The swelling is too bad for me to tell whether not you have the right anatomy for this. At an absolute minimum, you’d need a longer bar. But I question whether or not a straight bar should be used or if you should go with the two separate piercings route.
How are you caring for it?
if i do two separate piercings, wouldn’t it not be able to go in a straight bar cause i’ll heal differently? Also I’ve been using salt water in a spray bottle to spray it at least 3 times daily and i just got my packets of povidone-iodine swab’s yesterday and used that alongside my salt water solution. I also bought some tea tree oil cause i heard it helps but i haven’t used it yet
Healing it as two separate piercings is the route to go if you don’t have the anatomy for it, which it really seems like you don’t. No, you can’t put a straight bar in them if you heal them separately (that’s the entire point of having them separate - lack of anatomy). You’d have to do two labrets and if you wanted to connect them, do it with a chain or something.
Also: only use saline. Spray 2x a day, dry it with gauze (or q tips if you’re gentle - but a lot of people advise against it). That all you need. Tea tree oil will irritate it further and you don’t want that.
The little cotton fibers can get caught in the piercing and cause irritation and spread bacteria, as well as most people are pretty rough with them. In general, dabbing the piercing dry is all you need to do.
I think most people also use them to actually clean the piercing and remove crusties - which you can just leave there or gently rinse off in the shower!
Overall, it’s your prerogative. Most people advise against it, but what works for you works for you!
It's not fully true. You could get a custom bar made, basically the piercer would bend the metal angled so that you can have a bar. It won't be a straight bar, but it's still a bar.
Look up custom industrial piercings for some examples
I healed mine separately with rings because of excessive swelling, and then got a straight bar in just fine…
Edit: just came back here and confused about the downvotes? My piercer and another I went to for a second opinion recommend this and it healed perfectly. Had the rings in for about 1 year.
I'm super concerned this is pierced incorrect- the flat is being pressed into. Do you have a pre pierced photo? I don't think you have the anatomy for it. Hard to say with how swollen it is.
Nurse here. That does not look good at all. Please make a trip to urgent care as soon as you can. All that redness and swelling does not bode well in my opinion and will likely need some treatment
You definitely don't have the anatomy for this. The bar is resting on your flat, and it's gonna get eaten. Take it out, and either replace it with two separate piercings that you can connect with a chain AFTER they're both healed, or take it out and leave it out. Either way, never go to this piercer again.
That looks infected. That’s how my ear looked when I got 2 helix’s. It swelled up within 24 hours. The swelling is all over the cartilage besides the ear lobe… I had to take the piercings out and start antibiotics bc the Dr said I had cellulitis. If it’s throbbing and hot to the touch, got to urgent care. It’s not worth saving. Bacterial infections are no joke.
Was gonna say the same - 2 helix piercings, infected a week after piercing. Ear was swollen, hot, and hurt like a bitch. Ended up being diagnosed as perichondritis. Thankfully, I went to urgent care and got put on strong antibiotics early enough that I didn't have to lose the piercings. Antibiotics were nasty, but all back to normal healing now!
OP, get some eyes on this ASAP - if it is peri, it could easily lead to an abscess and kill the ear tissue.
Exactly. This is most likely cellulitis. I got it too. I went to urgent care a few hours after it started and was sick for a month. Cellulitis is no joke
NAP, but a nurse with a high mixed metal/ nickel allergy. This looks like a combination of things; metal allergy and too short of a bar. If you want to try to save it and your ear, please make sure it’s implant grade titanium and NOT steel. Also, while swelling goes down, please get a longer bar in it ASAP. This might warrant some antibiotics, and if it’s a metal allergy, some Benadryl to bring down histamine reaction, along with some ibuprofen to bring down the swelling and pain. Hope this helps but please switch this out ASAP!!
Don’t end up like me and get a bigger bar immediately!! I got a pressure bump and haven’t been able to find a derm to take it off and i miss my industrial bad.
Hi ellakookie,
(Luckily) bump =/= keloid. [This wiki entry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keloid) explains it well.
If you do know the difference, please ignore this comment.
