The key to preventing infection in our body is to maintain good hygiene. By following daily healthy personal hygiene habits, one reduces the risk of infection in the body.
Similarly, one needs to clean the earring holes regularly to avoid the spread of any kind of infection.
No matter if you have a freshly pierced earhole or an old one both require cleaning regularly and mindfully.
Newly pierced holes are more prone to get an abscess, embedded earrings, or Keloid scarring. On the other hand, old earring holes mostly smell putrid with itching surrounding the holes and may lead to redness of the skin too.
How to clean your newly pierced earring holes?
Stop touching it! Though it’s tempting. Yeah, I understand your excitement about your newly pierced earring hole. Try to keep the friction as less as possible. Do not twist your ear pin and stay away from pools and hot tubs where the chances of germs presence are more.
Let`s prepare ourselves to clean the newly pierced earring hole.
- Wash your hands with anti-bactiral soap thoroughly or you can use a sanitizer to restrict the germ transmission while cleaning the newly pierced earring holes.
- Sanitize the surface where you will place the cotton buds/ balls or swabs. You will need to use diffrent swab for each earlobe side.
- Keep the warm saline solution or salted distilled water in a bowl.
- You can make this cleaning solution at home by adding 1/4 or 1/8th teaspoon of seasalt in a cup of warm water.
- Dip swab into the cleaning solution so that it absorb the ample amount of it. You can buy medicated swabs from this link at Amazon
- Gently hold the ear pin or ring and pull aside little to create a place between the pin and skin and start applying the swab around the piercing at the front side of ear.
- Now take a new swab or cotton boll and hold the ear pin from back side of ear and clean the back side of the pierced hole.
- Change the swab again and start with the another side of ear, clean the front side by pulling the earpin a little.
- Again take a new swab and repeat the process at the back side of ear while make sure to clean thoroughly and gently.
- Dab dry both sides of ears one by one with a clean tissue paper. Do not rub or wipe, just dab gentaly.
- Observe the sufaces of earring hole carefully to check for any infection. Initially slight redness is normal but if it persist even after regular cleaning you might needs to use anti-bactiral cream.
You can buy Piercing Aftercare sea Salt Cleansing Solution from Amazon from this link
Make sure to use a different cotton boll or swab for each side of the ear for cleaning the earring hole every time. Do not forget to sanitize the surface before placing the cleaning material or use a clean napkin to put the cotton buds.
Make the slight movement of the earring
Hold your earring and rotate it clockwise half rotation and then anti-clockwise as well. In the new pierced earring holes skin is in the healing process and tends to stick with earrings.
Turning ear pins after cleaning helps in keeping the skin detached from the ear pin and avoiding infection.
Apply antibacterial Ointment
Use a fresh swab to apply an antibacterial ointment on the front side and backside of both ears. Buy antibiotics in Neosporin from this link, it stops bacterial growth as well kill existing bacteria.
Turn the ear pins again clockwise and anti-clockwise so that the ointment gets into the holes thoroughly.
It takes around 4 to 6 weeks to heal for your freshly pierced earring holes so you need to keep on cleaning it once a day for 8 weeks.
Do Not Overplay the Drill of Cleaning Your Piercing
If you get an infection or itching, you may clean it twice a day. Remember overdoing cleaning tend to make the skin more sensitive and prone to infections.
Avoid using a strong solution like alcohol, hydrogen peroxide instead you can use any mild liquid fragrance-free soap for cleaning the pierced hole.
Note – Keep on your ear pins in, freshly pierced earholes’ skin may close the hole if you leave them without an ear pin for long. At least for 6 weeks, you need to keep on the ear pins day night.
How to stay away from Ear Piercings Infection
If repeatedly you are facing trouble with your old pierced ear like crusty discharge, redness, pain, itching, or thick pus and heat in the areas. Keep reading to know the possible mistakes you made which are causing the infection in your pierced ear hole.
Reasons for piercing infections
- Top most reason of infected pierced hole is bactria, it may pass through your hands or jewellery.
- Allergy from particular metal, may your gold earpins never bothers you but wearing those stunning dangler on special occasion gives you ear piercing infection.
- Locking your earpins very tightly also causes pain and itching in the skin.
- Buildup from hair products and skin creams collected near ear may also results in piercing infection.
- Your bedsheet or pillow cover are also possible transmitor of bacterias for causing an infection in pierced ear.
Infected or Irritated ear-piercing Symptoms
How to clean old pierced ear holes.
Include the habit of cleaning your pierced areas in your daily hygiene habits; as you clean your teeth daily and take shower. Make sure to clean your ear/ body piercing too.
You can buy Piercing Floss Disposable Piercing Aftercare Piercing Cleaning Line from Amazon by using this link
Heavy earrings on special occasions usually leave your ears pierced area sore, make sure to not put any ear pins or use lightweight ear pins for coming a day or two.
Scrutinize if you get an infection from any particular metal or type of ear pins.
Locking your ear pin too tightly doesn’t allow air to pass between the ear skin and the ear pin that causes moisture and leads to infection.
Be mindful while purchasing ear accessories, rough edges, the low-quality metal used of an ear pin may also cause irritation in the pierced area.
Always clean your newly purchased ear pins with rubbing alcohol before you put them on.
All in all, make hygiene your priority, and following the above-mentioned tips shall help you best to maintain the pierced area free from infection.
