Ear Piercing Infection

[joflier]

I had my ears pierced about a month ago, and today it appears one of them is infected. Does putting an antibiotic ointment help with this, does anyone know? I''m actually taking a round of penicillin for a tooth infection, so I don''t just want to up and run to the doctor without giving it a couple days to maybe clear up on its own. Although, I only have about 2 days left of the meds. Any thoughts?

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 5/16/2009 3:45:23 PM
Author:joflier
I had my ears pierced about a month ago, and today it appears one of them is infected. Does putting an antibiotic ointment help with this, does anyone know? I''m actually taking a round of penicillin for a tooth infection, so I don''t just want to up and run to the doctor without giving it a couple days to maybe clear up on its own. Although, I only have about 2 days left of the meds. Any thoughts?

Yes use some neosporin. You can even dip the posts in it and them put them on. Hope it heals quickly.

 

[AGBF]

This sounds offbeat, but Tea Tree oil immediately got rid of a keloid that developed next to a stud my daughter had in her nose.

When she first had her nose pierced everything was OK, and she used the antibacterial spray given to her by the piercer. When the area got inflamed, that didn't work and she developed the keloid. (At the first sign of infection we doubled up on antibacterial/antibiotic spray and started using Bacitracin.) However, someone she found, maybe on Yahoo answers, mentioned Tea Tree oil. We were skeptical. Within two or three days of using it, however, the keloid was gone.

My daughter has removed the nose stud and the piercing has now closed up. She has also removed the belly button ring. Since she allowed a few of her ear holes to close in the past, that leaves us with only one pair of ear holes to worry about now!

Please keep us apprised, joflier!

AGBF

 

[Rhea]

In a piercing I used tea tree oil when it became infected. The Body Shop sells small glass bottles of it for a few bucks. One drop once or twice a day cleared it right up after a couple of days. My piercing was older, about a year old, when it got infected.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Addy - does the tea tree oil you purchased at the Body Shop have a strong scent? I bought a bottle at a health food store and the stuff has such a strong scent, my DH complained about it.

 

[joflier]

Date: 5/16/2009 4:13:11 PM
Author: Kaleigh
Yes use some neosporin. You can even dip the posts in it and them put them on. Hope it heals quickly.

I didn''t want to take the stud out yet, as its still a newer piercing. I used a qtip to dab some around the opening and just turn the stud. Hopefully that works well enough.

 

[joflier]

Date: 5/16/2009 4:54:24 PM
Author: AGBF


This sounds offbeat, but Tea Tree oil immediately got rid of a keloid that developed next to a stud my daughter had in her nose.

When she first had her nose pierced everything was OK, and she used the antibacterial spray given to her by the piercer. When the area got inflamed, that didn''t work and she developed the keloid. (At the first sign of infection we doubled up on antibacterial/antibiotic spray and started using Bacitracin.) However, someone she found, maybe on Yahoo answers, mentioned Tea Tree oil. We were skeptical. Within two or three days of using it, however, the keloid was gone.

My daughter has removed the nose stud and the piercing has now closed up. She has also removed the belly button ring. Since she allowed a few of her ear holes to close in the past, that leaves us with only one pair of ear holes to worry about now!

Please keep us apprised, joflier!

AGBF

That sounds interesting. I may have to try that. Addy suggested the Body shop, but I don''t think there is one around here. Would Walmart or Target sell something like that?

 

[AGBF]

Date: 5/16/2009 7:41:16 PM
Author: joflier

That sounds interesting. I may have to try that. Addy suggested the Body shop, but I don't think there is one around here. Would Walmart or Target sell something like that?

Yes, I cannot swear as to exactly which store will carry it, of course, but I believe that we bought ours for a pittance at a local drugstore. I commented on how inexpensive it was compared to the highpriced antiseptic spray we had been sold by the piercer. I said that one would think that the RN at one of the places where we had piercing done might have known about Tea Tree oil and my daughter, cynically, said that she she wouldn't want to lose out on a $25.00 (or whatever) sale of her brand name spray!

I think we got our Tea Tree oil at CVS, a chain pharmacy in the US. Are you in the US or Canada?

AGBF

 

[AGBF]

joflier,

Maybe this link will help!

AGBF

 

[Italiahaircolor]

If you''re on antibiotics already, that should treat any infection you have including your tooth and your ear. So, I am surprised that it isn''t.

I would suggest visiting the doctor before doing anything else. You be having an allergic reaction to the metal or your body may be rejecting the piercing--or, something completely different. Either way, I would pop into your GP and have him/her take a look--better safe than sorry.

 

[joflier]

Date: 5/16/2009 8:33:02 PM
Author: AGBF


joflier,

Maybe this link will help!

AGBF

I''m in the US. Very helpful - thanx Deb.

 

[joflier]

Date: 5/16/2009 8:50:10 PM
Author: Italiahaircolor
If you''re on antibiotics already, that should treat any infection you have including your tooth and your ear. So, I am surprised that it isn''t.

I would suggest visiting the doctor before doing anything else. You be having an allergic reaction to the metal or your body may be rejecting the piercing--or, something completely different. Either way, I would pop into your GP and have him/her take a look--better safe than sorry.

You''d surely think so, right?! I work at a clinic, so I see docs daily, but I''m off for a few, and I''m hoping to clear this up on its own. I''m not a big fan of meds when I don''t absolutely have to be on them.

