Is my cartilage piercing infected??!

Is my cartilage piercing infected??

I got my cartilage pierced on Sunday nite by my friend with her piercing gun. It was fine up until Yesterday morning and by nite it was bothering me so much, I had to take it out. My other friend came over to help me, and she said it looked like I had my earring pushed back really far, so much that it was irratating my cartilage and once I took it out she always mentioned that there was a cut back there. I woke up not long ago and my ear is STILL red, throbbing, and it looks like theres a yellow puss where my ear was pierced. (When I cleaned my ear last nite there was some yellow stuff that came off also.)

From reading up on this, it seems like my ear is infected, but what do I do? I'm really scared. I REALLY don't want to go to the doctor? What will make it heal on it's own? Will I be okay if I don't go to the doctor?

Please help!! Thanks.

You'll be fine. You don't need to go to see a doctor.

Bathe the piercing twice a day using a cotton wool ball soaked in salt water. Try and use sea salt not table salt. I've always been told sea salt is the best thing for cleaning piercings with. It's a natural antiseptic so it's good for any kind of mild infection. A mild anti-bacterial soap would also be good but IME sea salt water is more effective.

Do NOT use alcohol, peroxide or anything like that to clean it with. That kind of stuff is way to harsh for cleaning piercings, even good, non-infected ones. It can even damage your skin.

Getting it pierced with a gun was a bad idea in the first place. Every time someone is pierced using a gun, tiny micro-particles of skin, blood and other body fluids spray on to the gun. Piercing guns cannot be properly sterilized in an autoclave like other, safe piercing equipment. So, this micro-spray stays there and you are at a much higher risk of infection. Cartilage piercings using guns are an even worse idea. The force of the gun can actually crush the cartilage in the area surround the piercing. As you can imagine this is painful and can sometimes have the same effect as a cauliflower ear, though perhaps on a smaller scale.

Bathe it a least twice a day and wait for it to heal. Cartilage can take a long time to heal. My Upper ear piercing took about 6 months and that was without the complication of infection. So, be patient.

If you decide you want anything done like that again in the future, go to a reputable piercer and get it done with a needle.