cleaning (healed) piercings

Former Member

i've had my scaffold for the best part of 4 nearly 5 years, but i've recently i've changed the bar for a shorter one and then i've also changed the ends (i now have 2 very nice oil coloured spikes).

All the jewellery was sterile when bought and i cleaned it with an alcohol swab (and my ear) before putting it in. but now it's gone a bit funky, it's red sore, and i'm getting a bit of smelly yuck out of the piercings as well...

i've cleaned with saline solution a couple of times but it's not making a huge difference...

what can i do to clean all of this up?

Former Member

Red sore and yuk coming out of it sounds suspicisouly like an infection to me.

That's from a first aid point of view, I don't know owt about piercings.

Former Member

yeah thats what i thought but theres no point going to the docs about it, cos i know i can sort it at home, but i'm not sure how...:S

Former Member

Saline solution once a day, try not to touch or play with the peircing, and be very careful when you wash your hair and when you rinse your hair, gently run some water over the piercing to wash any shampoo/styling products away.

If it doesnt heal up in a couple of weeks or gets worse, go to the Drs.

Former Member

If you can soak it a while in the saline rather than just cleaning it, it can help. Not mega long, maybe 5 mins or so? Although this may require tupperware and acrobatics!

Former Member

yeah i think i'd have to lay my head in saline...i can see this messing up

Former Member

twisted_trinity wrote: »

yeah i think i'd have to lay my head in saline...i can see this messing up

Not all your head - put it in a little dish and lay sideways with the ear in!

Former Member

Try heat too. Heat up a wash cloth to just hot enough that you can stand, put it in a new clean baggie and put it on there for 10 minutes (reheating when necessary) 3x a day for a week.

Former Member

Simba T Lion wrote: »

Try heat too. Heat up a wash cloth to just hot enough that you can stand, put it in a new clean baggie and put it on there for 10 minutes (reheating when necessary) 3x a day for a week.

ooh, i've never heard of using heat for it, how does that work? might try that next time...

i think the salt water thing is the best thing, like everyone else said.

however, a few months ago my anti tragus got really infected and had this huge keloid scar on it (it was gross) and my piercer suggested, warm salt water, with paracetamol crushed into it (3 or 4) so it goes into sort of a really thin paste, dab it on and leave it for a while.

i have no idea how this would work but it did for mine, after about a week it was better. maybe it was just the warm salt water though and not the paracetamol.

Former Member

Worked a miracle for me. I did customer service when I got my recent ear piercings done, the one I'd be on the phone with kept getting infected, I'd use the other ear, then that would get infected. Nasty, crusty, goopy, about as gross as they come I'm sure no matter how well I cleaned them. So the piercer told me to do that and they were both clear and healthy before the week was over. Something about the blood flow and the white blood cells to the heated areas so they can combat it/flush it out quickly.

Former Member

What colour is the 'yucky stuff'?

Former Member

i find my ears do that when i put in a new bar that im alergic too so if the new bar is made of something different from the old one changing it back might help it clear up quicker also boiled water with a bit of tea tree in it works a treat as does boiled water with salt, best to use it when its still quite hot but dont burn yourself!

Former Member

no its a titanium bar like the old one, and the gunk very smelly and yellowish

i'll keep with the saline then for a few more days