Worried a little about my piercing.

Selestiel

Hello guys and girls,

my first post on these forums and hopefully not the last :-)

I had my scaffold piercing done on my left ear about...4 months ago at a guess, maybe 5. (There was a time where i knew the weeks and days i had had it )

Anyhow, when it was very new i went through the rigorous routine of cleaning it 3 times a day with savlon wound wash, cotton buds, not playing about with it, certainly not sleeping on it and generally nursing it as my little baby Is my first piercing afterall.

As we stand today, no crusting, went through that stage a fair while back and it was minimal, it doesn't hurt if untouched either. No swelling, no red-ness, a good healer i presumed.

Perhaps it still is, but there a few things that makes it feel rather sore still, which i am wondering if that is normal at this stage, understandably knowing peerhaps it does take longer to heal to be totally painless when played about with for some people.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v409/darknumbers7/scaffoldcircled.jpg

Where i circled this pic of my piercing is where it is the most painful even at this stage if the barbell is moved or bumped slightly.
Is this normal and will it get better and not hurt, even after it has had so many months? The rear part of the piercing also is quite painful if where it goes through my ear is pushed back towards my head, but any other direction, pulling it away from my head, or simply up and down is painless.

Saying all of this, if i hold BOTH ends of the barbell, and move either side with the other side held, it's usually painless, as opposed to moving one side by itself and having the pain there.

I realise i have written alot, thanks in advance for any words of re-assurance i can get from any of you.
Take care :-)

~Selestiel

jenizzle

I've had my scaffold for about 3 years, and still gets a li'l sore if I sleep on it the wrong way, or even if I get a bad cold or the like!

4-5 months is still relatively new in scaffold terms, and if its just a li'l sore, and not particularly gooey, then the best thing I'd say is to just leave it alone and the soreness will clear up eventually!

Will

you shouldnt really be tugging on the piercing or messing about with it for extended periods of time. It will just aggravate the sh!te out of it, just stop playing with it and see how that goes.
If its still sore at the end of the 2 weeks just head into a piercer and they will have a peek and see what the deal is.

Crumble Froo

ok, this is totally useless to the OP, but i noticed you mentioned that you were using savlon for it.... just i've never heard of savlon... would that be the equivalent to the solutions that they give you in the studios, or what?

Will

its stuff to clean out infected cuts - now that i notice it, that is probably too harsh on your piercing... just do sea salt soaks on it. less harsh on your body

Gauge

Savlon is an antiseptic spray- it's too harsh for piercings and I find it dries them out.

Crumble Froo

oh, sorry, i meant i've never heard of savlon being used on a piercing before... but yeah, too harsh for piercings, kinda what i expected...

garthv

I had a problem with my scaffold after about a year of having it in.
It would be grand during the day but every morning, after waking up, it would be really really painful. Probably got knocked or something. Anyway, I went to a health store for some Arnica, cleared the whole thing up in a few weeks.

Gauge

Woah, woah, WOAH, arnica heals piercings?

Crap, and for the last month or so I've been secretly rolling my eyes every time my mother started harping on about how it's a miracle cure for everything. Now I'll have to start taking it!

Selestiel

Yeah Savlon is an antiseptic spray for cuts and such like Gauge said.
I will go with salt soaks from now on then!

My father is the master of herbal remedies so i may ask him about the Arnica.

Garthv, my piercing is sometimes painful in the mornings too, i put it down to pressure of laying on it and such, only is uncomfortable for a few minutes though.

Thanks for the input people! :-)

Gauge

It's normal for a cartilage piercing to be sore on occasions, even when you may think it's healed I have a scaffold that is going on 5 years old and occasionally if I sleep on it funny, I wake up with painful, swollen cartilage and I have to take the bar out to allow the swelling to go down. It's part of the fun with cartilage piercings- they really don't like being laid down on, and that sounds like it could be your problem if you're experiencing pain. As long as you've no bumps or ickiness I'd just put it down to pressure and try to avoid sleeping on it funny for the time being- the top hole is probably getting pressed against your head which is making it cranky.

Purple Person

Hi Selestial,

I'm a piercer in St Stephen's Green branch of Wildcat, I have 7 industrial piercings and I too can find that sometimes they get a bit achey. Definately knock the savlon on the head. Stuff like that and tea tree oil, surgical spirit, antiseptic creams and the like are no good.
The best advice I can give you is to not sleep on it, if you find that difficult try putting a pillow at your back, this stops you rolling on to it in your sleep. Treat it with a SEA salt solution mixed as 1/4 of a tea spoon of sea salt to 1 pint of boliled water from your kettle, let the salt disintigrate and let the water cool down. Use cotton buds to clean it so that you are keeping your fingers away from it. (touching piercings causes the most problems by transferring bacteria and moving jewellery when unclean forcing dried lymph into the piercing causing irritation)
If this problem persists pop into us and we can try changing your 6mm balls down to 5mm and see if that relieves any of the discomfort you are experiencing.
I hope this helps.

Selestiel

Thankyou for further replies :-)

I am cotton budding water with the sea salt in it as suggested twice daily. Not touching it, or turning the barbell anymore, which is a habit i had got into.

Sleeping on it was usually not painful but i will stop, as i understand pressure and the like would perhaps irritate it and leave it achey as it sometimes did.

Purple Person - Where is your piercing studio? I happen to be in the UK, in a town called Reading, kinda just south of London.
Perhaps i should have a new bar made, that is slightly longer? So there is a bit more air coming to the pierced parts, also making it easier to clean (because to clean it now i have to move the piercing up and down in my ear). My barbell at this time, as seen in the picture is kinda "just" big enough.

Thanks again for the replies and for any in advance.

~Selestiel

Will

"just big enough" doesnt sound too good, it should be comfy but allow for movement.
since youve started doing the new stuff is it any better? maybe its just a jewellery change thats needed i.e longer barbell

Purple Person

I'm actually in Wildcat in Dublin but was trained in the UK at an APP registered piercers called Pandemic in Hull. There are plenty of good studios in your vicinity, Cold Steel are very good and are based in London. I might be biased though coz the guy who trained me knew Grant, the owner of cold steel. Wildcat are affiliated with a number of studios and their scaffold bars come in graduations of 2mm so you should be able to get a bar that is large enough but not massive. I hope you get some joy!:)

Selestiel

It's actually a "little" bit better, still painful and i am not touching it or sleeping on it at all now.
Treating it like a new piercing, putting cotton wool into salt water, about half a teaspoon dissolved into a mug and soaking it twice a day.

Am planning on getting a few new piercings soon, and a small tattoo. Two flesh plugs, only want small ones, 3mm at max i think and possible eyebrow or anti eyebrow, we will have to see But when i go to see about that i will talk to them about my scaffold as the guy who did mine works there full time, has **** loads of piercings himself, so must know a bit.

Crumble Froo

Selestiel wrote: »

I salt water, about half a teaspoon dissolved into a mug and soaking it twice a day.

as far as i know, it's meant to be less salt than that... what i keep getting told is a quarter teaspoon for every pint of water... other than that (which ill let the others correct/agree with), hope it heals up well for ya

Soundman

narco wrote: »

as far as i know, it's meant to be less salt than that... what i keep getting told is a quarter teaspoon for every pint of water... other than that (which ill let the others correct/agree with), hope it heals up well for ya

The way I always heard it was that if you can taste the salt in the water then you've put too much in.

Selestiel

Salt water cleaning and just leaving it and not sleeping on it (as much as i can) has made it significantly better!

It must have been how much i was playing with it in the first place, but right now the pain has amost gone from any form of movement in the bar.

Thanks for all advice given ^^

~Selestiel