Bleeding ears?!
Question: Ok, so here's the situation. I got my ears pierced January 1st. Since then, my right ear has always hurt a little when the earring wiggled. I also had a really hard time getting earrings out and in. Now I finally got it down, but I noticed a yellowish crust on my ear backs. I went to the doctor and he said it was infected and that I should take my earrings out for 3 weeks so the infection can "clear out" or else it will spread to my cartilage and deform my ear. He said the hole should just close up. The issue is that EVERYONE else (including many med sites online) say that I should leave them in to avoid an absess and leaving it in will TRAP the infection. My ears are not swollen, I have no fever. They just crust, hurt, and bleed a little. I put the earrings back in yesterday (which hurt a lot) and now my ears hurt when they wiggle again. Plus my right ear is bleeding a little. I'm on antibiotics. I just don't know who to believe or what to do. Help me?
Answers: Ok, so here's the situation. I got my ears pierced January 1st. Since then, my right ear has always hurt a little when the earring wiggled. I also had a really hard time getting earrings out and in. Now I finally got it down, but I noticed a yellowish crust on my ear backs. I went to the doctor and he said it was infected and that I should take my earrings out for 3 weeks so the infection can "clear out" or else it will spread to my cartilage and deform my ear. He said the hole should just close up. The issue is that EVERYONE else (including many med sites online) say that I should leave them in to avoid an absess and leaving it in will TRAP the infection. My ears are not swollen, I have no fever. They just crust, hurt, and bleed a little. I put the earrings back in yesterday (which hurt a lot) and now my ears hurt when they wiggle again. Plus my right ear is bleeding a little. I'm on antibiotics. I just don't know who to believe or what to do. Help me?
OK, this may help.
First, stay on the antibiotics.
Consider having your rings gauged up 1 gauge- sometimes if the thickness of the earring is too small the body reacts to it as if it is a sliver, and you get a yellow crust, and some infection.
Ask for a topical antibiotic as well.
Soak your ears in salt water, as warm as you can. It's awkward, but it helps. You can saturate cotton and lay it on the sites. Saline soaks 3 to 4 times a day for 5 minutes will help draw the infection out and sooth your ears.
Do not gauge your ears up yourself. Have a piercer use an insertion taper if you decide to try that. It will hurt, and it is like having a fresh peirce, but it helps some people if their gauges as small- like smaller than 16 gauge in the ear lobes (18, 20 or 22 gauge).
Weren't you given antiseptic to be applied around the pierced site twice daily to avoid this?
Try cleaning the earring hole with alcohol and clean the earring as well. I think what is happening is that you got an infection so you took the earring out and treated the ear. When you put the earring back in, you actually put the same infection back.
I would use alcohol 2 times a day and after you shower and wash your hair to prevent bacteria from getting in there. Also make sure your hands are clean before touching the ear or earrings.
Also, make sure the the earring you have on are sterling silver or real gold. Some people have nickle allergies and the ear can react like it is infected because it is treating the nickle as a foreign object.
I used to pierce ears every day!!