Piercing problems

Start here if something looks or feels wrong. Most piercing problems fall into four categories, and telling them apart decides what you do next.

Which one is it?

What you see	Likely	What to do
Small pink lump beside the jewelry, clear fluid, not hot	Irritation bump	Find the mechanical cause and remove it. Guide
Redness spreading outward, hot skin, thick yellow or green discharge	Infection	See a doctor the same day, jewelry left in. Ear · Nose
Firm, rubbery growth spreading beyond the piercing over months	Possible keloid	See a dermatologist. Guide
Distance between the ends shortening, skin thinning over the bar	Migration or rejection	See a piercer promptly

Two rules that apply to all of them

Do not remove the jewelry unless a clinician tells you to. The surface closes over within hours while the underlying tissue is still inflamed, which can turn a treatable surface problem into a trapped one.

Stop adding products. Tea tree oil, aspirin paste, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, antibiotic ointment and toothpaste all appear constantly in online advice and all of them irritate healing tissue. Plain sterile saline is what a piercing needs.

Get medical help the same day for

• Redness spreading away from the piercing
• Skin hot to the touch
• Thick yellow or green discharge, or a foul smell
• Swelling increasing after the first week
• Severe or throbbing pain
• Red streaks running from the site
• Fever, chills, or feeling unwell

Cartilage piercings warrant a lower threshold, because cartilage has a poor blood supply and infections there escalate and cause lasting damage more readily.

Most problems are mechanical

The commonest single cause of a piercing problem is not bacteria. It is pressure, movement or the wrong jewelry: sleeping on it, a hoop fitted before healing, a post that needed downsizing, or an externally threaded stud dragging through the channel.

That is good news, because it means the fix is usually free. Work through the causes in the bump guide, fix the ones that apply, and give it four to eight weeks.

Prevention is the aftercare basics, and healing times will tell you whether your piercing is actually behind schedule or just normal.