Ear Piercing Infection Dermatologist

A new ear piercing is an open wound that can take several weeks to fully heal. During that time, any bacteria that enter the wound can lead to infection. Taking good care of your piercing is key to preventing infection.

An ear piercing is a hole through your earlobe or the cartilage in your middle or upper ear. Ear piercing infections may be red, swollen, sore, warm, itchy or tender. Sometimes, piercings ooze blood or white, yellow or green pus.

A new piercing is an open wound that can take several weeks to fully heal. During that time, any bacteria that enter the wound can lead to infection.

Why Does My Ear Piercing Keep Getting Infected?

Your upper ear is cartilage, a thick, stiff tissue with less blood flow. Piercings in your upper ear are more likely to become infected, and infections in your upper ear are sometimes serious.

Millions of people get their ears pierced every year, and most of them have no serious complications. Mild irritation and infections are common, however, for new piercings. In most cases, infections aren’t serious and clear up quickly.

Some pain and redness are part of the normal healing process for pierced ears. It can be easy to confuse those with signs of infection.

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If there’s a bump on the back of the ear piercing, it’s not necessarily infected. Small bumps called granulomas can sometimes form around the piercing. These bumps are trapped fluid that you can treat by compressing them with warm water.

If bacteria get into a new piercing, it can lead to infection. You may expose your new piercing to harmful bacteria by:

Many things can increase your risk of getting an infection from an ear piercing. Certain health conditions can affect your body’s immune system and your ability to fight infection. These conditions include:

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Upper ear piercings are more likely to get infected. Left untreated, these infections can lead to a condition known as perichondritis. An infection can also spread into your body (systemic infection).

If you see signs of an infected cartilage piercing, you should contact a healthcare provider. The provider can assess the severity of the infection.

A healthcare provider can tell you what to do for an infected ear piercing. They may recommend a variety of treatments to help heal an infected ear piercing. Ear piercing infection treatment may include:

Ear Piercing Rapid™ 3 Week After Care Lotion

With good care, most infections clear up within a few days. If your infected ear piercing isn’t improving, you should see a healthcare provider.

Getting your ears pierced is most often a safe, simple procedure. Be sure to go to an experienced piercer who practices proper hygiene. Keep your new piercings clean, and don’t remove your earrings until your piercings have healed completely. Be patient — by preventing an infection now, you can enjoy your healthy piercings for years to come.

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Karen L. Hudson is a tattoo artist and contributing writer for . She has been an amateur artist as a hobby since grade school, and served a 12 month tattoo apprenticeship in a tattoo studio.

When you have an infected piercing, your first thought might be to take your jewelry out. While that might seem like the best thing to do, it's best to leave this to your doctor. If your piercing is actually infected, and you remove the jewelry on your own, you may spread the bacteria. Instead, see a dermatologist, who will likely swab the area for a culture and start a course of topical and/or oral antibiotics to treat the infected skin piercing. Your derm will likely also want to monitor the area for potential abscess formation throughout your treatment plan. To learn more, we spoke to two dermatologists, Y. Claire Chang and Alicia Zalka.

Mild infections can be treated easily enough at home. If it's just a little irritated, slightly red or warm, you can try a few things to clear it up on your own:

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The first thing is to determine if your piercing is actually infected. A piercing may be infected if you notice redness, swelling, pain or tenderness, warmth, crusting, and yellow drainage around the piercing site, says Chang. More severe infections can lead to spreading redness/swelling, fevers, chills, and swollen lymph nodes.

My experience is that bellybutton piercings are the ones most at risk for infections. The second most common would be nose piercings, says Zalka.

If you have a nickel sensitivity, you may not be able to handle jewelry made of nickel-laden metals. It’s best to see your dermatologist or other health care provider as an infection can be mistaken for an allergic reaction and vice versa, says Zalka. Some people react to the metal in the piercing object. This can happen to those with a nickel allergy. Silver, gold, and steel may still have small amounts of nickel in them; enough to bother someone who's very sensitive. In this case, niobium or titanium jewelry may be necessary. You may also have allergic reactions to other kinds of metals, even if they don't contain nickel. Always consider the jewelry first if you're having a problem, and have it changed to a high-quality metal if you think that could be the cause.

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An infection does not necessarily mean that you need to remove the jewelry and jump ship from your new piercing. Many infections will clear up with some extra care, and you can keep your new jewelry. Minor infections can be managed conservatively with saltwater or sterile saline soaks, and it is not necessary to remove the jewelry, says Chang.

It can be tempting to want to turn, twist, and touch the infected piercing in an effort to keep the hole from closing up. Chang warns, Avoid excessively touching or manipulating the infected site as this can worsen the irritation and inflammation. Only manipulate the piercing site when you are cleaning it, otherwise, leave it alone to heal.

Minor infections can often be treated at home, but it's important to make sure you are doing so with clean hands. Make sure you do not have a fever or swollen lymph nodes, which suggests you should seek a doctor for further evaluation, notes Chang. Avoid excessively touching or manipulating the infected site as this can worsen the irritation and inflammation. If touching the area, make sure to wash your hands thoroughly beforehand. Soap and water, please!

How To Prevent Ear Piercing Infections

If you don't think the jewelry is the cause, then the source of the infection is probably bacterial. The way to fix that is to kill and/or clear the bacteria. Try cleaning the area twice a day and doing sea salt soaks twice a day; basically treating it like a brand new piercing. The heat and the salt are both claimed to help draw out pus and other fluids that may contain bacteria. Hopefully, following that regimen for a few days will clear up an infection in its early stages. You can do this with a q-tip and sterile saline or saltwater (distilled water combined with salt). Remember to clean both the front and back of the earlobe.

Avoid alcohol or hydrogen peroxide to the affected area, as these can further irritate the skin and slow down the healing process, says Chang.

Applying a topical antibiotic ointment recommended by a dermatologist can be a great way to help heal the infected area. After cleaning, gently pat the area dry and pat a small amount of the ointment over the infected area.

How To Treat An Infected Ear Piercinghellogiggles

If the piercing is hot to the touch and painful, you can cleanse by applying a warm-water compress. You can do this right at home by taking a washcloth, running it under warm water, and then applying directly to the infected site. Just make sure that the cloth is not burning hot. Keep the compress on for 20-30 minutes and repeat as necessary. It’s healed when the skin returns to normal color and is no longer painful or swollen and there is no longer any yellow discharge, says Zalka.

More serious infections, however, can lead to other serious problems, so if you are oozing thick or green pus, or if the area is seriously swollen and hot to the touch, you should not attempt to clear the infection on your own. Improvement in redness, warmth, pain, and drainage suggests that the infected site is healed. If you develop an abscess, spreading infection, fever, chill, or malaise, please notify your board-certified physician