Ear piercing question...

[DreadFish]

Ok, now I have it in the right "General" area

I really have no idea where I should put this, so I put it in general discussion...

Anyway, I am planning on having a friend pierce my ear lobes, but I have a question. As we know, during the first few weeks, the piercing is easily prone to infection; so my question is this: If I will be traveling out of country soon to southeast Asia, while the piercings are still in early healing, would it be a good idea to have a new piercing? I ask this because I know that there are different things that my body doesnt have a natural defense to because of location and this could make the piercing more prone to infection.

Im not really sure how probable it is, but I figured I would ask to avoid unwanted inconvenience, and somehow asking google about "getting a piercing and then going to a foreign country while it's still healing" doesnt work out very well

 

[Songbird]

I just had my 7-year-old daughter's ears pierced two weeks ago, so this is fresh in my mind.

You should be absolutely fine. As long as you do the daily disinfection routine (three times a day is what we were told) for six weeks, you can be anywhere - as long as you're not dunking your head in a vat of bacteria.

 

[DreadFish]

I just had my 7-year-old daughter's ears pierced two weeks ago, so this is fresh in my mind.

You should be absolutely fine. As long as you do the daily disinfection routine (three times a day is what we were told) for six weeks, you can be anywhere - as long as you're not dunking your head in a vat of bacteria.

Shoot, the whole vat of bacteria thing was one of the attractions to where I might be going . Oh well, you win some you lose some.


But yeah, cool, thanks for the help, I appreciate it

 

[Songbird]

Shoot, the whole vat of bacteria thing was one of the attractions to where I might be going . Oh well, you win some you lose some.


But yeah, cool, thanks for the help, I appreciate it

Go for it! How bad can it be?

 

[beenie]

All of my daughters have their ears pierced (they range in age from 14 to 3.5) and had absolutely no trouble.

I, however, had my ears pierced when I was 13, again when I was 18, and again a few years ago. I couldn't figure out why my ears were constantly infected and "rejecting" the earrings. The studs would literally glide down my ear (especially the left side) until there was about 1mm left before it cut through entirely.

It finally took a plastic surgeon (who I went to to have the ears sewn shut and scars/staining removed) to tell me that I am highly allergic to nickel, and that's why I have the blackened earlobes and rejection. He performed the surgery and I waited for a year and had them pierced again. I thought for sure starter studs would be "fine". Nope, I had a horrible reaction and that's when he insisted I take the starter stud out and put in a silicone stud. Even 22k gold infected my ears because they NEVER healed. I put in those silicone studs and within 3 days my ears were so very much better. By 2 weeks they were perfect little round holes and I could wear anything (for a while) for the first time in my life. Now I can still wear anything, but I put the silicone studs in my ears when I'm done with the "fashionista" earrings for the day.

I'm only telling you this because there is an off-chance you could be allergic to nickel too, and if you are, you will have a hard time healing.

Another thing: IMO using sea salt to help clean/heal your piercing is much better and more soothing than the solution piercing places give. That stuff made my ears swell.

Having said that, you will very much most likely be fine, and I wish you luck; have fun on your trip too.

 

[Songbird]

All of my daughters have their ears pierced (they range in age from 14 to 3.5) and had absolutely no trouble.

I, however, had my ears pierced when I was 13, again when I was 18, and again a few years ago. I couldn't figure out why my ears were constantly infected and "rejecting" the earrings. The studs would literally glide down my ear (especially the left side) until there was about 1mm left before it cut through entirely.

It finally took a plastic surgeon (who I went to to have the ears sewn shut and scars/staining removed) to tell me that I am highly allergic to nickel, and that's why I have the blackened earlobes and rejection. He performed the surgery and I waited for a year and had them pierced again. I thought for sure starter studs would be "fine". Nope, I had a horrible reaction and that's when he insisted I take the starter stud out and put in a silicone stud. Even 22k gold infected my ears because they NEVER healed. I put in those silicone studs and within 3 days my ears were so very much better. By 2 weeks they were perfect little round holes and I could wear anything (for a while) for the first time in my life. Now I can still wear anything, but I put the silicone studs in my ears when I'm done with the "fashionista" earrings for the day.

I'm only telling you this because there is an off-chance you could be allergic to nickel too, and if you are, you will have a hard time healing.

Another thing: IMO using sea salt to help clean/heal your piercing is much better and more soothing than the solution piercing places give. That stuff made my ears swell.

Having said that, you will very much most likely be fine, and I wish you luck; have fun on your trip too.

Yyyyyiiikes!!

Yikes, yikes, yikes!

 

[DreadFish]

Yeah, I also might be allergic to nickel. I once had my ears pierced with 10G rings and even after 2 months, they still hadn't really started to heal, so I eventually just took them out. I have heard that even with the surgical stainless-steel, some people's body still rejects it. I figure my body didn't like them, so I just took them out.

I have also read that gold is not suitable to have in any kind of body piercings; same with silver. The best is apparently titanium, it is the most hypoallergenic and safest. Surgical SS is the second best.

If these heal all the way through though, I will be using materials like bone/horn and possibly wood, most of the time.

One reason why Im getting my friend to pierce them instead of paying for it

 

[Caladan]

Ear piercing is pretty cheap, sure sounds like the better alternative if your friend is not proficient in body piercing or lacks in adequate equipment.

 

[beenie]

I have also read that gold is not suitable to have in any kind of body piercings; same with silver. The best is apparently titanium, it is the most hypoallergenic and safest. Surgical SS is the second best.

Titanium is the best metal, but silicone is the best overall. Titanium still has a very small percentage of nickel in it, so silicone is the best for healing.

 

[HerDotness]

Personally, I'd wait till I got back home just in case.

Besides, while traveling, I'd not want to have to mess with disinfecting my ears three times a day and certainly wouldn't want to have to deal with having an infection far from home should that happen.

This would be especially so since you added that you suspect you might have an allergy to nickel...and who knows what else you might find bothers you as well.

 

[DreadFish]

Titanium is the best metal, but silicone is the best overall. Titanium still has a very small percentage of nickel in it, so silicone is the best for healing.

Hmm, im kind of averse to using silicone and synthetic materials. I ended up getting some SSS earrings. They are very small though, so they were just big enough to use for the piercing. I want to get some titanium rings to switch out and wear for the rest of the healing process (and if not for the rest of the healing process, at least to wear after healing, as I am not too fond of these). I plan on going to a piercing place near by to buy some.


The ears are healing quickly though, the side that was pierced through old scar tissue is actually less sore than the other side that wasn't, though it did bleed last night from sleeping on it. They dont hurt unless I accidentally bump them pretty good , otherwise I dont even feel them.

Im just doing salt water soaks once a day, taking vitamins and drinking a good amount of those fruit "smoothies" (like Naked juice) along with other good food and putting tea tree oil on my ears once a day. I think they will probably heal pretty quickly.

 

[BeckyRose1998]

I use hypoallergenic earrings. That's all I use. And when I got mine pierced, I got gold.