Unhappy Lobe Piercing

«« mensuration - lowered pain threshold?    My vch piercing query »»

Friday June 13th, 2008 @ 12:23 PM

Filed under: Ear

A little over a month ago I added a third hole to my right ear lobe. I did it myself, as the only piercers available in my small town are downright unhygenic hacks or the mall boths with piercing guns. This is the third ear lobe piercing I have done myself and also the first one to give me any problems.

A few days ago what looked like a classic blood blister formed on the front edge of the hole and that part of my ear lobe seemed slightly swollen. After keeping it clean as usual and waiting it out for a bit, my obsessive compulsive side took over and I experimentally applied a bit of pressure. A bit of blood came out, as well as some pus, so naturally my initial reaction was “Oh shit, I’ve popped a boil!”

Since then I’ve kept it clean and largely left it alone.

Now heres the thing thats concerning me: this evening I noticed that my lymph node on the right side of my neck was pretty swollen and hurt a bit. However, I also got the first Gardasil shot in my upper right arm today, so I have absolutely no idea if it’s a normal side affect of the shot, or perhaps an allergy, or if an infection has spread throughout my ear.

Any recomendations would be appreciated- Should I retire this piercing, wait it out or consult a doctor? Hopefully I’m worrying too much, but you never know…

If your month old piercing is encapsulating blood and pus and your glands are swollen it would seem a common sense option to err on the side of caution and visit a doctor to see if they would advise antibiotic treatment.

Posted by Tiff Badhairdo | Permalink | Leave a comment | Trackback