SPORNER KLAXON : infected cartilage earing advice please.

[EarWeGo]

It's been pierced since February, was fine two days ago, started hurting yesterday and now has a heartbeat of it's own and is hot to touch.

What would you do?

Bathe in warm very salty water for starters.

Was it a needle or gun piercing? I stupidly had a gun piercing for my first which has cracked my cartilage & led to a huge amount of pain. Even knocking it now hurts 12 years later! Keep bathing with whatever your piercer recommended & watch for pus/further swelling or a temperature which may indicate an infection. If it’s new jewellery, it could be a metal allergy - contact your piercer or GP if you have concerns. But clean, clean, clean & always wash your hands well before touching it.

If that's not the jewellery it was pierced with, change it back. That's a big piece of jewellery that will move a lot. When fluid dries out around the entrance to the hole and the jewellery moves the 'crust' is pulled into the hole and causes trauma.

Bathe in v warm, salty water twice a day. Better still order NeilMed steri spray and use that.

Ibuprofen and paracetamol.

DON'T PLAY WITH IT, you'll risk keloid scarring amongst other unpleasant things.

Be very gentle with it, try not to sleep on that side.

Cartilage piercings take an age to heal, like a year plus so be really really patient with it.

This happened to mine when I had a scaffold piercing. The piercer told me rock salt dissolved in hot water, bathe it at least twice a day. They do take some time to fully heal.

Are you on an escalator OP, when this was taken?

It's my sister, I have confirmation that she took the earing out to clean it, it exploded with gunk and puss and now feels a lot better. She selfishly did this without filming it.

I said if its still throbbing by tomorrow then to wave it at a pharmacist and see what they say.

Thanks all

Be sure to take a good multivitamin. Mine only ever get infected if I’m very run down. Clean it with cooled boiled salt water and a cotton bud, but no double dipping.

The pharmacist will say to take it out. That's the only advice ive ever had from nhs staff.

I would use cold boiled water with salt (eg dissolve in hot and then put in fridge) because it is really cooling and seems to help when I've had infected piercings. That's a conch isn't it, doesn't look like the original jewellery did she change it too quickly?

Also, ibuprofen to reduce swelling and pain.

LITFA. Best advice for any piercing.

My DD has swollen ear from piercing. The best bit of advice from here was to bathe with salt water. It was like a miracle cure with a few days.

My piercer says not to take it out as keeping it open will let the wound drain.

Tea tree oil kills everything

Dont take the jewellery out (despite drs/pharmacy advice, keeping jewellery in helps to drain!)

Boiling water, Rock salt 2 x daily until the redness subsides somewhat.

Change ring out to bar - bar moves less, less chance of it getting infected with bar

If redness subsides LITHA.

Conch piercings take FORVER to heal. Mine too well over a year, and I had to baby it.

If heat and redness get worse, or continue please ring drs who likely prescribe course of antibiotics

I sleep on a doughnut pillow (its actually pink frosted doughnut pillow, well cute) with a hole in the middle so I'm not sleeping on my ear piercings (I also have Conch) absolute game changer. No more sore infected piercings for me. 100% top tip for prevention of piercing infections.

Hope she feels better soon. Piercing infections are a pain in the arse! Ive had a couple of nose piercing infections recently and it made me so miserable!

Yes I'm just saying that is all I've ever been told by GP/pharmacist even though nhs website doesn't say to

My DD had piercings ( helix and tragus) both done by needle professionally .

The helix occasionally flared up/settled down (like in your photo) we employed the LITHA mehod .
Then at the hairdressers , the comb got wedged between her skin and the stud ,> it pus-ed up in hours and she accepted defeat and removed it eventually .

There's no scar . She could have it done again I suppose .

And I selfishly didn't film it either !

This is me, I am the sister with the manky ear piercing 🙋🏼‍♀️
It’s the original piece of jewellery I had it pierced with, has been kept as clean as possible from day one, although I have slept on it without meaning to.

Cleaned it up last night with salt and boiled water and ended up taking it out, the pain was knocking me sick, and I’m not soft by any means 😂 will try and put it back in at the end of the weekend when I’ve had a couple of days cleaning it ☺️

@Mambo1992 try some surgical spirits too. Great for hardening the skin of a piercing and keeping it clean.

Sorry, just reading everyone’s replies.
It was done with a needle not a gun. I’ve had a mixed bag with piercings previously, scaffold wild t heal for three years until I gave in and took it out, other cartilage ones have healed fine and quickly, this one is not having it though 🙄 great fun isn’t it. And I did try to film it, but lovely boyfriend filmed it but didn’t save it 🤦🏼‍♀️😂

Be careful, I'm currently suffering from a double ear infection in both ears, inner canal and outer cartilage. The ENT registrar was very emphatic regarding making sure I take my fourth lot of ever increasing strength antibiotics in relation to the perichondritis (cartilage infection). Google it, then maybe see your doc for some antibiotics. I'm being admitted later today, to get them via IV, and I'd rather be doing anything else. Plus it's been absolute fucking agony for five days and I'm pretty tough, but have been in tears most of the time.