When Piercings Go Wrong: Healing Infected Wounds

piercing

 “But what if something goes wrong?” or “What if it gets infected?” You’ve heard these questions a million times by now, but you never think that these kinds of situations could happen to you. Until they do. Although noted as a fairly simple and safe procedure, there are a lot of factors that could cause problems and health issues when it comes to piercings. Depending on the area where the piercing is done, there are different types of complications that can occur, but fortunately, most of these problems can be solved easily, without a doctor’s assistance. Here are a few pointers on how to handle infected piercing wounds on yourself:

Identify the Problem and Don’t Hold It Off

There’s a number of things that could go wrong when getting a piercing and for a number of different reasons too. And although there’s a certain healing period after you get pierced, it’s important to know how to identify specific problems and complications if they occur. The most common signs of infected piercings are certainly excessive pain in the pierced area, redness, swelling; and in worst cases, blood, puss and discharge from the piercing hole. Other than the infection, another possible occurrence is the formation of cartilage piercing bumps, which are small, raised scars around the hole of the piercing. If you experience any of these problems, it’s crucial to act fast and not delay the treatment.

What You’ll Need

Depending on the severity of the infection, there are two possible solutions: if it’s a serious infection, don’t hesitate to go to the nearest doctor’s office and if it’s a minor infection, you’ll need to make a treatment depending on the infected area. The first thing you’ll want to do is remove the jewelry mood rings – read more on Mood Ring Colors and Meanings for more information and disinfect it, wash the wound with saline solution and apply a cold pack to the wound.  After that, you’ll want to apply antibacterial ointment to the area to prevent bacteria from forming and place another cold pack to reduce the swelling. If it’s a mouth or a tongue piercing, the best you can do is use antibacterial mouthwash and avoid alcohol, smoking and spicy foods until it heals properly.

Consult with A Professional

Regardless of whether it was a minor or a more severe infection, after you’ve taken care of it, the next thing you should do is visit your piercer and your doctor’s office. The piercer might give you certain suggestions or pointers on how to take care of the piercing in the future and the doctor’s job is to ensure that the wound is properly taken care off and to give you additional advice about how to speed up the recovery process.

Prevention Is the Best Medicine

The last thing to keep in mind is that proper maintenance of the piercing can usually save you the trouble of getting infected wounds and for that reason, it’s important to regularly clean the hole and the piercing itself, rinse it with a proper solution every day and follow all the instructions of your piercer thoroughly. Professionals that do ear piercing state that the most crucial thing when it comes to preventing infections and complications is making sure that you’re getting your pierce from a certified professional and to avoid amateur and unlicensed piercers.

With proper maintenance, there’s little chance of any complication occurring. Of course, side-affects are always possible, and sometimes, problems occur even if you do everything properly. This is why it’s important to always be prepared for possible outcomes and to know how to handle these problems accordingly.

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