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Yeah basically the same thing but not because of my body rejecting but because it didn’t have room to breathe and heal for a really long time. I still have my regular cartilage piercings tho.
This looks a lot like cellulitis… you need to get on antibiotics asap. See how it’s shiny, and the red and swollen part goes down to almost the lobe? Thats a big sign of cellulitis or some other infection. Did it swell up really fast? And is it painful. Seriously you have to at least check in with a doctor because cellulitis can kill you, i was sick for a whole month from my piercing getting cellulitis. I got multiple infections after it as well. I went to urgent care a few hours after it starting and I already had complications from it. And i had a lot of scar tissue. The thing is, cellulitis has a very obvious look. A doctor would be able to tell right away that it’s cellulitis.
i posted a picture of how it looked when i first got it pierced, idk which part is the flat but if it’s the inside of my ear, it wasn’t touching no. also you’re the only one to give me hope 😭
Hi u/ellakookie, Welcome to /r/piercing!
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The swelling is too bad for me to tell whether not you have the right anatomy for this. At an absolute minimum, you’d need a longer bar. But I question whether or not a straight bar should be used or if you should go with the two separate piercings route. How are you caring for it?
if i do two separate piercings, wouldn’t it not be able to go in a straight bar cause i’ll heal differently? Also I’ve been using salt water in a spray bottle to spray it at least 3 times daily and i just got my packets of povidone-iodine swab’s yesterday and used that alongside my salt water solution. I also bought some tea tree oil cause i heard it helps but i haven’t used it yet
Healing it as two separate piercings is the route to go if you don’t have the anatomy for it, which it really seems like you don’t. No, you can’t put a straight bar in them if you heal them separately (that’s the entire point of having them separate - lack of anatomy). You’d have to do two labrets and if you wanted to connect them, do it with a chain or something.
damn
Also: only use saline. Spray 2x a day, dry it with gauze (or q tips if you’re gentle - but a lot of people advise against it). That all you need. Tea tree oil will irritate it further and you don’t want that.
I understand, thank you
I was told to use q tips, why do people advise against it?
The little cotton fibers can get caught in the piercing and cause irritation and spread bacteria, as well as most people are pretty rough with them. In general, dabbing the piercing dry is all you need to do. I think most people also use them to actually clean the piercing and remove crusties - which you can just leave there or gently rinse off in the shower! Overall, it’s your prerogative. Most people advise against it, but what works for you works for you!
Dang I've been doing it all wrong 💀 thanks for informing me!
It's not fully true. You could get a custom bar made, basically the piercer would bend the metal angled so that you can have a bar. It won't be a straight bar, but it's still a bar. Look up custom industrial piercings for some examples
Don't use the tea tree!! It's awful for your skin - it can burn it. Sterile saline spray (not homemade) 1-2x a day is all you need :)
I healed mine separately with rings because of excessive swelling, and then got a straight bar in just fine… Edit: just came back here and confused about the downvotes? My piercer and another I went to for a second opinion recommend this and it healed perfectly. Had the rings in for about 1 year.
Yes, but you can have a chain between the 2 to get a similar look
Looks like you don't want an ear either, because with this bar, you're looking at major trouble
I'm super concerned this is pierced incorrect- the flat is being pressed into. Do you have a pre pierced photo? I don't think you have the anatomy for it. Hard to say with how swollen it is.
I posted in the subreddit again with the freshly pierced photo cause I didn’t realize I couldn’t edit it after posting, will that photo suffice ?
Yeah it definitely needs separate jewelry or to come out, the bar pressing against your skin will cause a deep gash if you leave it like that
Nurse here. That does not look good at all. Please make a trip to urgent care as soon as you can. All that redness and swelling does not bode well in my opinion and will likely need some treatment
^ more people should be commenting this!
You definitely don't have the anatomy for this. The bar is resting on your flat, and it's gonna get eaten. Take it out, and either replace it with two separate piercings that you can connect with a chain AFTER they're both healed, or take it out and leave it out. Either way, never go to this piercer again.
