Have you gotten your ears pierced lately? If you have, you may want to check out the signs of an infected ear piercing looks like. Learn how to treat the infected ear piercing, when is the time to see doctor. Also, we also talk about how to prevent and take care the ear piercing getting infection.
Table of Contents
How to Treat an Infected Ear Piercing at Home?
How to treat an ear piercing infection?
Why Does your Ear Piercing Getting Infection?
When you get an ear piercing, you are essentially allowing your skin to be wounded just a little. The total healing time for a pierced earlobe is around six weeks to more than a month in some cases. If the piercing is done on any of the cartilages around the ear, then the healing process takes far longer. Infections occur when bacteria can take control and fester in the wound.
Piercings can also get infected for a variety of reasons.
You Touch and Rotate The PiercingÂ
Some of the most common causes of piercing infections include touching the piercing with your fingers, putting on the earrings too tightly or if the earring post is moved too often, or touched too roughly. Ear piercings need open air to heal correctly, so keep this in mind if you take care of an ear piercing for the first time.
Your Piercer is not Professional
Another probable cause of an ear-piercing infection is if you didn’t get an ear piercing from a professional piercer or artist. Hole in the wall piercing studios may not have the right equipment or knowledge for sanitizing instruments. There is also the possibility that the piercer’s hands weren’t clean or that he didn’t wear clean gloves while performing the piercing.
In some instances, the posts used to maintain the piercing weren’t sterile, to begin with. When the posts are dirty, the fresh wound can quickly get infected, and you will be stuck with painful and swollen piercings until you get some medicated cream or antibiotics ready.
How to Identify The Signs of an Ear Piercing Infection?
What are Signs of an Infected Ear Piercing?
Since ear piercings are open wounds, it is relatively easy to spot when there is an ongoing infection.
The first sign of an ongoing infection is pus or a pus-like discharge that can either be greenish or yellowish. There will also be localized or limited swelling on or around the piercing itself.
Redness of the skin is also common, as well as tenderness and pain when you touch the area around the piercing.
There may also be burning or itching. Take note that an itching piercing may also be a sign of allergies. In which case, you should consider possibly switching to another type of earring made of a different metal, such as 14k gold, titanium or sterling silver.
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How to Prevent and Take Care My Ear Piercing from Getting Infected?
How to Prevent Your Ear Piercing from Getting Infected?
Prevention is always better than any amount of cure.
Find Professional Piercer
The first step is to get in touch with a professional piercer or artist with good reviews. Before you get pierced, be sure to go to the studio before the appointed day of the piercing. Be sure to ask about the piercer’s experience and ask to see his equipment.
Be sure to ask him or her about how they sterilize their equipment. Also, ask them about the posts they use to secure piercings after. There is nothing wrong with asking beforehand. If they do not want to accommodate your questions, they are not interested in doing business with you.
New earrings have to come out of sealed packages. Ask to see where they keep their earrings. If you see earrings jumbled together in a non-sterile package, then refuse to use them and ask to use a sealed one instead. They may argue that the earrings are clean.
However, ‘clean’ doesn’t cut it for brand new piercings. The posts have to be sterile, not just clean.  Clean may still have some amount of pathogens or bacteria on it. Sterilize is virtually zero percent bacteria. This is what you need for the initial entry to your new ear piercing.
Avoid Touching New Ear Piercing
Another step you must take is to avoid touching the newly installed posts in your piercings. We know that it’s tempting to touch them. It’s refreshing to have new earrings. However, if you do keep touching them, you will likely end up with an infection. Our hands usually are dirty because these come into contact frequently with different objects.
Cleaning the Ear Piercing
Cleaning the area is also an excellent way to prevent infections. You can do this either with the piercing wash that your piercer/artist will recommend to you or use a sterile saline solution. You can buy the sterile saline solution from a pharmacy or online.
Can I Rotate Your New Ear piercing Jewelry?
Do Not Turn The Posts of Your Ear Piercing Jewelry. Some people do this thinking that it will prevent the posts from getting stuck. Don’t worry about the healing process. The skin will not bridge across the posts; it will just heal around the said posts.
When you feel that you may have an infection, don’t ignore the warning signs. It is best to act quickly and do what is needed promptly to prevent the infection from getting worse.
When Is It Time to See a Doctor for Ear Piercing Infection?Â
Swelling and pain are reasonable if you get piercings. You don’t have to run to your doctor when you feel that there is an infection. However, there are some instances when you have to take a closer look at what is happening to your wound and visit the doctor. Seek some immediate medical assistance include the following:
– The earring posts no longer move frequently.
– The clasp is somehow embedded to the skin and cannot be removed.
– Home treatment does not improve your symptoms
– You suddenly have a fever
– The redness and pain begins to crawl to other areas of the ear and the face
You must consult a doctor when there are signs that inflammation and infection are getting worse. Since the ears are so close to other vital organs and tissues, you must treat such symptoms with seriousness because we don’t want any complications involving the brain and surrounding areas.
How to Know if My Ear Piercing is Healed?
Ear piercing healing happens when there is no more prolonged pain, and the piercing site is dry and open for different kinds of jewelry.
