Infected ear piercing treatment at home

Whenever you get an ear lobe piercing, an instrument goes through your ear lobe or other parts of your external ear and creates an open wound in the specific area. An open wound, just like any other wound goes through the process of wound healing. Wound healing in itself in a complex mechanism. It requires various chemical mediators, immune responses and a healthy wound environment. Any imbalance or deterioration in the process of natural wound healing will delay it.

• Environment sustains various microorganisms, which always makes an open wound susceptible to infection. If you don't take proper care of the wound, microorganisms in the environment settle on the wound leading to infection in the piercing. Most commonly associated bacteria in ear piercing infection are skin pathogens like Streptococcus and Staphylococcus.
• The instrument used for piercing is one of the most common reasons for infection. An unsterile instrument harbours bacteria, which eventually stick to the hole created by it and grows there. This delays wound healing and further leads to infection.
• Ear piercing is like a mini surgical procedure. So, it is important that the person in charge of the piercing should also follow proper hygiene. Any mishappening with the handling of sterile instruments, not wearing sterile gloves, piercing by bare unwashed hands or poor hygiene may provide an easy pathway for the bacteria to get inside the wound, which will eventually lead to infection.
• If your body is suffering from some underlying pathology like psoriasis, or dermatitis at the site of piercing, it greatly increases the risk of infection. People with valvular heart disease should avoid getting an ear piercing as an infection could further worsen their condition. They also have a higher chance of getting a piercing infection due to a suppressed immune system.
• Sometimes, even when everything is well taken care of it is hard to avoid an infection. Well, bacteria are notorious enough and don't miss any chance of survival. In that case, post-piercing care plays a vital role in wound healing.

After knowing the ways an ear piercing can get infected, next comes the identification of red flags of infection, also known as symptoms of infection. Only by knowing the symptoms of infection, you can work to find a way to get rid of it or treat it. Here is a list of few major symptoms that you will be noticing if your piercing got infected:

• Redness around the pierced area
• Swelling on the pierced site
• Intense pain in the pierced area
• Pus discharge from the pierced site
• Fever

Once you recognise a developing infection at the piercing site, it is best to act immediately in order to limit the infection as well as to eliminate it completely so that the wound can heal well. If you take the infection lightly, it might get severe with time and cause septicemia.

But that is just an extreme condition and in most cases, the infection can be treated right at the beginning. There are a bunch of solutions available to halt the progression of infection and getting rid of it. Just for your convenience, the treatment part is divided into home remedies or self-care and drugs like topical antibiotics.

Unfortunately, once an ear piercing gets infected, prompt and specific measures need to be taken to control the spread as well as to eliminate it. By now, you already know what you need to do to decrease or suppress the infection.

But the question arises, what measures you need to take to prevent the piercing from getting infected in the first place. Usually, the person in charge of piercing or piercer will give you instructions regarding post piercing, follow them carefully. However, in otherwise situation, all the preventive measures are enlisted below:

• Keep the piercing dry. When you take a bath or even clean the piercing, dry it with cotton bud or tissue.
• Don't touch the piercing with dirty or unwashed hand. If you feel like your hand is dirty wash your hands before touching the ear piercing for any cause.
• Don't touch the ear piercing unnecessarily. Picking and scratching the wound site should be avoided as this could become the cause of infection. An infected ear piercing is a tedious job to manage and takes a longer time to heal
• While taking a bath, use an antibacterial soap to wash the piercing site
• Avoid swimming with an open wound like ear piercing.
• If your wound is clean, don't use antiseptics, skin disinfectants, alcohol-containing cleaning solutions, tea tree oil skin cleansers. All of these can dry out the ear-piercing wound, which would eventually take a longer time to heal than usual. Avoid sharing jewellery with your friends.
• Keep wearing earrings for at least 6 weeks even at night time. As removing earrings too early will make the piercing to close, reattempting to wear earrings can cause injury to the piercing site creating an entirely new wound which may then get infected easily.
• Gently twist the earrings a few times a day. This will ensure that the piercing doesn’t close around the earring, though it might not happen anyway.

While self-treatment usually takes care of most ear piercing infections, it is always best to know when it is not enough. Certain conditions need medical advice and delaying treatment can cause serious consequences. Consult a doctor if you experience any of the following symptoms: Infection is not reducing even after two days of home care

• Rising fever
• Continuous pus discharge
• Swelling spreading day by day
• Bleeding from the piercing site

A doctor might help drain pus from the piercing site, which is necessary for infection control. He/ she may also prescribe some antibiotics or topical ointments to stop the infection from spreading to other sites. In severe cases of cartilage infection, there might be a need to remove the infected cartilage.