I put a lot of time and effort into my “How to properly care for a new ear piercing” article. That time and effort seems to have been well used, as it’s my second most popular post.
As much time and effort I put into that entry, I’ve noticed that a lot of questions probably aren’t answered as well as they could have been. Some of these aren’t exactly questions but I feel they’re worth discussing.
List of questions answered
- Dry skin around piercing
- How to make a sea salt solution for your ear
- How soon can you change a new ear piercing?
- Turning new ear piercing
- Can an ear piercing seal up in an hour?
- How to clean an infection from ear piercing
- How to clean newly pierced helix? / How to clean newly pierced ear?
- Can you use contact solution on ear piercings?
- How long should you clean a new piercing for?
- How many times do I clean newly pierced ears?
- What to do – ear piercing not healing?
Dry skin around piercing
This is usually caused by either cleaning the new ear piercing with the wrong solution, by over-cleaning or not removing the excess solution from the site of the piercing.
Don’t use alcohol-based products to clean your new ear piercing, as it will dry out the surrounding skin and make it uncomfortable (itchy!) and unsightly. There’s a very good reason why using stuff like Surgical Spirit hurts – it’s not supposed to be used!
Don’t clean the new ear piercing more than twice a day, unless you have some pussing going on, or if the new ear piercing regularly comes into contact with something dirty (hands / fingers, hair, etc) – if any of these are the case, then clean the piercing up to three times a day.
Always remove excess solution from the site of the piercing – not doing this can eventually cause the area to become dry. You can do this the same way you clean the piercing but DON’T rub the area.
How to make a sea salt solution for your ear
Fill the kettle up and start boiling. While you’re waiting, get a large CLEAN measuring jug, a CLEAN teaspoon and some sea salt (NOT rock salt or table salt or any other type of salt!).
Measure out about ¼ of a teaspoon of the salt and pour it into the jug.
When the kettle has boiled, pour out about 300ml / half a pint of the water into the jug.
Sit and wait for it to cool down – I like my water to be warm, so I wait around half an hour. My sister likes her water cool, so she waits for about an hour.
How soon can you change a new ear piercing?
This depends on the placement of the piercing – a lobe piercing can be changed after around 2 ½ months but a helix piercing (“top of the ear” piercing) needs to have at least 3-4 months to heal.
The first time you want to change the jewellery in your ear piercing, you should go back to the piercer; it costs very little (it costs around £2 here) and they make sure the jewellery is clean before they insert it.
It’s really best to wait for as long as you can stand the jewellery. 
Turning new ear piercing
Don’t twist or turn the jewellery in your new ear piercing! Doing this is kind of like picking your scabs; as the piercing is healing, there are going to be tiny new scabs inside the wound, where you can’t see or feel them. These tiny scabs will “stick” to the jewellery. By twisting the jewellery, you are effectively picking at all those tiny scabs and then rubbing them into all of the newly opened wounds; you’re increasing the chance of your new piercing becoming infected.
Your jewellery will not get “stuck” into one position if you don’t twist or turn the jewellery – all of those tiny scabs I mentioned will eventually be removed by your body.
You’re not “helping the hole form” or “helping the healing process along” by twisting or turning the jewellery – by twisting or turning the jewellery in your new ear piercing, you’re hindering the healing process and making it go on for much longer than it needs to.
Also, it’s really gross.
Can an ear piercing seal up in an hour?
Depends on how old the piercing is and if it has an infection.
An unhealed piercing can – and will – heal up very quickly. This is why you should wait for as long as you can before changing the jewellery.
When I was eleven and had just had my first helix piercing, I decided that I was bored with the jewellery already and wanted to change it, despite the piercing only being a week old at the time. In the time it took me to take out the original “stud” and try to put the new one in, the hole had partially closed up. My mum had to help me force the new “stud” into the hole and I ended up with a lovely infection as a result.
How to clean an infection from ear piercing
Bump the cleaning up to three times a day, using a sea salt solution and make sure you keep your hair up!
If the infection is still present after a week, go back to the piercer, as they can tell you what to do and where to go next. Unless the piercer (and no one else!) says otherwise, do not remove the jewellery! You need to keep the jewellery in, otherwise the wound will close up and keep the pus inside your ear. If the pus has no where to go, it will then rot and will create an even bigger infection.
If your ear seems fine and then suddendly swells or “puffs up”, go straight to the hospital, as this could be a very serious infection. If you’ve knocked it and it suddenly swells or “puffs up”, you don’t need to go to the hospital, but you do need to be more careful.
How to clean newly pierced helix? / How to clean newly pierced ear?
Make up a sea salt solution and use clean cotton buds / q-tips.
You dip the cotton bud into the solution and let any excess drips … er, drip. Then place the cotton bud against the site of the piercing and roll it gently towards the end of the jewellery, while keeping it in place. Do this all around each side of the piercing (you should have two sides – front and back) and use a clean cotton bud each time.
Once you’ve cleaned, use a clean and DRY cotton bud to remove the excess solution from your piercing. If you leave it on, the salt in the solution can cause dryness.
Can you use contact solution on ear piercings?
NO.
How long should you clean a new piercing for?
For as long as it takes but make sure you clean the piercing for at least the recommended amount of time. You can get that information from your piercer – just phone them up or go into the shop.
How many times do I clean newly pierced ears?
