Infected ear piercing

[Pinkjenny]

Dd (9) had her ears pierced over a year ago, with no problems. For some reason, about a week ago, ex MIL became convinced that dd's ears would close up overnight and so put HER earrings in dd's ears. They became infected. We've used the solution and the infection seems to have cleared, but because they were so crusty, I can't see the entrance hole in her ears, although I can feel the hole through her ear, if that makes any sense. Obviously I don't want to just blindly jab the earrings back into her ear lobes, does anyone have any ideas?

[Pinkjenny]

bump

[Pinkjenny]

final bump before I admit defeat

[SpuriouserAndSpuriouser]

Can you clean some of the crusty stuff off with cooled boiled water? Otherwise I would try and get the earrings back in blindly (by going over the surface of the lobe with the earring and seeing if you can find the hole) as long as it's not very painful for your dd. I would try my best to get them
back in because if the holes do close up it can be painful and difficult to get them repierced later on because of the scar tissue.

[VagueIdeas]

Crusty doesn't necessarily mean infection. Infection = hot, red, pus. The crustiness is lymph, which tends to happen if a piercing is a bit unhappy for whatever reason (like being knocked).

Have you tried bathing with saline? Boil water and add a quarter teaspoon to 250ml. Cool until it's hand hot and soak a cotton wool bud, and hold it there until it cools.

Since they've been pierced over a year, they shouldn't have closed (but how long have earrings been out?) although it can be a bugger getting earrings back in if the lobe is swollen - I get that from time to time. It's a vicious circle because all the poking from repeated insertion attempts just make it swell more.

Have you tried inserting the earring from the back? Sounds mad, but if you can't seem to get it in from front to back, you might have success working the other way. See if you can see the hole in the back of the lobe and go from there.

[murphyslaws]

Personally let it heal up. She can have them re done another time

And tell MIL off. Stupid cow for doing such a thing. That's like putting my plaster from my cut on to you cut.

[Lweji]

I'd suspect allergy rather than infection. A year is more than enough to heal.
I'm having to wear gold earrings because most cheaper ones make one side weep and itch after a day or two.
Wait a bit until it heals again.

[Pinkjenny]

Thanks everyone, we've tried the water, the saline and rubbing her ears with oil. I;ll try from the back, see if I can find the hole from the front, and if not, leave it a little longer.

I know, I have NO idea why she thought putting her earrings in dd's ears would be a good idea.