How do I know if my cartilage piercing is infected? And how should treat it?

Question

I got my cartilage pierced (upper ear) about two weeks ago. The first two weeks were fine, it never hurt, it wasn't really uncomfortable and I had no problems.

This morning I woke up and my ear is slightly swollen- not huge, but swollen enough that I can't push my piercing back and forth. It's also not painful unless I touch it and then the pain lasts for a minute or so AND it's a little red. I haven't been cleaning it as often lately and I usually use special ear antiseptic (diluted Benzalkonium Chloride). What should I do?

Answer 1

Sea salt! Shes right. I have an industrial bar in my ear, and it got infected. Make sure you keep it clean, and don't touch it unless you are cleaning it. Don't let anyone else touch it and maybe even pull your hair back so its not on it. Just keep cleaning it and it should be fine. I would sudjest not taking it out, it probably wont go back in, but you should try to clean the outsides off using a q-tip then slide it and clean what was in your ear. Good luck!!  

Answer 2

it sounds infected to me. :[

if you really want it to be okay, you might have to take out the piercing. with the risk that it will probably grow back in.

but if you don't want to take it out, buy some sea salt (make sure its not just table salt) and soak your ear in it for 5-10 minutes everyday.

sea salt will heal it.

Answer 3

Mine was like that. But like after 2 days I got it pierced.

It was all good after a while, so yours might be too...

Just remember to keep cleaning it and try not to play around with it, if you realllllyy want to, wash your hands before you touch it.

Good luck :)

Answer 4

oh yeah its infected, first of all you should keep cleaning it with your cleanser then put some strong antibiotic like, polysporin, its like neosporin but better. i'd do it at least three times a day. make sure your hands are clean and make sure to try to move the earring around even if it hurts. that's how i treated mine.

Answer 5

You can do the cleaning two ways...

A) (The lazy way; i normally use this way when i got to the gym and can't do proper hot sea salt soaks....) But 0.9% saline solution at the pharmacist (buy in small packets, as they become contaminated after opening and you don't want to be using a single contaminated packet for 6 months!) Take one end of a q-tip and saturate it with the saline solution. clean the front of the earring. take the other end of the q-tip, saturate it with saline, and clean the back.

B) (The proper way; this is much better, as the heat encourages the dead cells and lymph to escape.) Mix 1/4 teaspoon of non-iodised sea salt into 1 cup of HOT WATER. Wait for it to cool a bit, and when it's as hot as you can bear, dip your ear in for 5-10 minutes. Repeat with the other ear.

Both of these methods, do it 3 times a day for 4 months. Don't spin the jewelry or even touch the jewelry; all you'll be doing is spinning all the germs and gunk back into the piercing and disturbing the healing cells. Your jewelry will not stick to your skin if it's made of good materials!

Don't use alcohol or the ear care solution given to you by your piercer. Alcohol is WAY too harsh, and will kill your skin cells instead of encouraging it to heal (that's why it stings). In addition to that, Alcohol kills the transient (good) bacteria in your skin, letting the invasive (bad) bacteria in.  Any polysporin or antiseptic is also bad, as they block air flow to the piercing, and lets the bacteria breed. In fact, don't ANYTHING ELSE other than sea-salt or saline solution. You will irritate it and make it harder to heal.

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