Ear pierced three months ago hasn't healed. Halp.

May 1, 2019 8:32 PM

I got my ears pierced by a professional piercer in mid-January. It's now May and the holes still have not healed.

I have had pierced ears forever but the holes were in wonky places and I decided to get new piercings that were more centered in the lobe. I went to a reputable, well recommended piercing shop and had them done in mid-January. I opted for the barbells and also purchased the sterile solution and hemp oil to use to treat the holes.

I've been very good about swabbing the holes with sterile solution at least once a day (if not twice a day) since the ears were pierced. Even then and 3.5 months later, the holes are still sore sometimes and even bleed a little. Am I doing something wrong? Am I not doing something I should be?

posted by tafetta, darling! to Health & Fitness (14 answers total)

You might have a metal allergy. My piercings won't heal unless I use surgical grade titanium. After that I can also wear sterling silver or high carat gold, but that's it. Anything else will either not heal or irritate the piercing into infection.
posted by ananci at 8:53 PM on May 1, 2019 [21 favorites]

My daughter had her ears pierced at a good studio, followed all the instructions, and it took 6 months for her ears to heal. Now they are fine. Might just be something that happens.
posted by The Toad at 8:56 PM on May 1, 2019

I used to be sensitive to anything but straight 316/L surgical stainless, I couldn’t do titanium or any steel that had any color. But I know people who had had issues with surgical steel. Ultimately gold is the least reactive metal for piercings.

When I had piercing issues my piercer always said to use a home-made sea salt solution to wipe off any crust that dried, but to keep it moisturized with oil. He had me use Tea Tree oil since it had antibiotic properties.
Despite its astringent smell I found that it did the trick and wasn’t irritating. I’d put it on multiple times per day as I felt a crust developing, and it would dissolve the crust and help to both lubricate the piercing and sanitize it.

I’d be careful using saline more than once per day, it can really dry out and irritate fresh wounds. Instead try to just work the crust off in a hot shower once per day and use oil (whether hemp or tea tree or vitamin E) the rest of the time, judiciously.

My experience is from having two lobe piercings that I stretched up to 0g (from 4g to 0g I went WAY too fast and had to do some real damage control), and two eyebrow piercings. Since that I’ve also left my 0g lobe piercings out for a month at a time and had to gauge back up and used the same method when the piercings cracked and bled.
posted by aloiv2 at 9:12 PM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

I would just stop back by the shop where you had them done and ask the piercer to do a check. I had to do that for my cartilage piercing and he was really nice and helpful!
posted by fairlynearlyready at 10:43 PM on May 1, 2019 [7 favorites]

I’m gonna put my vote toward a metal allergy as well. Mine healed up well this last time only because of titanium posts- but everyone is different, you might need surgical steel. Try a more hypoallergenic barbel with the same basic care and see if it heals up then.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 12:56 AM on May 2, 2019

Is your piercing covered by hair or hats? I had a 5mo infection on a cartilage piercing, but when I got an undercut on that side it cleared right up.
posted by aw jeez at 1:01 AM on May 2, 2019

I would definitely go and ask, because when my kids got their piercings they were both told the longer they fiddled with and touched them the longer it would take them to heal.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 4:12 AM on May 2, 2019 [1 favorite]

My nose ring would not heal until I put in a gold ring. I used sea salt and tea tree oil as mentioned above. I made it into a paste with a bit of coconut oil and left it on my piercing for about 15 minutes which helped with the redness and brought my skin back to normal.

Also, any hair products like gel, mousse or hairspray will cause irritation.
posted by lunastellasol at 9:58 AM on May 2, 2019

I have had great success with multiple piercings in multiple body parts with LITFA: leave it the fuck alone. The act of swabbing it, even carefully, is most likely reopening the holes. Also, it takes longer than 3 months for the fistula to form. Keep it clean by letting water run over it in the shower, and don't touch it or move the jewelry in it. I bet within a week it'll be happier.
posted by fiercecupcake at 11:13 AM on May 2, 2019 [1 favorite]

Coming here to second LITFA. For all my piercings I used twice daily saline soak followed by hot water rinse for two weeks, then just let it be.
posted by chaoticgood at 1:11 PM on May 2, 2019

Have you tried soaking them in warm sea salt solution twice daily?
posted by easy, lucky, free at 3:22 PM on May 2, 2019

It takes longer when you're over 30. Mine were fully healed after about six whole months of titanium jewellery and twice daily sea salt soaks.
posted by lokta at 1:24 AM on May 3, 2019 [1 favorite]

Seconding the metal allergy and sea salt soaks. Even with them healed for years, my ears get angry if I used anything but titanium. And sea salt soaks have helped me heal some pretty angry piercings.
posted by thejanna at 1:00 PM on May 3, 2019

Try to not sleep on them for a week or so. I'm a side and stomach sleeper so it was unnatural to me, but sleeping on my back instead of having the weight of my head pushing on the piercing helped them finally heal.
posted by WeekendJen at 8:25 PM on May 3, 2019