Soap and water followed by saline.

What material is the earring? I recently reopened my half closed second hole and it was also red and swollen and warm. I was using earrings that were marked for “sensitive skin“ but my body seemed to disagree with that. I switched to a titanium stud and within days it healed pretty quickly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take the piercing out. NOW.

Not necessarily. If there's bacteria there and the hole shuts, you're shutting in the bacteria. Just go to the doctor OP.

Thank you, yes, that's what I'm going to do! Seeing the doctor tomorrow. I'm going to continue spraying gently with sterile saline between now and then but that's it.

Bacitracin is usually not recommended for piercings. I’d take it out and try again after it’s healed

Anonymous wrote:Take the piercing out. NOW.

Not necessarily. If there's bacteria there and the hole shuts, you're shutting in the bacteria. Just go to the doctor OP.

Use rubbing alcohol and twist the earing a lot (it will sting). Then add Bacitracin (not neosporin). Rubbing alcohol can be 2-3 times per day, Bacitracin am and pm

Thanks pps and sigh, I will be sad if I lose this piercing. To clarify, there is still plenty of room on the post and it's easy to move front to back in the ear; it's also a longer post because it was a new piercing, the shop always uses long posts to allow room for swelling. I see a bit of redness and swelling but it's subtle. My family says it looks fine to them. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow so hopefully she'll render a verdict on what to do. I had heard that it could be a bad idea to remove an earring when it's infected as it can seal the infection inside the skin, but I will see what the doctor says. I'm so confused why this is happening, I feel I did everything right but I guess there are never any guarantees.

Take the earring out now before your ear swells and the earring gets "lost" in your skin. My friend ended up needing her earlobe cut because it was so swollen they couldn't get the earring out.

Take the piercing out. NOW.

I recently had my ears pierced for the first time (am in my 40s). It's been 8 weeks. One side feels perfectly fine. The other has been more sensitive since day 1 and I feel has even worsened a bit recently. It's never looked alarming or even particularly concerning, but it seems a little swollen/red (you have to stare to see it, though I can see it), and feels a bit warm. And just kind of tingly/itchy and uncomfortable. I am going to see my doctor in the next couple days but am wondering if there is anything I should do in the meantime. I have been following all the rules very carefully, spraying with saline 1-2x per day, sleeping on a donut pillow and trying to avoid that side, not touching the ears. etc. I'm just frustrated that this side is having issues and not sure how worried I should be.

It was a needle piercing FWIW at a shop that uses only registered nurses for piercings. Any advice for a piercing novice is appreciated!