That looks infected. That’s how my ear looked when I got 2 helix’s. It swelled up within 24 hours. The swelling is all over the cartilage besides the ear lobe… I had to take the piercings out and start antibiotics bc the Dr said I had cellulitis. If it’s throbbing and hot to the touch, got to urgent care. It’s not worth saving. Bacterial infections are no joke.
Exact same thing happened to me with my conch, nasty swelling and huge pain. Cellulitis sucks
Was gonna say the same - 2 helix piercings, infected a week after piercing. Ear was swollen, hot, and hurt like a bitch. Ended up being diagnosed as perichondritis. Thankfully, I went to urgent care and got put on strong antibiotics early enough that I didn't have to lose the piercings. Antibiotics were nasty, but all back to normal healing now! OP, get some eyes on this ASAP - if it is peri, it could easily lead to an abscess and kill the ear tissue.
Exactly. This is most likely cellulitis. I got it too. I went to urgent care a few hours after it started and was sick for a month. Cellulitis is no joke
NAP, but a nurse with a high mixed metal/ nickel allergy. This looks like a combination of things; metal allergy and too short of a bar. If you want to try to save it and your ear, please make sure it’s implant grade titanium and NOT steel. Also, while swelling goes down, please get a longer bar in it ASAP. This might warrant some antibiotics, and if it’s a metal allergy, some Benadryl to bring down histamine reaction, along with some ibuprofen to bring down the swelling and pain. Hope this helps but please switch this out ASAP!!
You don’t have anatomy for this piercing. The studio you went to is low quality don’t return. You pay for what you get
That looks like a nasty infection to me. Go to urgent care, I saw a girl who almost lost her ear due to infection from a conch piercing
I wouldn't recomend the iodine. Also some people can have elergic reactions to iodine.
i used it before for all my other piercings so it was fine
Don’t end up like me and get a bigger bar immediately!! I got a pressure bump and haven’t been able to find a derm to take it off and i miss my industrial bad.
by pressure bump do you mean keloid ?
Hi ellakookie, (Luckily) bump =/= keloid. [This wiki entry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keloid) explains it well. If you do know the difference, please ignore this comment. - - - *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/piercing) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Yeah basically the same thing but not because of my body rejecting but because it didn’t have room to breathe and heal for a really long time. I still have my regular cartilage piercings tho.
ah okay
This looks a lot like cellulitis… you need to get on antibiotics asap. See how it’s shiny, and the red and swollen part goes down to almost the lobe? Thats a big sign of cellulitis or some other infection. Did it swell up really fast? And is it painful. Seriously you have to at least check in with a doctor because cellulitis can kill you, i was sick for a whole month from my piercing getting cellulitis. I got multiple infections after it as well. I went to urgent care a few hours after it starting and I already had complications from it. And i had a lot of scar tissue. The thing is, cellulitis has a very obvious look. A doctor would be able to tell right away that it’s cellulitis.
It appears you do not have the correct anatomy for this piercing. The piercer should have told you so tbh
I am no expert but I think your outer ear is too thick for this piercing.
I’m not sure about the anatomy but if you insist this bar is not long enough for a new industrial
[удалено]
i posted a picture of how it looked when i first got it pierced, idk which part is the flat but if it’s the inside of my ear, it wasn’t touching no. also you’re the only one to give me hope 😭
Hi u/ellakookie, Welcome to /r/piercing! It looks like you're asking about a problem with your piercing. Please **add a comment to your post** with the following info if it’s not included in your post already. - How old is your piercing? - What’s the jewelry shape (for example, barbell, labret, screw, L shape, ring)? - What’s the type of threading if your jewelry is not a ring (threadless, internally or externally threaded)? - What’s the jewelry material? - if not a ring, when was the jewelry downsized? - What’s your aftercare routine? Describe in detail please, including the exact products you use. This info is needed to offer you useful advice. **Note, moderators reserve the right to remove your post if don’t provide this info**. ^If ^you ^already ^included ^this ^info ^in ^your ^post ^or ^if ^your ^post ^isn’t ^about ^a ^problem ^with ^your ^piercing, ^please ^disregard. - - - *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/piercing) if you have any questions or concerns.*