Treating the infection at home
- Wash your hands before touching or cleaning your piercing.
- Clean around the piercing with a saltwater rinse three times a day. …
- Don’t use alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, or antibiotic ointments. …
- Don’t remove the piercing. …
- Clean the piercing on both sides of your earlobe.
Similarly, how do you get rid of an infected cartilage piercing?
Cleanse with a saline or sea salt soak
Saline and sea salt soaks work by washing away harmful bacteria that can lead to infection. They also wash away dead cells and other debris that build up around the piercing and form keloids. If you don’t want to buy saline, you can make your own using sea salt.
- Don’t take out the earring! Clean the infected area 3 times a day.
- Wash hands with soap and water before touching the ear or earring.
- Use cotton swab (“Q-Tip”) dipped in pierced ear solution (see #3 below).
- Clean exposed earring (both sides).
Likewise, can you use rubbing alcohol to clean an infected piercing?
Clean the piercing with warm water and soap twice a day. Do not use rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. These solutions will dry the skin, which can prevent the piercing from healing quickly and properly. With proper care and hygiene, a pierced ear infection will disappear in one to two weeks.
Should I take my piercing out if it’s infected?
When to remove a piercing
If a new piercing is infected, it is best not to remove the earring. Removing the piercing can allow the wound to close, trapping the infection within the skin. For this reason, it is advisable not to remove an earring from an infected ear unless advised by a doctor or professional piercer.
What does an infected piercing look like?
Your piercing might be infected if: the area around it is swollen, painful, hot, very red or dark (depending on your skin colour) there’s blood or pus coming out of it – pus can be white, green or yellow. you feel hot or shivery or generally unwell.
Should I clean the crust off my piercing?
Crusting after body piercing is perfectly normal—this is just the result of your body trying to heal itself. 1? Dead blood cells and plasma make their way to the surface and then dry when exposed to air. While perfectly normal, these crusties do need to be cleaned carefully and thoroughly whenever you notice them.
Are keloids permanent?
Keloids may continue to grow slowly for weeks, months or years. They eventually stop growing but do not disappear on their own. Once a keloid develops, it is permanent unless removed or treated successfully. It is common for keloids that have been removed or treated to return.
Is my piercing infected or irritated?
According to Thompson, the telltale signs of an infection are simple: “The area around the piercing is warm to the touch, you notice extreme redness or red streaks protruding from it, and it has discolored pus, normally with a green or brown tint,” Thompson says.
What saline solution is good for piercings?
Make a soaking solution by mixing sea salt and distilled water. Use pure sea salt (non-iodized) and not table salt, which contains extra chemicals that can irritate your piercing and dextrose (sugar) that can cause yeast infections.
Is chlorine bad for infected piercings?
Chlorine does not kill the germs and bacteria immediately. Germs can survive in a chlorinated pool for days and contaminated water can enter the body causing infection.
What antibiotics treat infected piercings?
Treatment / Management
Conservative treatment of minor local infections includes warm compress and over the counter or prescription topical antibiotics such as bacitracin or mupirocin. Oral antibiotics such as cephalexin or clindamycin provide coverage for streptococcus and staphylococcus.
What piercing gets infected the most?
Some pierced areas, such as the navel (belly button), are more likely to become infected because of irritation from tight clothing. A pierced site needs air to help the healing process.
Should you squeeze the pus out of an infected piercing?
You should never try to drain pus or fluid from the infected area. This can make the infection worse. If your symptoms are severe, see your doctor. They may prescribe antibiotics to help clear the infection.
What to use to clean new piercings?
Wash with warm water and gentle soap before you touch your piercing to avoid introducing bacteria to the area. Clean with a clean cotton pad or swab, dipped in rubbing alcohol. Use this around the pierced area a few times a day to remove any bacteria. Dab (don’t wipe) the piercing.
