All of a sudden one of my earring holes is so sore. It's not really red, but so tender and irritated. I really only wear one pair of earrings, some diamond studs. I've cleaned my earring hole with peroxide for 2 days, but it's still the same.

Any suggestions?

By Bea on Sunday, August 13, 2006 - 10:25 am:

Keep the earrings in your jewelry box until the hurting stops. Continue with the peroxide. If it continues for longer than a week, see your doctor.

By Ginny~moderator on Sunday, August 13, 2006 - 12:50 pm:

I agree with Bea, keep the earrings out. And use a topical antibiotic ointment in addition to the peroxide. If it swells or starts to get red, get to a doctor quickly.

By Amecmom on Sunday, August 13, 2006 - 03:16 pm:

Sorry to disagree, here . You don't want the hole to close up as the infection, if it is one, heals. Put them in and use bacitracin a few times a day. Better, if you have a pair of gold hoops you can put the bacitracin on them and turn them so the bacitracin goes in the piercing. Hope you feel better.

Ame

By Cat on Sunday, August 13, 2006 - 03:22 pm:

Don't use peroxide!!! I agree with Ame. Keep the earring in and use either plain soap and water (Dial works well) or sea salt soaks. It's probably not infected, just irratated. Make sure the earring is clean before you put it in, too. You can use rubbing alcohol to clean the jewerly, let it dry and then put it in. Good luck. It should be better in a day or two.

By Reds9298 on Sunday, August 13, 2006 - 03:31 pm:

Thank you ladies! It's isn't red outside of the hole and is't swollen at all. I have noticed it closing up though when I'm not wearing my earrings, then I have to force it through.

I haven't heard of bacitracin and I didn't think of cleaning the earrings with alcohol. I've used peroxide on them, too!

Thank you girls!

By Cocoabutter on Sunday, August 13, 2006 - 03:35 pm:

First, if you haven't already, the earrings need to be clean. I soak them in rubbing alcohol for a couple of hours and use a cotton ball with alcohol on it to wipe them off. Then I use antibiotic ointment (Neosorin or Betadine ointment) when I put my earrings in. Just put some on the stud, and it goes through the ear. I have never had any problems.

By Annie2 on Sunday, August 13, 2006 - 07:50 pm:

Keep them in your ears and follow with what Ame suggested.
Buy good jewelry cleaner and use that once a week. Only dip your earrings in for a few seconds, use the brush that comes with the cleaner, rinse with water. Then wipe off the posts with alcohol. Never soak real gems in any solution. It's unneccesary and can cause them to build up a cloudy residue; which sometimes can go underneath the prongs and loosen the setting.

By Crystal915 on Monday, August 14, 2006 - 12:29 am:

Soack a cotton ball in sea salts (you can buy them at the health food stores, or a tattoo shop) and water mix, and apply 4 times a day.

By Karen~admin on Monday, August 14, 2006 - 07:31 am:

Ditto Ame, Cat and Crystal. Sea salt is very healing, and peroxide actually destroys the new skin growth. When I got my navel pierced, the only thing I was told to do was wash it twice daily with Provon soap (great stuff if you can find it!) and use sea salt soaks several times a day. The salt aids in healing.

By Ginny~moderator on Tuesday, August 15, 2006 - 06:26 pm:

Here's some input from my son Scott, who has mutiple piercings (most of which I never see, thank heaven)

"Antibiotic ointments are not to be applied to puncture wounds. Read the tube. Piercing studios recommend keeping the earring in while soaking it in warm sea salts or epsom salts. Removing the earring may cause the pierce to close up.


More on this: http://www.infinitebody.com/aftercare/acinfect.html


That's the studio that has done all of my pierces. I trust them implicitly.


--
S.
not a mom, but heavily pierced"

By Cocoabutter on Tuesday, August 15, 2006 - 07:29 pm:

No anti-biotic ointment? Huh. Okay...

I have had my ears pierced since I was 13. When I had them pierced, I had some problem with the holes closing and getting infected, so I went to my family doc and he widened them a little by running string through them (it was a long time ago, so my memory is a little fuzzy) and my holes have stayed open ever since. I even went a whole year without wearing any earrings when my son was little, and they never closed up. I guess I have just had mine long enough that they are healed and are more or less permanent? Anyway, the only time I use the anti-biotic ointment is if an earring is dirty and seems to irritate my ear. (and I have a lot of earrings that I haven't worn in a LONG time that need to be cleaned first.) Then I clean the earring and my ear lobe with rubbing alcohol and when I use the ointment, the irritation becomes a non-issue.

So, I guess I will refrain from recommending ointment to anyone else.

By Ginny~moderator on Tuesday, August 15, 2006 - 10:05 pm:

I don't know, and it sounds strange to me, too, Lisa, but I don't have any extra holes in my body and Scott does, so I am supposing he knows more than I. He did give a link to a site he trusts, and he's not generally a trusting soul.

By Hol on Tuesday, August 15, 2006 - 11:49 pm:

I'm not disputing Scott, either. I can only speak from personal experience, albeit MANY years ago.

When I was thirteen, I attempted to pierce my ears myself with "sleeper rings". Anyone remember them? My Grandma gave them to me (and my Mom didn't object, which is VERY surprising). Anyway, I put the rings in. They had a spring on them, and the idea was to gradually pierce your lobes by way of the ring squeezing tighter and tighter. They hurt like the dickens, so one day in school, I just decided to squeeze both of them, and get them all the way through. Well, within a day, my ear lobes looked like cherries. They were bright red, swollen and hot. I was afraid to take them out, so I just kept cleaning the "goo" off them (sorry) every day with peroxide, and swabbing my lobes with bacitracin ointment. They eventually healed, though they crusted up for about a year, it seemed. When I had my second holes done, I had them done at the doctor's office with a surgical needle.

My DD wanted hers done when she was five, so that was her birthday present. Hers were done by a "gun" that pushes the studs in. They told us to clean them with a solution called "Alkalol" that you can get at the pharmacy counter (non-RX). We did that, and the bacitracin for good measure. We had her second holes done, in her teens, at the doctor's office. Same care regimen. No problems.

My oldest DS had one ear lobe pierced on a trip to the mall with a friend (at Claire's). He had no problem except his Dad, who blew a gasket! LOL! Dan was planning on entering the military after HS, which he did. DH told him that some drill sergeant would take great delight in *ripping* that earring right out of his ear. Needless to say, months before he left for Boot Camp, he took out the earring and let it heal shut.

By Crystal915 on Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - 01:38 am:

ABSOLUTELY NO ANTIBIOTIC CREAM TO PUNCTURE WOUNDS!!!!!!!!!! I cannot stress that enough!!!! Call a reputable piercer, and ask them to give you care instructions, putting in hoops like someone else mentioned is usually best, when you shower, use a bit of anti-bacterial soap to wash the ears, and turn the hoops to get the soap into the piercing. Rinse well. Do this once a day, and the sea salt soaks, the solutions piercers sell are made with sea salts, and do wonders. I've only had 2 piercings not heal properly, and it was because I had poor aftercare instructions. Believe me, between me and DH, plus our friends who own a shop, we have quite a bit of experience here, NO peroxide, no antibiotic cream, Just soap, water, and sea salts.

By Crystal915 on Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - 01:39 am:

Oh, and Karen is right about Provon, you can get it at most tattoo shops.