Fucking fuck my fucking ear piercings. You know what? I've been taking care of them since SEPTEMBER and they just got worse. It hurts *all the time* now. The piercer kept telling me it's just because I touch them too much, but I stopped and it's not making a difference. Neither is tea tree oil. So at fucking 5 in the morning, unable to sleep, I went to the bathroom and ripped the swollen part and then spent 10 minutes with the plyers until the captive finally opened and I could take both my earrings out. I don't even care about the pain- I'm so bloody finished with trying to take care of piercings that aren't working. So now I'll probably get this infection inside my earlobe because of this, but I'm so sick of being this stressed out all the time because of stupid piercings. I LOVED them, more than most people understand, but I'm tired Now I know, I KNOW it was the stupidest thing I could've done to deal with it, I'm not one of those brainless knows-nothing-about-body-mods-but-wants-them-anyway kids, but I'm so out of ideas and it's been way too long now. Background: Got my left ear pierced twice more on the lobe area (had one 18-gauge piercing from when I was 10) at a 14-gauge, and ever since then they have not healed, only had what has been described by other people on the forum as "a round, slightly darker than skin color, piece of flesh outside the piercing." I've asked two different piercers, and they both said it just looked like I was touching it too much, so stop touching it and do sea salt soaks. I'm sure it's an infection, because it fucking hurts more every month, and since starting to use tea tree oil last week it hurts even more.
I had four piercings through the ear cartilage at the tops of both of my ears, and those things, even after several years of having them, never, ever felt right, were always super sensitive. I could rarely ever lay on them without pain. Not that the pain was unbearable persay, but it certainly was uncomfortable. Finally I said the heck with it and took them all out. Now I only have three piercings, two in one ear, one in the other, and they're on my lower lobes, not through the tough cartilage.
Whoever told you to use tea tree oil on fresh piercings was completely ignorant in proper aftercare. Please don't take any more of their advice or let them put any more holes in you. Tea tree oil (and other oils like emu) are often excellent on healed piercings. On fresh piercings the oil traps bacteria and dirt, restricts proper drainage, and keeps air from the piercing. Hopefully the rest of your aftercare was correct for puncture wounds (2X a day pure soap cleanings with soaks of proper saline solution, otherwise LITHA). If so, continue that even now that you've taken the jewelry out until the wounds are healed. It's unlikely to be a keloid, but possibly hypertrophic scarring. Be sure to watch them while they're healing, it sounds like you know that the infection can be trapped inside the body so keep an eye out for symptoms of that and treat it a.s.a.p. if it occurs. Sorry to here you had such a pain with them!
First off, stop using the oil based products straight away; they promote infection by leaving a residue that attracts dirt to the area. Salt water washes are all you should ever need. It could be an infection, but without seeing it it is hard to say for sure; does it feel itchy and burning? If so, it probably is an infection. Ask your GP for antibioptics, cut out the cream and oil, and stop touching them unless your hands have been scrubbed. Can I assume you have now removed the jewellery? If so, and it is an infection, this is the worst thing you could have done; you will have sealed the infection inside your body and it it'll be harder to shift - never remove jewellery from an infected piercing site. What metal were they pierced with, out of interest? And was this a gun or needle piercing?
I'm sorry you are having problems. Sometimes, despite the best effort, piercings just don't workout. i had to tak eout my nips for similiar reasons. Everything has pretty much been said, so I won't repeat. The only thought I had is possibly a metal allergy. If you get them repierced, try using a high quality titanium or gold jewelery. They tend to have less sensitivities. Sorry that you had a bad experience Peace
To answer the questions/comments: I believe it was stainless steel they were pierced with, and everything was done very sanitary-ly (is that a word?) by what I *think* is a good piercer. I read the information about the tea tree oil on about a dozen different websites, and since it's pretty much a universal healer I decided to go ahead. I agree it was a completely moronic thing to do, and I know the infection is going to be trapped inside, but it *does* look and feel a lot better in the last two or three days since I removed the earrings. I've still been doing salt water soaks twice a day, and one of the piercings is staying open because I poke it with an 18-gauge earring every so often, but the other is too effed up in the back for now.
Glad to hear it is better. The fact it improved leads me to beleive it wasn't infected, just irritated. If the pus is whitish, its more likely lymph, which is very common. I've never actually seen a truly infected piercing, but I've heard the fluid is usually bbrownish or yellow. Most people mistake irritation with infection. I know I did with a couple of piercings. Peace
try using 14k gold or titanium. I know people with super sensitive skin that get really bad reactions to even stainless steel.
