Infected ear piercing

[Kittykat93]

I feel like ripping my ear off, is it best to go back to the piercer tomorrow or GP? Never had this issue before but it's so painful and swollen and not getting better with salt water cleaning, anti inflammatories, icing etc. The piercing was done a week ago.

Any tips to get through tonight and be able to sleep would be much appreciated - as it's a Sunday I'm unable to go back to the studio or contact the gp today. :(

I've got a number of piercings. How often have you been cleaning it? Too much can cause problems. I would go to piercer first, then GP for antibiotics if required

Been doing it gently twice a day using a cotton bud, that's what I've done for all my other piercings and I've never had an infection or anything like this ☹️

The bar needs to be replaced for a longer one doesn't it. Looks painful! I'd do some salt water soaks in the meantime. Can you turn your head to the side and dunk that ear completely in a container of salt water? An egg cup works well. Take ibuprofen for the pain and swelling.

Have you got other cartledge piercings? You have to be careful with sleeping in them. Mine still get inflamed if if I have a rested night, my rook is currently going through it. Try just washing it with boiled water, no salt, bath it rather than use a cotton bud, gauze is much better. I sometimes put abit of bepanthen on at night which helps

Don’t put cotton wool anywhere near a fresh piercing. Make up a saline soak using sea salt (not table salt) and cooled boiled water and bathe your ear in it for a good ten minutes.
Don’t take the jewellery out as you need the hole to remain open to allow any pus to drain out. Try and speak to your piercer as soon as you can. Good luck.

Get a travel pillow and sleep with your ear in the hole - I still do this when my old piercings play up sometimes. Definitely looks like you need a longer bar. Soak it in cooled water and try not to fiddle with it (though it’s tempting!)

I have a piercing spray I got off Amazon that is great for irritation / new piercings, if you search piercing spray loads will come up. Mine cleared up my manky daith piercing in a few days.

and no cotton wool! It leaves fibres

Are there any 24 hour pharmacists near you OP? If not, call 111. You need that seeing to.

I’ve just looked - I used prontolind spray. Worked wonders for me

Thank you all, going to try and get some spray and I'll stop using a cotton bud to clean. Had cartilage piercings before and never experienced pain like this !!

If you want to keep the piercing then go to the piercer first. They can replace the bar with a longer one and will be able to look at it properly. They'll also still advise you to go to the GP if it needs antibiotics or more treatment than they can provide so don't worry about not getting proper treatment. If you go to the GP first they will likely say that you need to remove the piercing - which isn't usually necessary, but obviously from a doctor's pov it's an obvious solution.

In terms of the pain, you can alternate Ibuprofen and paracetamol. If absolutely desperate at nightime then a small shot of whisky helps me (but obviously that's not medically advised!).

I would absolutely recommend the salt water soaks - I had similar recently and soaked my ear lobe (so might be trickier for you) in cooled boiled salty water. I kept the water as hot as I could safely manage. It drew out all the pus. It was very satisfying!

Spray antiseptic worked for mine. I found piercings on the outside of my ear worse than inside as I caught them / slept on them.

Thanks all. I have antibiotics from the gp and am going to have a longer bar put in tomorrow.