For a few days after piercing, you'll feel some throbbing and see swelling and slight bleeding. In moderation, these symptoms are normal. If you experience these in excess, consult a medical professional.
What are the potential signs of an infected ear piercing? Your ear piercing might throb right after you have it done, and there's a chance there will be a little bit of fluid, blood, or discharge oozing from the area within the first couple of days too.
Symptoms and signs of an infected ear piercing
redness and swelling surrounding the wound; pulsation or feeling of heat in the piercing area; contact pain and excessive sensitivity; a foul-smelling discharge of yellowish or greenish fluid (pus);
Perichondritis is an infection of the tissue lining your ear cartilage. Symptoms include pain, redness and swelling. Perichondritis is a bacterial infection. Ear trauma, most commonly high ear cartilage piercing, is the usual cause.
You may feel a pinch and some throbbing after, but it shouldn't last long. The pain from either piercing method is probably equivalent. The ear has nerves all through it. But the fatty tissue in the earlobe has less than other areas, so it may feel less painful.
Most ear piercing pain – including redness, swollen ear lobes or cartilage and soreness – typically lasts anywhere from a day or two, to around a week after your piercing session. Most side effects will subside within 3-5 days.
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.
To get a piercing back to where it needs to be, we suggest using a sterile saline compress with gauze pads. This is a very mild way to get irritants out of a piercing, as well as to assist in bringing down inflammation.
The skin around a new piercing might be swollen, red and tender for a few days. It might bleed slightly. If the swelling, redness and bleeding last longer than a few days, contact your doctor. Prompt treatment can help prevent potentially serious complications.
Changes in skin
If the skin is looking thinner or tighter around the piercing, or above the jewellery, it's a possible sign of rejection. As well, the colour of your skin changing around the hole is another potential sign. Transparent/near-transparent skin is a very likely sign of rejection.
Skin Infections
If redness, swelling and pain doesn't subside after a few days or comes back after initially going away, it's a sign of a skin infection. The presence of pus is a more immediate cause for concern. A newly-pierced hole in your ear is raw and unprotected.
In most cases, minor ear piercing infections go away within 2 weeks with proper home care. When to call a doctor. In some cases, home care might not be enough. If your earring or the backing is stuck inside your earlobe, you should seek care from a doctor.
Surface piercings are the most likely type of piercing to reject because they are placed just underneath the skin so can easily be pushed out by the body.
A piercing can start to be rejected within a week of getting it done, but it can also happen months or years after you think the area has healed. If you hit the piercing hard enough the body may register it as a threat and start to push it out.
You may notice one or all of the following start to happen: the distance between the entry and exit holes begins to shrink – e.g you can see more of the bar or ring than before – this is the most significant sign. your piercing feels sore, irritated or itchy. it looks dry.
Pierced areas, especially sensitive areas like the navel, can get infected months and even years after they were pierced, though infections most often occur very shortly after the time of piercing, as that is when the portal door is wide open.
But infection symptoms won't pop up the moment your piercing is exposed to bacteria. "Surprisingly, piercing infections do not typically happen until three to seven days after the initial piercing, sometimes more," Dr. Mankarious says. "Bacteria need time to proliferate."
Keep your piercing clean with saltwater or saline and avoid touching or removing it as much as possible while it heals to promote healing and prevent infection. Wash the piercing 3 times a day and apply antibacterial ointment after each cleaning if it's infected. Mild infections usually last 1-2 weeks.
Having said that, the actual act of getting it pierced isn't usually the painful part; the pain factor (though mild) is more about the next couple of weeks. Cartilage piercings take between 4-6 months to heal at a minimum. Initial swelling can subside in 2 weeks, although it's more common to last around 2-6 weeks.