Hello again,
At A Glance Author Kat Contact Kat@bme.anon IAM Jezsh When Three months ago Artist Tim Buchorski Studio Utopia Location Hemel Hempstead A couple months ago I submitted an experience to BME for my transverse lobes (it's pretty easy to find, being only one of two in the particular month...!). Pretty much everything about the procedure including pain and the first couple of weeks of healing is in that review so if that's what you're looking for, read that first but come back here after.
This experience is about the healing process after I'd written that article. After reading so many BME experiences written "on the day" or "a week ago", I really don't think enough readers are getting a clear picture of the aftercare - especially with less common procedures such as the transverse lobes. Healing does not take a week or even a month in most cases, but most articles do not cover the entire healing period, which is why I've decided to write about mine.
My transverse lobes are quite long compared to a lot of pictures I've seen around BME. This means there is a fair 2.5-3.5cm of tissue that the bar goes through. While I like this placement, what it also means is that it is quite difficult for the tissue to drain properly, which slows down the healing process.
For the first couple of weeks, my lobes were both fine. However the left one was playing up. I didn't take a huge amount of notice of this until it really started flaring up. It wasn't so much swollen, but the line where the bar ran through the skin was inflamed and red, almost like you could "see" the bar. The other ear remained calm. I babied the left ear, hoping it would calm down - and it did, but only intermittently. If I slept on it at all, I would wake up with it swollen and seepy and some days for no reason it just looked like it wanted to migrate out.
I've since been back to my piercer at least three or four times to have other piercings done or to get new jewellery and he's looked at it for me. It is apparently not migrating out, but he warned me if it looked started to look very shiny and red, it was probably not very happy and I'd probably have to take it out and he would repierce it for me for free (he's such a nice guy!)
Anyway I kept up with what I was doing before - my salt soaks and such like, but no luck. I was getting very frustrated by now and began to press around the outside of the piercing to try and drain it. Probably not a good idea, but I didn't really see another way. Sometimes this seemed to help, other times it didn't do much. It would always look very swollen right after but in the morning it would sometimes look very good.
I started to wonder whether I was really getting all the lymph and pus off the jewellery, so I took to taking out the barbell, soaking it in salt water and cleaning my ear with a cotton bud soaking in the salt water while the jewellery soaked. At first this worked a charm, everything seemed to subside and my looked all happy. But then it flared up again.
It was about at this point that I tried to stop sleeping on it completely. I do think this helped somewhat, but it also had the effect of aggravating the other ear. Unlike the left ear, the right earlobe felt quite solid and didn't pus or bleed like the other. It's still like this today but it doesn't cause me any problems so I LITHA.
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that this piercing can be incredibly bitchy. I try my best but I'm running out of options. The left ear has migrated a little but it's not noticeable but just above the entrance hole closest to my head, is a spot that hurts whenever it is touched. There's no visible lump and I can't work out why it does that. I've taken to using emu oil, savlon spray and tea tree oil, none of which have managed a break through although the tea tree oil does help.
I know it's still early days and I've had the piercing around about three months but I just wanted to warn people about what they might have to go through to look after these piercings. They are very sensitive, sleeping on them aggravates them and sometimes even cleaning them with cotton buds does too.
I would never say don't go through with the piercing because of my experiences. I'm not going to take mine out until I'm sure they won't settle and there's no guarantee that yours will have any problems like mine have. Still, it's better to know what could happen and be prepared for it and then be better equipped if it does happen. I'm starting to think my body just takes a very long time to accept its new additions, but still, be warned!
From all I've learned during this healing periods, I can offer this tips which may or may not be useful to you:
1) DO NOT wear a cycle helmet or anything similar if possible. It knocks the piercings around and generally just annoys them and makes them painful.
2) DO NOT touch them with dirty hands. I know this should go without saying but it's very tempting. These piercings are hard to drain and you don't want an infection!
3) I've had my best luck with tea tree oil. I usually do a sea salt soak and then cotton bud with tea tree oil. Just be gentle with the cotton buds.
4) TRY not to sleep on the piercings. I've considered purchasing one of the u-shaped pillows but they're quite hard to get hold of. If you're tight on cash, try wriggling around until you find a way your earlobes are not squished on the pillow. That or, if one piercing is very good, you could try sleeping on that side only and see how it goes.
5) Make sure you are able to call your piercing studio if necessary to have your ears checked out. It helps to alleviate your worries and you never know, they might notice something or be able to help you out with something you couldn't have done yourself.
6) Don't let me worry you too much - use this experience as a way not to repeat my mistakes (ie: sleeping on the piercings or wearing a motorcycle helmet) and a way to prepare yourself in case they flare up badly.
That's pretty much all I have to say on the matter. I'm hoping mine will heal up soon, but I suppose if they don't, I can always try again - and that'll be another experience!
Happy healing!