Twice a day for at least the recommended amount of time. This depends on the placement of the piercing and you should really ask your piercer for this information.
What to do – ear piercing not healing?
Most piercers will offer free “check-ups” on the piercing you have had done with them. If you feel that your piercing is taking too long to heal or doesn’t seem to be healing at all, you should go back and see them.
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Tags: Body Modification, Body Mods, Piercings
Hey, i had my ear pierced 2 days ago and it has fallen out! the clip at the back must of wiggled free and then the stud has come out… Now the whole is healing up VERY fast and i cant get the stud back in through the back of my ear… what should i do?
Go straight back to your piercer to see if the piercing can be saved.
If it can’t, don’t worry because it can always be repierced again later.
Hi, I had my tragus pierced about a year ago, and it’s still really really nasty.
It’s been on and off for the year, and i’ve used a whole series of different things on it to try and clean it up. Currently, there is a big red lump above the ring, which seemed fine yesterday, but burst today with the slightest touch and quite a bit of puss came out.
I have been back to the piercer, he told me to take it out. I was on antibiotics for it, the doctor also told me to take it out. I have seen another piercer, he told me to persivere if I wanted to, but that i should probably take it out.
If I do take it out, what sort of treatment should I begin? Salt water? Tea tree?
Please please help! x
If you decide to take it out, use a salt water solution to clean it and clean it twice a day, like you would if it was freshly pierced. Keep cleaning it until the hole is totally closed up.
You could use tea tree oil if you want to but when I used it on my navel piercing, I found that it burnt my skin pretty badly (it looked like I’d put out a cigarette on the area!). The tea tree solution I used was in a ready-to-use bottle from the piercer I went to, so I know that it wasn’t anything I did.
Hi,
ive had my ear lobe pierced 4 days ago now, and it seems to be a little bit swollen but i feel no pain at all. Does this mean anything at all? And also i have dry skin around my piercing how could i get rid of it?
Hi iv had my ear pierced up the top part last wednesday and now its saturday so it’s been 1 week and 3 days i kep twisting it so it wont stick and it really hurts and i really dont wanna tell my mum iv got it done iv been staying at my dads because its the summer holidays he dont care but my mum will kill me and how do i hide it and and i clean it once a day please please please give me i deas for both questions
cheers xx
hi i have had my Helix pierced for about 2 1/2 months, i changed it 6 weeks after i had it done was all fine my pircer changer it for me. But recently i have discover a blister looking lump around the back of my piercing. There is no pain only apart from is senstive to sleep on.
Im not sure what to do wheter to take out my earing or keep it in. any help will me much appreciated ?
I’ve had those annoying little blister-like lumps around my piercings before and one of the girls I work with, she’s had them both of the times she had her tragus pierced.
When I had mine, I just ignored them (as ugly as they were) and carried on cleaning them – about a year later, as I was planning on getting more piercings done, I noticed that they’d gone.
If you’re worried about them, talk to your piercer. Definitely don’t put any chemicals on the lump unless the piercer says you should. Good luck getting rid of it!
Hi umm i got my cartilage pierced 3 days ago it was fine until yesterday night it got puffy and red, today its a lil better but its still a lil puffy and th back of my ear is a lil red idk what to do im freaking out this is how my ear looks now
http://s256.photobucket.com/albums/hh163/14qoti/?action=view¤t=2009-08-1809-14-41046.jpg
copy this 2 the top n thats how my ear looks like
the ear that i didnt get pierced looks like this
http://s256.photobucket.com/albums/hh163/14qoti/?action=view¤t=2009-08-1809-14-51259.jpg
i pierced my earlobe yesterday and then after 3 hours , i tried to change to the earstick , bcos i dont wan my mum to know , then , i cant squeeze the stick in , and i saw blood on my fingers , and the area where i pierced is getting abit red , what should i do?
reply back to me by my email
I had my helix pierced several months back (April 09) and two weeks ago decided to change the original ring that it was pierced with in exchange for one of the hanging cuff rings. My ear was completely healed when I got it put in (by a professional) but it seems to be reacting again and has a yellow and sometimes slightly greenish crust forming around it and the skin where the earring hangs is crusting (or maybe just chafing). Is this normal? Should I be moving the ring up an down? (cause it sticks to my ear from the fluid).
Try cleaning the piercing as though it’s a new one and try not to move the jewellery about (you’re basically re-opening a scab every time you move the jewellery to stop it from “sticking” – so it won’t heal up).
Give it a couple of days and if you don’t see any improvement, go to a piercer and have them check it out.
Thank you very much for the advice, it seems to be getting a lot better.
hey…. i have just recently pierced my ear. for the first 4 days it was okay. However, at the 5th day, it started to swell and it kinda hurts but there is no discharge. Did i get an infection? Well, i also clean my ear with antiseptic cream twice a day.
Ive had the top of my ear pierced for about 3 years now, and I have always worn a hoop instead of a stud. I recently lost my hoop in the shower (GRR) and is now back to using my stud. I’ve noticed that I have a blister from the back of the studd and it is red and inflamed. I dont know what to do, I haven’t had any trouble with it until now… Do i pop it? or do I just leave it? I know about the salt water method. thanks
Go back to the peircer and have them check it out – I’ve never had that problem myself but I strongly suggest NOT popping it!