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 one may ask, how do I know if my helix piercing is infected?
Symptoms of an infected ear piercing include:
- swelling.
- redness.
- pain.
- tenderness.
- burning.
- itching.
- yellow discharge.
Also, can ear cartilage get infected?
Perichondritis can lead to chondritis, which is an infection of the cartilage itself. This can cause severe damage to the ear structure.
When should I see a doctor for an infected cartilage piercing?
Call your doctor if you experience any of these infection symptoms: Fever. Red, swollen skin around the pierced area. Pain when touching the pierced area.
Is my cartilage 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.
How long does it take for a helix to stop hurting?
Cartilage ear piercings may take up to a year to fully heal, but generally take 3-6 months (as opposed to the ear lobe, that takes just 4-6 weeks). They heal from the outside in, so even if it looks fine on the outside, you should not assume it is fully healed.
Why is my helix piercing swollen?
A cartilage piercing creates an open wound. As it heals, it may look swollen, lumpy, or like a bump. In the days immediately following a cartilage piercing, the body’s immune system triggers inflammation and swelling to heal the wound, sometimes leading to a cartilage bump.
How do you sleep with a newly pierced ear?
If you have a new ear piercing, a thinner travel pillow works great to keep pressure off while you’re sleeping. If you don’t have a travel pillow you can roll a clean cotton T-shirt or sheet up and place it around the ear so that when you lay on your side, there’s no direct pressure on your ear.
How do you treat inflamed cartilage in the ear?
Treatment
- Antibiotics and corticosteroids.
- Removal of foreign objects, especially ear piercings through the cartilage part of the auricle.
- Warm compresses and incision and drainage of abscesses.
- Pain relievers.
What are two signs and symptoms of Perichondritis?
Symptoms
- Redness.
- Swelling.
- Pain.
- Pus or other fluid discharge (in severe cases)
- Fever (in severe cases)
- Deformation of the ear structure (in severe cases)
Why is my ear cartilage hurting?
Outer ear pain can most commonly be caused by environmental conditions such as water exposure or extreme cold weather that can lead to frostbite of the outer ear. Other causes for ear tragus pain include irritation from obtrusive objects like cotton swabs or fingers.
