Post Punk Kitchen Forum

This, unfortunately, is not about any sort of interesting piercing.

I've had my ears pierced (one hole in each lobe) for 20 years. I had to take my earrings out last week for surgery, and I neglected to put them back in for a week. I had to jam them back through the holes to get them in and now they're sore. You'd think after 20 years they would stop trying to heal over IN A WEEK, but no such luck. They aren't red or swollen or oozing or anything. Is there any special care or cleaning or anything I should be doing at this point so they don't get infected?

I'd clean them with a mild sea salt solution (1/2 tsp sea salt to 1 litre of boiling water & let it cool) twice a day until they feel better, then carry on for another week just to be safe! Don't touch, twist or play with them either.

The next time you should probably run a taper to open the fistula back to the original size, jamming and earring through is actually pretty traumatic to the tissue. Otherwise I agree with jojo, sea salt soaks and being gentle to them.

I too agree with jojo, just crank up the salt some more. 1/2 tsp on a quart of water is not that much...

It's not meant to be that much, it needs to be an incredibly mild solution. You could up it to 3/4 tsp but I'd personally stick with 1/2.

And yep I agree with Una, a taper would be better next time!

I have no idea what that is. I basically own one pair of earrings that I wear every day. I thought holes weren't supposed to close so quickly after two decades!

mine are the same way, RC. I just don't wear them anymore. i figure i have some sort of magic recuperative powers in my earlobes.

A taper?

I find my ears close over if I leave earrings out for more than a day. I will admit I just jam them back in, I didn't know it was that bad.

Must be the vegan immune system ... or we're borg or something. I have small captive ball earrings that I just don't ever take out. With no pokey bits they don't bother me laying down or anything, and they don't fall out, no pieces to lose, and they're neutral enough looking that I don't NEED to change them. I like keeping them pierced for the like, two days a year I get fancied up.

I'm suddenly feeling like I have no healing powers at all. I can go months without mine really closing up. Except for the cartilage one and that takes a couple weeks.

I had one for 10 years that never closed up when I left the earring for months and then all of sudden it decided to close up after a couple of weeks of forgetting to put an earring in! Weird.

Hmm. I have this problem too sometimes. A taper sounds like a great idea, but if you have unstretched ears, is it possible to find a taper that small?

I read somewhere years ago that if you taste the solution, it should be about as salty as tears, so not very salty at all. I always just use that to figure out how much to add, because I am lazy.

yes, they make them in all sizes, I have a 14g one for my labret (i only wear it once a year haha)

If you go into your local piercing shop they should be able to order one for you, or you can look online.

ok, I got a piercing question too. At least 5 years ago, I got a snug piercing. It healed off well (better than my Helix) but the stud was uncomfortable, so I took it out. After some time (a year?) I just put a regular little stud in there and all was fine. However, sometimes, especially when it's cold outside, that spot hurts like hell! with or without earring in it. As if some nerves act up. Anybody ever experienced that?

i have some scars from surgery that, 7 (?) years later, occasionally give me stab of pain that makes me think someone stabbed me in the back. the place in question is where they removed lot of skin and subcutaneous tissue, so I assume there is a nerve in there that got twisted/poked/abused/jammed somewhere unpleasant and vents its anger every once in a while.

on the rare occasion i actually take my earrings out i soak them in hydrogen peroxide and clean my ears with hydrogen peroxide. i have really sensitive skin too and this helps.

depending on what your earrings actually are (ie if they have some sort of delicate gem in them) you may not want to soak them but just wipe them down.

For whatever reason this reminded me of a book I read as a kid, part of a series called Replica. The clone with lots of um, superhuman qualities gets dangerously ill after an ear piercing because her body heals so fast.