 

[AGBF]

Date: 5/16/2009 8:50:10 PM
Author: Italiahaircolor

If you're on antibiotics already, that should treat any infection you have including your tooth and your ear.

Don't get me started on antibiotics! It is a rare antibiotic that is even "supposed" to treat a wide spectrum of bacterial infections and those are often so strong that they would make you violently sick to your stomach! Most antibiotics are targeted to specific bacterial infections. Of course the physicians prescribing them do not always know which bacteria are at work in the patient for whom they prescribe the medication....and so it goes as Kurt Vonnegut used to say .

What do you do, joflier?

AGBF

 

[joflier]

Date: 5/16/2009 9:21:39 PM
Author: AGBF








Don''t get me started on antibiotics! It is a rare antibiotic that is even ''supposed'' to treat a wide spectrum of bacterial infections and those are often so strong that they would make you violently sick to your stomach! Most antibiotics are targeted to specific bacterial infections. Of course the physicians prescribing them do not always know which bacteria are at work in the patient for whom they prescribe the medication....and so it goes as Kurt Vonnegut used to say .

What do you do, joflier?

AGBF

Good point Deb. Penicillin isn''t typically a drug of choice for infections, although it did work well for my tooth. I''m a radiographer aka xray technologist. Well, off to walmart!

 

[doodle]

A good friend of mine is a piercer (and not one of the shady ones, haha--he''s won a number of awards, has an impeccable reputation, etc), so when I got my nose pierced years ago, I stupidly let someone other than the friend do it, and it got infected really REALLY badly (lesson for anyone reading this with a fresh piercing: newly punched hole in your body+jewelry with gemstones of any kind=breeding ground for bacteria! use jewelry that is one solid piece of metal until the piercing heals). anyway, my friend said to use bactine on it every day to clean it, twisting the piece of jewelry to work the solution down in there. while bactine isn''t recommended for puncture wounds and would therefore be a bad idea to use on piercings in certain locations, it''s fine from what i''ve been told to use on piercings that are in cartilage, like your ears, nose, etc. i wouldn''t take the jewelry out of a new piercing unless you''re wanting it to close up. while a piercing takes a while to heal, irritated skin can clench shut and make it impossible to get a piece of jewelry back in (which is why i no longer have my nose stud, and i had had mine pierced for a year when I took it out to change the stud, but my skin was having a reaction to the metal of the old stud, and it reacted so quickly that the thinnest end of a taper wouldn''t even go through it!). if it isn''t noticeably better after a few days, have it checked out--like Italia said, you could be having an allergic reaction to the metal. hope that helps!

 

[Italiahaircolor]

Date: 5/16/2009 9:21:39 PM
Author: AGBF

Date: 5/16/2009 8:50:10 PM
Author: Italiahaircolor

If you''re on antibiotics already, that should treat any infection you have including your tooth and your ear.

Don''t get me started on antibiotics! It is a rare antibiotic that is even ''supposed'' to treat a wide spectrum of bacterial infections and those are often so strong that they would make you violently sick to your stomach! Most antibiotics are targeted to specific bacterial infections. Of course the physicians prescribing them do not always know which bacteria are at work in the patient for whom they prescribe the medication....and so it goes as Kurt Vonnegut used to say .

What do you do, joflier?

AGBF

Not everyone is a supporter of antibotics...just like people don''t vaccines, or even asprin...but, the fact is that in many cases they do treat illnesses and infections. For many people that have positive effects.

 

[Rhea]

MC, it''s fairly strong, but I like the scent so I can''t really tell. If I remember correctly, the reason I picked the Body Shop stuff over cheaper stuff at Target was that the Body Shop''s had a higher concentration of tea tree oil. The small bottle has lasted me a couple of years. It''s so powerful I only use a drop at a time. It doesn''t seem to have gone off.

Just checked online. In the UK a 10m bottle is £3.90. In the US it''s $9.00!!!! Expensive. linky if you want to see the ingredients

 

[AGBF]

italia, I am not against all antibiotics. I am just suspicious by nature. I would never be sure that an antibiotic that was supposed to treat one problem would also be able to treat another. In addition, I would be suspicious of many physicians' abilities to know which antibiotic to use in the first place! (I mean, it really helps if the physician knows the bacteria with which s/he is dealing because s/he has a lab report telling him/her what it is! A strep test or urinalysis or a culture from a gum can tell the physician what he is treating!) If a physician (or dentist) hasn't done a culture of some sort, we are hoping for the best!

joflier, did you have success at Walmart last night?

AGBF

 

[joflier]

Date: 5/17/2009 7:19:16 AM
Author: AGBF




italia, I am not against all antibiotics. I am just suspicious by nature. I would never be sure that an antibiotic that was supposed to treat one problem would also be able to treat another. In addition, I would be suspicious of many physicians'' abilities to know which antibiotic to use in the first place! (I mean, it really helps if the physician knows the bacteria with which s/he is dealing because s/he has a lab report telling him/her what it is! A strep test or urinalysis or a culture from a gum can tell the physician what he is treating!) If a physician (or dentist) hasn''t done a culture of some sort, we are hoping for the best!

joflier, did you have success at Walmart last night?

AGBF

Yes I did have success. We shall see how it goes. Now this morning, my other earlobe is starting to hurt, so it seems there is something starting there too. But the worse one is feeling better today. Not as swollen.