hi I got the top of my ear pierced last tuesday and it has been fine untill this morning , now the whole top of my ear is red its throbbing and painful . i clean it twice a day with sea salt water and tea tree oil . why has it gone like this ?
Don't know why, but it does sound infected. I would clean it out with a Qtip & hydrogen peroxcide a couple of times a day....
6% (20-vol) is useful for disinfecting cuts and to stop bleeding for relatively superficial cuts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_peroxide#Domestic_uses If the sorness and/or pain spreads especially to your neck see a doctor
You could have just slept on it wrong and now it's irritated. it takes a few days for infection to sit in. In my experience, sea salt doesn't work. I know other people swear by it but I always used peroxide and neosporin.
i had a few too many beers last night and probably did sleep on it funny come to think of it :ears: lol x
cartilage always takes longer to heal too, they can be sore for aaages... One of mine took 6 months D: And it was sore that whole time!! Very annoying!
over applying tea tree oil irritates your piercing, you should only do that twice a week. it's normal to be sore and swollen in the beginning and it takes ages to heal. is it any better now or is it still really bad? also, sea salt soaks only work if you use the right amounts, you should use 1/4 of a tablespoon to 1/2 pint (280ml) of hot water. again, if you put too much sea salt you will irritate the piercing. and don't play with it, don't move it around, and never touch it befor washing your hands
I think it sounds normal. Mine did this some days too and was never infected. Just keep up with the salt water cleaning, but don't fiddle with it. I found I was twisting mine round etc and it made it so much worse
i had to take it out my whole ear swelled up it was a red/purple colour and was throbbing like mad thanks for reply though
So much bad advice on this forum. Hydrogen peroxide should only be used to get rid of hypertrophic scarring- it's corrosive and the last thing you want is to corrode/dry out healing skin. Alcohol is also too harsh and will dry the piercing out. Tea tree oil is also too drying actually, you should never use it undiluted- if you're using it (and I wouldn't recommend it, it's unnecessary), you need to mix only a few drops in another type of oil, e.g. jojoba oil. Your piercing doesn't sound infected, it just sounds irritated. Don't mess with it or sleep on it and it should be fine. Keep up the sea salt soaks, though once a day should be fine, and you've already been advised on the amount of salt to use. Be sure to rinse well with water after a soak too, you don't want to dry out the piercing. When you're not soaking it, don't touch it. Just ignore it the rest of the time. It will be fine.
