oh noez! an infection!

[emohawk]

so last friday i got an outer conch piercing, well three. and all was hunky dory, and i was cleaning it about 4 times a day. had a shower everyday. sad but it got infected (i know, it's the piercee's fault, i wholeheartedly agree. still makes me sad). Last night i couldn't sleep a wink because i was in horrible pain. went to the doctor's today, and am now popping huge a** antibiotics every 6 hours. sweatdrop pharmacist called them bumblebees. Anyways, doctor said we'd try and keep the piercings in, sad but if worse comes to worst we'll have to remove them. *sigh* O_o he also said if it didn't get better on my antibiotics, i might have to do it intravenously (hoshitright?).

anyways, was thinking one of you knowledgable, and more experienced, bod modders might know. what are the statistics for ear collapse? or any difficulty with piercings. I hear belly button piercings get infected quite frequently...


sigh... infection. :O they also put me on T3s for the pain.  

[dagon is a gloomy bear]

Hmmm... I thought it was best to keep the jewelery in while it's infected so it's doesn't just seal everything up inside. But go with what you doc says. He can always cut you open to drain it.
Depending on how badly it's swollen, you'll have scarring to a certain extent. Three piercings is a lot of ear area, but I don't think ears just collapse from infections all the time. Cartilage shattering from some piercing, yes, but not as often from infection that I've heard of.

This is different, but you can see some before and after BAD infection pictures:
http://modblog.bmezine.com/2006/07/24/gun-piercing/  

[Warninglv100]

Ear collapse happens if the infection is not treated and spreads through the cartilage and basically eats it up. I'm assuming you said last night you were in pain, that's when the infection started, so if you went today, you should have caught it in time to prevent the ear collapse. Just make sure to keep up with the antibiotics.

But yea, the general advice with infection and jewelry, is keep it in so it can drain and not trap the infection in there. Although you should listen to your doctor if they say it needs to go. (Personally, I'd ask to make sure they don't think the infection will be trapped in there if removed to be on the safe side if it comes to that).

Now about the other things you said... Three piercings tends to be the upper limit of what's "safe" to get in one sitting. Obviously the more you get, the slower they are going to heal because of the extra stress put on your body. The most I get during one sesssion is two at a time, and it's better to get them farther apart from each other. I've had four outer conch piercings done in two sessions of two (the sessions were months separated as well). Cartilage tends to be hard to heal in the first place, so I would reccommend getting less done next time to not over stress your immune system.

You didn't mention what you were cleaning with, but four times a day is far too much. Overcleaning can actually help infections happen because it kills the resident (good) bacteria that helps keep out the bad bacteria, especially if you were using a harsh antibacterial soap.

I think the best way to prevent infection is to make sure nothing touches the new piercings except for water and sea salt, if you do soaks. Make sure your hands are always clean if you have to touch it. (I keep antibacteria soap in my shower to wash my hands right before I do any piercing cleaning, but I don't actually use it on the piercings). Other than actual cleaning, make sure your clothes, bed linens, hats, phones, headphones, etc. are all clean before coming in contact with the piercings.

So good luck with your piercings. Stay healthy. Keep popping those pills, and be nice to your body. Hope it works out for you.  

[-Panty.Waste-]

My belly button got infected. I had a hoop. It was two months in. I was rubbing up against... things... too much. I had to take pliers to it and take it out and then put in a barbell, and then it cleared right up. I've never had anything else infect.

That sucks that you had to go to the doctors for it though. Good luck.  

[Warninglv100]

-Panty.Waste-

My belly button got infected. I had a hoop. It was two months in. I was rubbing up against... things... too much. I had to take pliers to it and take it out and then put in a barbell, and then it cleared right up. I've never had anything else infect.

That sucks that you had to go to the doctors for it though. Good luck.

That sounds like the ring was just irritating it, not an infection.