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swollen helix piercing

I just did a helix piercing 5 days ago. it was fine for the first 3 days, till the night i slept on my helix piercing. I woke up to a swollen ear. I knew it was swollen as the back butterfly of my stud was coming in contact with the back of my ear, which mean my ear has grown bigger. I don't know if i should just leave it alone. Cause since then i have tried pulling the back butterfly thingy to give some space between my ear and the butterfly thingy. I have also diligently put alcohol drops as recommended by the piercer. And i had it done with a gun. :frown:

(
Will it subside very soon?

Reply 1

Odd socks

Your piercer sounds like they don't know what they're talking about, no reputable piercer would do a helix with a gun, it shatters the cartilage and can lead to mishappen healing. Also you shouldn't be putting alcohol on it.

I'd recommend a solution of quarter a teaspoon of sea salt in 250ml of boiled water. Let it cool and then lean your piercing in it and let it soak for 5 minutes before using a cotton bud to gently clean off any gunk that's accumulated.

Do this twice a day and it should help your piercing heal, I did it with my helix piercing and it's healed great :yep:

Oh and try and avoid fiddling with it or twisting it as much as possible, preferably only touch it when you're cleaning it

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(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 2

Reue

^^^ Agree with the above. A gun should never have been used.

Had a similar problem with mine as it kept swelling up where Id slept on it. Combination of very hot salt water bathes and cleaning it with tea tree oil done the job.

Reply 3

katiiiiie

A gun shouldn't of been used, as the above posts say, I learnt the hard way when I was 13. Don't take it out, it sounds infected and the infection could get worse if you remove the jewellery. I'd recommend cleaning it with rock salt in boiling water and using tea tree in almond oil every so often (only when it's infected, stop using it when it goes back to normal) and stop using the alcohol, that will only irritate it. If things get worse, go to a reputable piercing studio and have someone look at it :smile: