Abscess? Infection? Derp?

«« Can wooden jewelry REALLY be sterilized?    hair removal cream »»

Sunday February 17th, 2008 @ 5:45 PM

Filed under: Lip/Cheek

About a three week old lip piercing, there is no pain or discomfort and it feels quit comfortable, I thought I might of been in the clear after the area was no longer tender.

Then today when I brush my teeth I notice this, it is raised about a centimeter above the surrounding tissue and is hard to the touch. I thought it might be an abscess and I am wondering of the appropriate course of action.

An abscess would typically be much bigger and MUCH more painful, as an abscess is a pocket of trapped infection fluid.

What you have appears to be nothing more than some excess scar tissue. At three weeks, this sort of thing wouldn’t be all that uncommon with a lip a piercing. The scar tissue tends to show up for a variety of reasons:

1) Too much movement of the jewelry, just from natural things such as talking or eating; but more commonly from playing with the jewelry too much
2) The diameter of the ring is too small, which therefore irritates the piercing significantly and your body forms excess scar tissue as a way to protect itself from the source of the irritation.If the jewelry fits too tightly, it’s not uncommon for the inside of the lip to “tear” slightly, as the body moves the jewelry into a position it can cope with.

If you’re concerned that the jewelry might be too tight, you should consult with your piercer.

Other than general aftercare, and avoiding playing with it, there isn’t probably much to be done about the scar tissue. In most cases it will simply go away on it’s own after the piercing heals a bit more an toughens up.

Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | Leave a comment | Trackback