At A Glance Author Michelle D. Contact Michelle D.@bme.anon IAM Flutterfly When Three months ago Artist Anonymous Studio Anonymous Location Toronto, Ontario On November 21st, 2004 I had my snug pierced at a well-known Toronto studio. This piercing wasn't one that I had been thinking about for a long time. Nor was I really fond of the piercing. However, I decided to get it anyways. The procedure was relatively uneventful and I expected my aftercare and healing time to be similar to that of my other cartilage piercings.
However, less than two weeks after I was pierced my ear began to swell, turn bright red and hurt like hell, all in the course of a day. At first I dismissed it, thinking that I was just experiencing a normal 'bitchy phase' that my piercings sometimes go through. The next day, though, my ear was 10 times worse and I was beginning to question whether or not I had an infection. I was almost certain that I did – I had all the symptoms associated with an infected piercing. Also, years back I experienced a bad infection in a gunned helix piercing. Of course I know now that stud guns are inappropriate. To the best of my memory, my ear felt and looked the same as it did years earlier with that helix piercing, which brought me to the ER and landed me on weeks of antibiotics. The only reason I wasn't completely sure that it was an infection, was because I had only had the piercing for under two weeks and couldn't understand how an infection would pop up that quickly.
Though I was pretty sure I had an infection I decided to go back and see my original piercer. He took a brief look at my ear and told me that it was "normal" for a healing piercing to look and feel that way. I was mad that I had wasted my time heading to the studio to simply have my ear glanced at and concerns dismissed, when I had plenty of piercings and new what "normal" was.
The next day I headed to another studio, where my tattoo artist had recently become employed, and met their piercer. She was very nice and helpful. I explained to her how incredibly painful my ear was and that even gently using a Q-Tip to remove the lymph almost made me cry. She told me that she was going to give my ear a good clean for me and rotate my jewelry, since that was almost impossible for me to do, because it hurt me so much. She made a good point – she could get that buggar to rotate because, after all, it's not hurting her. I was scared when she took me into her piercing room. I knew I was in for an uncomfortable experience and, as predicted, it was. In addition to giving my ear a good clean, she recommended that I clean my ear with iodine for the next couple of days and if things didn't improve definitely get myself to a healthcare professional. Not many people may recommend iodine, but it did end up helping. After she had helped me I tried to tip her (because I really appreciated her help on a piercing she didn't perform), but she wouldn't accept it.
A couple of days later my ear hadn't improved as much as I had wanted it to. While on the way home from school I stopped at another studio and asked their opinion on my situation. The piercer agreed that it was infected and stated that I should get on antibiotics. I explained how I knew how dangerous infected cartilage piercings can be and didn't want to be left with any permanent damage, such as ear collapse and that's why I was dissatisfied with the 'help' I got by the piercer who had performed this piercing.
The next day, I headed to a walk-in clinic with the goal of keeping the appointment as short as possible and not getting any lectures. I didn't wait long before I was greeted by a young, female doctor. She asked how she could help me and I stated that I believed I needed a round of antibiotics for an infected piercing. I wasn't sure if she was a piercing-friendly doctor and was interested to see her reaction. She simply asked why I thought the piercing was infected. I explained that I wasn't new to piercings and had dealt with a very infected piercing when I was younger. I also showed her how swollen and red my right ear was, in comparison to my left. I continued by stating that I was experiencing a lot of pain and my piercing was 'oozing' bloody/green/yellow lymph like crazy. She asked what I was doing for aftercare and I told her that initially I was doing sea salt soaks, as I had done for all of my other piercings, but was currently trying out iodine, as recommended by another piercer. She told me that I should be using rubbing alcohol. Of course, I let that information go in one ear and out the other, but politely nodded in agreement.
Without further discussion she wrote me a prescription for Cephalexin. I was instructed to take this antibiotic 4 times a day for 10 days. I left the clinic, filled my prescription and headed home.
As the days progressed I noticed a substantial difference in my piercing. The redness and swelling started to subside and the pain was minimal.
As mentioned earlier, I saw 2 piercers (both at different studios, not counting the initial trip to the guy who had pierced me) before I headed to the doctor. The second piercer I saw recommended that I have my jewelry changed from a CBR to a barbell. I had read enough on BME to know that my snug should have been pierced with a barbell, to have a better chance at healing and minimize possible migration, scaring, etc., but was told it wasn't an option to have been pierced at that studio with a barbell. I know, I should have went elsewhere. The other piercer and I decided that once I was half way into my antibiotics he would change my jewelry for me. I was very nervous for my jewelry changing, as I knew how sore my ear had been, and was scared that I'd be in a lot of pain. However, I knew that it was necessary to switch to more appropriate jewelry and it ended up not being so bad. After my jewelry was switched to a barbell my ear cleared up even better.
It's now been over 2 months since I dealt with such a bad infection and my piercing is currently doing well.
I'm not sure that I will ever know what caused my piercing to become so infected in such a short amount of time. I followed my aftercare correctly, ensuring that no contaminated objects (including my hands) came in contact with my piercing. Furthermore, I did not sleep on my side, my bedding was clean, no hair products (or other irritants) were anywhere near my ears, I did not swim, etc. I guess it will remain a mystery. I will definitely not forget this experience and my fingers are crossed that I will not have to relive it again.