My earlobe is infected and my piercing has really stretched :(

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Just as the title says really.

I’ve taken my earring out of my left ear and it looks bloody awful. It’s scabby and the piercing hole looks to have really stretched. I don’t know how I hadn’t noticed this was happening sooner!

Has this happened to anyone else? Did it heal at all? Did you just live with it? Or have it stitched?

I’m feeling pretty down about it. Neither my mum or partner have been able to convincingly reassure me that it doesn’t look awful.

I know there are bigger things going on in the world, really I do (I’m a frontline nurse). It’s just that I feel ugly enough as it is at the moment, without this

Bump

Sounds painful, when did you have the piercing done? Your a nurse so I guess you know how to look after it.
I had a similar thing happen to a bellybutton piercing and it was grim in looks and took ages to heal, I feel for you

Have you been wearing heavy earrings? It would be odd to have stretched otherwise

Glad I provoked a reaction. My work here is done :)

Piercings do naturally stretch slightly over time, but can stretch more if you often wear heavy earrings.
Give it a gentle clean and maybe put some flat back studs in for a while, they are quite light, and the flat backs should stop them getting lost in the piercing.
People who deliberately stretch their piercings usually say that small stretches can shrink back on their own, but I suppose it does depend how long it has been stretched for.

I purposely stretched one of mine (not huge) and it's now back to normal, I had it a few years too so there is hope!

Nothing would persuade me to mutilate my body. You reap and all that.

OP, it happened to me when as a child I requested very pretty stud earrings made from goodness knows what.
My ear has balooned and had a really nasty infection.
I was advised to put sterling silver 925 earings and nothing else. Not plated,not gold but sterling silver.
My ear eventually has healed and still can wear earrings but the piercing hole is very stretched. 30 years later and I can’t wear too heavy earrings or very small studs as it just goes through

Is it a recent piercing?

Whether it is or not, I would say this: don't worry. The hole may look big but unless you've been intentionally stretching it by wearing incrementally thicker pieces of jewellery, it shouldn't actually be all that big. I can't remember exactly how big the 'point of no return' is for stretched lobe piercings, but it's pretty big. So basically, unless you've been stretching it on purpose it should, if you leave it alone, heal back up.

If you think it's actually infected, I'd recommend seeing a doctor. If it's just hot, red, and crusty (which might be an infection, but is also common with angry piercings which aren't infected) I'd recommend the following:

1. Don't touch it with your hands! Don't fiddle with it, don't move it around to look at it from different angles, just leave it alone as much as possible.

2. Do salt soaks at least twice a day (more if you want). Boil the kettle, add 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt to a clean mug, and dissolve. Let it cool until you can hold your pinkie finger in it without being scalded, but it's about as hot as you can handle. If you can, submerge the piercing in the water. (Sometimes a shot glass can be helpful for this, it depends on the structure of your earlobe.) If you can't submerge, use bits of gauze or cotton wool, soak them in the water and hold them against the piercing site. It might sting at first but will really soothe the discomfort.

You could also look at the earring you're generally wearing - you want high-quality steel, titanium, gold or silver I think. Cheap jewellery can react with your skin and cause nasty irritation.

And finally, try not to worry about how it looks at the moment! It's super obvious to you because it's your body and you're focusing on it, but nobody you meet on the average day is going to notice that you have an angry ear piercing, I promise. (Well, I might, because I'm interested in that kind of thing, but I would only be thinking 'oh that looks sore, poor her', not judging you or anything.)