned it with soap and water, and left it be for the school day, and then after my shower [it had started bleeding and I got blood in my hair], I noticed it had a little blister on the front of the piercing. I pushed a hoop that you'd get from Hot Topic through it anyways, and it started bleeding again D< It's fine now, I just popped that blister. I, personally, think it was the earring. I got the blue titanium ball, and I stopped cleaning both of them after about a month, just because they were fine. I did the same with my first cartilage piercing, but I stopped cleaning it after two weeks. I think that I may have had an allergic reaction to the titanium without realizing it, and then it got infected. But, I'll have mom look at it. -again-. When she gets back from Harris Teeter.

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Infected piercing?

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