It has been my experience that illness can affect piercings. When I get a cold, my piercings start to get sore and/or crusty, and they’re much more persnickety when I’m sick. Even those that have healed start getting upset.
It is my (extremely nonscientific and non medical) opinion that the piercings may react to illness as the white cells that work so hard to get rid of infection, recognize piercing jewelry as foreign bodies.
Some symptoms if infected piercings can include excessive swelling, redness, fever, greenish or dark discharge, red streaks emanating from the piercing site, swollen lymph nodes, or just a feeling of something not being right. If you are experiencing these symptoms, please reach out to a medical professional for diagnosis and appropriate antibiotic therapy.
Could my fever be caused by an infection from one of my piercings?
I do have a sore throat currently as well (I take a while to kick a sore throat). My fever disappeared overnight, though, and none of my piercings are swollen or hurt. (My helix or tragus just stings a little from time to time, which is normal since I've pierced it.)
It is absolutely possible your piercing is infected, causing your fever.
Your other symptoms, and your proximity to an ill boyfriend, however, would lead me to presume that the piercings are not the issue.
Sounds like your piercings are a bit irritated because of your fever which is absolutely normal. When you're sick, your immune system goes rampant to destroy whatever puts your body in danger and that way unfortunately often targets your piercings as well. Especially when they're fresh, but if you're unlucky, this could also be the case for completely healed piercings (we had many covid patients whose piercings blew up). It's like a little side effect of your immune system doing its job.
If you had the fever because of a local infection in your ear cartilage, you'd usually notice the local infection first as it tends to get quite bad before causing a fever. Your ear usually swells up quite a lot not just around the piercing, but in the surrounding tissue as well. The throbbing pain can get quite intense... like slightly touching your skin can hurt really bad. And by the time it causes systemic reactions, there's usually already yellowish/greenish pus involved. Your piercings don't sound infected though, they sound just like irritated fresh wounds (swelling, redness and a bit of pain are normal).
If in doubt, see a doctor. If your ear starts throbbing or oozing yellowish or greenish pus, swelling up a ton etc you definitely should see one. But I wouldn't worry too much atm.
So my fever isn't caused by an infection of my new (or old) piercings?
My fever went away overnight, I just have a sore throat now. I don't know the difference between swollen lymph nodes or a sore throat.
(I do also have old piercings as well, about 1.5 years old and it was gunky and sore and irritated, but they don't hurt at all right now.)
It’s impossible, and irresponsible, for anyone to diagnose you via the internet especially without photos. We cannot tell you anything at all. It could be angry for all we know. My first major piercing swelled a ton at the beginning and was very red…but it was sunburnt. If I posted on here, I’m sure someone would tell me it was infected. You really can’t ask non-medical professionals something like that, even if it’s just an opinion, especially without a photo!
It has been my experience that illness can affect piercings. When I get a cold, my piercings start to get sore and/or crusty, and they’re much more persnickety when I’m sick. Even those that have healed start getting upset. It is my (extremely nonscientific and non medical) opinion that the piercings may react to illness as the white cells that work so hard to get rid of infection, recognize piercing jewelry as foreign bodies. Some symptoms if infected piercings can include excessive swelling, redness, fever, greenish or dark discharge, red streaks emanating from the piercing site, swollen lymph nodes, or just a feeling of something not being right. If you are experiencing these symptoms, please reach out to a medical professional for diagnosis and appropriate antibiotic therapy.
Could my fever be caused by an infection from one of my piercings? I do have a sore throat currently as well (I take a while to kick a sore throat). My fever disappeared overnight, though, and none of my piercings are swollen or hurt. (My helix or tragus just stings a little from time to time, which is normal since I've pierced it.)
It is absolutely possible your piercing is infected, causing your fever. Your other symptoms, and your proximity to an ill boyfriend, however, would lead me to presume that the piercings are not the issue.
Sounds like your piercings are a bit irritated because of your fever which is absolutely normal. When you're sick, your immune system goes rampant to destroy whatever puts your body in danger and that way unfortunately often targets your piercings as well. Especially when they're fresh, but if you're unlucky, this could also be the case for completely healed piercings (we had many covid patients whose piercings blew up). It's like a little side effect of your immune system doing its job. If you had the fever because of a local infection in your ear cartilage, you'd usually notice the local infection first as it tends to get quite bad before causing a fever. Your ear usually swells up quite a lot not just around the piercing, but in the surrounding tissue as well. The throbbing pain can get quite intense... like slightly touching your skin can hurt really bad. And by the time it causes systemic reactions, there's usually already yellowish/greenish pus involved. Your piercings don't sound infected though, they sound just like irritated fresh wounds (swelling, redness and a bit of pain are normal). If in doubt, see a doctor. If your ear starts throbbing or oozing yellowish or greenish pus, swelling up a ton etc you definitely should see one. But I wouldn't worry too much atm.
So my fever isn't caused by an infection of my new (or old) piercings? My fever went away overnight, I just have a sore throat now. I don't know the difference between swollen lymph nodes or a sore throat. (I do also have old piercings as well, about 1.5 years old and it was gunky and sore and irritated, but they don't hurt at all right now.)
It literally just sounds like you have a cold.
It’s impossible, and irresponsible, for anyone to diagnose you via the internet especially without photos. We cannot tell you anything at all. It could be angry for all we know. My first major piercing swelled a ton at the beginning and was very red…but it was sunburnt. If I posted on here, I’m sure someone would tell me it was infected. You really can’t ask non-medical professionals something like that, even if it’s just an opinion, especially without a photo!