Piercing agony. I don't know what to do

[myyve]

I've woken up in absolute agony. I got my rook pierced a week ago and it has been absolutely fine, healing really nicely! I have been cleaning it with the piercing shops recommended solution and I've had absolutely no problems with it until now.

I've just woken up with absolutely excruciating throbbing. My ear has swollen and is hard to the touch. The piercing site itself is throbbing so badly, it feels like a heartbeat. I don't know what to do!

Do I take it out and let it close up and cut my losses? I'm currently on holiday 😔😔

Please can anyone advise?

Sounds like it's beyond anything randoms on the Internet can help with tbh. I'd be going to a doctor or pharmacist to get it looked at and let them assess whether you need antibiotics as soon as possible.

In the meantime, don't muck about with it. Someone well meaning but with piercing info from the 1990s will be along in a bit to tell you to put TCP on it - please don't do that. Sea salt in cooled boiled water if you want to do anything, but if it is badly infected you need it seen and assessed by a professional as soon as possible. In the meantime, keep it clean and don't keep touching it. Don't take it out yourself, it's likely to be fiddly and you could end up making it worse/you might be advised to leave it in anyway.

It's infected and badly by the sounds of it. You need a & e if it is hot to touch and throbbing. Blood poisoning is serious, don't take the risk.

Ice immediately

Do not take it out. If you take it out it seals the infection in. Do you have salt? Preferable sea salt. If so try and do a salt bath. Take a cup with water as hot as possible, put in a spoon of salt and stir. Put on your ear. Don’t put in anything that will seal it, ie polysporin will seal it. A cream would be ok but not ointment. Try and press any puss out but as much as possible don’t play with it. You may need antibiotics to get rid of it. Are you somewhere sandy? It may have gotten something like that in it. Try and clean it as much as possible when you do the soak. Do that frequently.

I'm trying to take it out but it won't budge. It feels like my ear is swallowing the bottom ball, and the top one is just so tightly screwed on i can't get a grip on it 😔

Rooks can be quite tricky to heal. Mine took almost 2 years.

Just because it is swollen it doesn't mean it is necessarily infected. Take some ibprofen which should bring down the swelling enough so that you can assess whether you want to remove it or go back to your piercer.

If you want to continue I'd recommend a pillow with a hole in the middle - you really shouldn't sleep on it for a few months at least.

Have you got any Ibuprofen? If you have, take 600mg, it could help reduce the inflammation. Try an ice pack on your ear after bathing with salt water. After 2 hours take 2 paracetamol, this should help the pain, try to not pull the ring as this will make it more painful & make sure you wash your hands as you don't want to get any more bacteria in it.

Is it actually digging into your flesh?

Are you certain you're not allergic to the jewellery? I'm assuming it was pierced with something long enough to accommodate normal swelling?

If you're allergic or it's swollen beyond the length of the bar, it needs to come out.

Otherwise, boil water and let it cool, add salt and bathe it in that. Keep doing this every few hours. Try not to touch it otherwise.

Take ibuprofen and some antihistamines.

It sounds most likely that you've caught it in your sleep and aggravated it. It might be an idea to put a bun on the side of your head it's on to encourage you to keep off it in your sleep.

Keep up the salt water washes. If swelling is bad get ice on it but alternate with heat. Put water as hot as you can tolerate on a facecloth or tea towel and hold
against both sides of the piercing. It will hurt badly at first (make sure it’s the
Piercing not the heat but it should help with the pain. Do this regularly until you can get back to piercer or the doctor.

I used this kits when my last piercing wasn’t healing, worked wonders.

https://piercingmania.co.uk/piercing-healing-kit?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIocDM6M2cgQMVheztCh2KQAGSEAQYASABEgI5nPD_BwE

Don’t take it out or touch it, you’ll aggravate it more

Soak it with sea salt hot water - as hot as you can stand it, and take ibrofen

My tragus swelled so much I couldn’t put my finger in my ear. It was hell. I love my rook but I’ve always said I’d never have it done again because it was so painful having it done

On holiday. Have you been in a pool?

Sounds infected. Id be looking for a local pharmacy for my first port of call.