How To Get Rid Of Itchy Ear Piercing

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.

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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.

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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:

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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.

Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. PolicyA piercing is an open wound that requires time and care to heal. Cartilage piercings typically take longer to heal and are more prone to infection than earlobe piercings. Even when a person follows the aftercare instructions, infections may still occur.

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An infected ear piercing can also develop years after a person got the original piercing. Usually, the infections are minor, and people can treat them at home without complications.

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Touching the piercing too often with dirty hands or not cleaning the area can lead to infections. Also, earrings that are too tight may not allow the wound to breathe and heal.

In this article, learn about the symptoms of an infected ear piercing, as well as the treatment options, and how to prevent infections in the future.

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The first step to avoid infection is to go to a professional for a piercing rather than piercing the ear at home.

For piercings that are not on the earlobe, needles are safer than using a piercing gun. Hygiene is equally important for both piercing methods, and aftercare protocols are the same.

It is vital to follow the piercer’s aftercare instructions carefully. Clean the ears twice a day with sterile saline water or the rinse provided by the piercer.

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To treat an infection in an old piercing, people should clean the earring and both sides of the ear with saline solution, and handing it with clean hands.

If signs or symptoms of infection happen often, people should consider buying only hypoallergenic jewelry, as they may be reacting to the earrings.

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If a new piercing is infected, it is best not to remove the earring. Removing the piercing can allow the wound to close, trapping the infection within the skin. For this reason, it is advisable not to remove an earring from an infected ear unless advised by a doctor or professional piercer.

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Once the wound has healed — usually after 2 to 3 months in the case of earlobe piercing or longer in cartilage piercings — a person can safely remove an earring.

When getting a new earring, it is crucial that people have this done by a professional piercer with excellent hygiene practices. Also, they must always follow the aftercare instructions carefully until the wound has healed.

Most infected ear piercings can be treated at home and will improve within a few days, although, in some cases, antibiotics may be necessary. If symptoms do not improve, the infection spreads, or there are other symptoms, a person should speak to a doctor.

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Medical News Today has strict sourcing guidelines and draws only from peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical journals and associations. We avoid using tertiary references. We link primary sources — including studies, scientific references, and statistics — within each article and also list them in the resources section at the bottom of our articles. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy.JAKARTA – Some people experience itching and rashes on their ear piercings when wearing earrings. The most common possibility is caused by an allergic reaction to certain materials from the earrings.

Allergies are a natural response of the body, such as the body's way of fighting bacteria or viruses. It is the immune system that protects itself from harmful substances. Itching on piercings, which can be experienced in the ears, navel, lips, nose, and tongue, is caused by nickel in earrings or other accessories such as zippers, watch straps, bra hooks, coins, and eyeglass frames. Scientifically, it's not clear why certain people's bodies react to certain metals while others don't.

This allergic reaction can be recognized by a number of symptoms including a rash, intense itching, changes in skin color to purplish red, dry skin patches resembling burns, and blisters filled with fluid.

Why

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Reported by Very Well Health, Wednesday, January 12, metal is often a trigger for contact dermatitis, it is possible for people to experience allergic reactions when attaching jewelry to body piercing. Experts advise, during the piercing process, choose a professional who maintains cleanliness and practices infection control. Well, to ad potential problems with allergic reactions, also ask what kind of ingredients they use.

Another suggestion, after your piercing has healed, ad wearing allergenic jewelry, including stainless steel jewelry that still contains a small amount of nickel. Then choose jewelry made of 14 or 18 carat gold, titanium, or niobium.

Scientific evidence shows that the more a person is exposed to metals, the higher the potential for developing allergies. Therefore, the more piercings you have, the greater the allergic reaction. So start identifying allergies and choose accessories or jewelry materials that don't trigger these reactions.

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There are two possibilities for the appearance of swelling, redness, heat, itching, and burning sensation in the piercing. In addition to allergic reactions, there are also infectious conditions. Well, how to tell the difference, allergic reactions will not improve when treated with topical antibiotic ointment. This is an indication that you may have an allergy and not an infection.

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