Ear piercing and swimming

[Anonymous]

My child just got her ears pierced. The piercer said she needs to wait 6 months before going in a pool. That seems super unrealistic and I can’t imagine any kids not swimming for 6 months. I have an older child and can’t remember how long we waited, but it definitely wasn’t months. She was on a swim team. Probably more like a couple weeks.

So how long did you actually wait before having child swim after piercing ears?

[Anonymous]

Six months. We timed her ear piercing month.

[Anonymous]

We just got our child's ears pierced at Rowan, which is done by nurses. She said we our child could swim in a pool or the ocean right away, as long as we used the cleaning spray afterwards (we spray at night and in the morning, we've had no problems/ swelling). Maybe it has to do with what the piercing is? Or maybe an abundance of caution. She did say avoid lakes.

[Anonymous]

We waited about 3.5 weeks. DD swims year round so she couldn’t wait forever. We washed with the saline spray immediately after. No issues for her.

[Anonymous]

We waited about 4 months.

[Anonymous]

we didn’t wait at all! just made sure to use the saline spray.

[Anonymous]

I have a swimmer with multiple piercings. For a long time, she also played basketball and soccer, so they were pierced more based on those schedules and we tried to stay out of the pool as long as realistic. Maybe 3-4 weeks.

Eventually, back in the water the next day.

Just be diligent with cleaning and avoid lakes/rivers.

[Anonymous]

Until it's not bleeding when removing/inserting the piercing?
No open wound, why the worry?

[Anonymous]

We waited 1 day. It was all fine.

[Anonymous]

I have this question too; my DD swims basically year round and plays other sports seasonally (specifically soccer, which seems strict about it). Thinking maybe we'll try for over winter break when I think swim takes a couple of weeks off?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have this question too; my DD swims basically year round and plays other sports seasonally (specifically soccer, which seems strict about it). Thinking maybe we'll try for over winter break when I think swim takes a couple of weeks off?

That’s when we did it (I previously wrote that DD waited 3.5 weeks)

[Anonymous]

I could never figure out good timing as a kid (we did a lot of lake swimming and I was on swim team and soccer made us take them out) and didn’t end up piercing my ears until I was 26 during a long closure at my pool.

[Anonymous]

In reply to PP, who asked if the piercing was healed after a day or two because it stopped bleeding, that makes sense, but it actually does take a few weeks for epithelial cells to grow over the earlobe piercing. It’s like a scrape or a cut - it might not be bleeding anymore, but the epithelial cells haven’t grown in yet and infection can take hold.

To reduce the chance of infection to nearly zero, follow the usual care instructions and avoid swimming for 6 weeks. If you wait 24 h, clean properly, and swim in a properly chlorinated pool as opposed to a hot tub or natural body of water, your risk is very small, but not nonexistent. If you don’t swim at all and don’t even get your ear wet, you still have a non zero chance of infection due to infection by skin flora.

Most of the severe infections related to ear piercings these days are from cartilage piercings, which take a long time to heal because of poor blood flow. The earlobe has great blood flow and is more resistant to infection.

I have two boy swimmers, and if they wanted to pierce their ears, I would make them do it during the break between short and long course season or in August. And I would make sure the piercing occurs under the most stringent sterilization guidelines - it’s been forever since I got my ears pierced by a disinterested teen at a Claire’s, but these days, I would make sure that the earrings were autoclaved, earlobe washed x 3, etc. Also, keep a dollop of petroleum jelly on the piercing - moist wounds heal much faster.

[Anonymous]

We waited a week. My DD is also a year round swimmer, no issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I could never figure out good timing as a kid (we did a lot of lake swimming and I was on swim team and soccer made us take them out) and didn’t end up piercing my ears until I was 26 during a long closure at my pool.

The timing is tough and remember 2 girls showed up to soccer season with newly pierced ears and they had to decide between taking piercings out or being benched. They chose to be benched for season.