Help with ear piercing concerns :P

[ponybabe]

Ok so about 3 years ago, I got my lobes pierced at a professional piercers since I always had dreamed of getting them pierced and at the age of 29, finally got it done   Everything went well since he was a real stickler for hygiene and making sure the holes were even Everything was going well after that and I was washing them either with the anti-bacterial soap my piercer recommended or saline water. Things were going slow but since my hubby's little brother's girlfriend (now his ex ) had told me it took her 2 years to fully heal her ears, I was hopeful and thinking I'm just a slow healer like her. Then stupid me changed 2 times to stud earrings that were obviously not sterling silver or had some metal in it that I didn't tolerate well, eiher way, the last pair I put in had caused a horrible infection (milky white pus ). I was advized by the guy who pierced me and my hubby's little brother (has 2 piercings himself and has had some experience in this area) to change to surgical steel studs, which I did. After that, healing went a lot better and I only had extremely minor infections in the right ear (the slowest healer of the two), the last time was last year in 2011 around February or March, very very minor and gone after a couple of washing sessions with the soap. Since then, I'm careful not to touch them too much (was one of my problems) and can now turn the studs freely in the ears and when I wash them 1-2 times a week, it's with the recommended soap, no pain or anything for over a year now. So I'm thinking that they must be healed and I can finally change them to some of the beautiful earrings that I've bought over the last 3 years and that have been collecting dust
 
But I'm a chicken after all the problems I had those first 2 years so I need reassurance that it'll be fine and that I'm just being very silly

[kaoskat]

I have similar issues with my ears. For me it seems to be some sort of allergy or something. What I started doing years ago, was if I wore a pair of earrings and there was pain when I put the earring in, I immediately took it out and covered it in triple antibiotic ointment and then put it back in. It helps. I also try to always clean earrings before I wear them. I never leave earrings in very long either, especially not over night, except for some special rings I got for when they do get infected. Then I coat those in the TAO before bed and again when I get up until they heal. It's just something you may always have to be on top of and start looking out for signs of problems so you can catch and treat the problem before it's really bad.

[Eviecorn]

You should be okay at this point - just make sure to continue not touching your ears, and only insert high-quality jewelry. 
I have 3/4" earlobe piercings and I have to take out my plugs and wash them in the shower daily else it'll get funky quickly.  DX

[babystarz]

Well I'm no help here at all - my body just doesn't like piercings. I had my ears pierced for 16 years and they would still get infected sometimes. Same with newer piercings. I finally gave up on all the piercings and got a tattoo instead

I will say that if yours get infected again, go with an epsom/sea salt bath wash instead of soap. It's much gentler

[skyrocketneko]

I've had trouble with mine for years- first I found out that I'm allergic to anything but pure gold, and I also have a petroleum allergy, so if I mess up and they do get infected, I can't use anything like neosporin or bacitracin.

Just watch for an allergic reaction, and make sure if you do have one to let them heal before changing earrings!

[lemontwist]

There's no reason why you shouldn't try new earrings now that everything is healed up properly! If it's all nice and healed, I doubt anything will go as wrong as it did when you changed earrings before they were ready. Just be sure to clean the ones you have in and keep them somewhere easily accessible in case you do notice any notable issues. A tiny bit of swelling miiight happen initially, just because it's a change (it happens with me sometimes, even though mine have been pierced since I was a baby), but if it doesn't go down or is really bad, switch earrings. It'd likely be a metal allergy if it happens again, but before it could have just been changing the earrings was an irritation all on its own (happened to me with my second piercings, which got so bad I removed them). 

[Kaeldre]

I have multiple ear piercings (lobes twice and cartilage twice) and I was always told to stick to surgical steel jewelry and clean them with bactine twice a day. :3
Sounds like you're all healed up though.  Just make sure to keep them clean and keep an eye out for any sort of infection.

[ashes]

I had mine pierced when I was 5, and have never had any problems.  But for the first few years I only had 14 carat gold studs in my ears.  I then got another piercing in my ears when I was 18, and never had any issues with those either (and right off the bat I wore sterling silver).  If your ears are all properly healed, you should be fine, but I'd stick to high-quality metals and still regularly clean your ears.

[kyedhen]

I think they should be fine by now unless there's a real problem, such as your body simply not 'taking' the piercings (I just experienced rejection for the first time with my navel ring and I'm gutted). If they're not red, irritable and have no signs of residue then I'd give you the green light.
You should be careful with them at first, though. Make sure the earrings you're putting in them are clean and don't put any stress on the hole (such as ones that are too thick or heavy), and work towards harsher things. Also, be careful of cheap materials. I've had my ears pierced since I was 7 and cheap metals still hurt me by corroding in my ear, because all piercings 'sweat'. If any earring is leaving green or brown stains on your ears that's usually a good indicator that it's no good and will irritate your piercing.

[Elisto]

I'm apparently allergic to sterling silver, and ever since I got my second pair of earring piercings (10 years ago!), if I wear silver, they get all gross and infected. However, I can leave my surgical steel earrings in for months at a time and have no problem. Even my "cheap" who-knows-what-metal earrings are fine for a day or two.

My suggestion is to try some different metals that you think you won't have a reaction to, but be aware of them, and take them out as soon as you feel something's not right. Even just try a few hours at a time and see how they feel. For me, if they start to feel at all irritated or even just noticeable, that means there's a problem. And like everyone's said, clean your earrings and the piercing itself every so often, but if they do get irritated or infected, just clean them and then don't mess with with until they heal.

[Vintergatan]

I would say that what you have there is an issue with certain metals/chemicals. As some have already mentioned, people can be allergic to a certain kind of metal and it´s quite common actually (most of my friends don't tolerate certain types of metals).

I think Elisto's suggestion is really good. First thing to do is to find out which metals your ears can´t tolerate and for that you´ll "have to" (poor you) give your earrings a try Also, try to find out what all the earrings you have are made of. I personally don't know anything about that since my ears have always tolerated anything I stick in them.

Good luck

[Eskara1862]

I totally get where you're coming from! I had my ears pierced when I was 6 and they were constantly infected up until I turned 13.  Yes, it took over 6 years for mine to heal from being pierced! My ear lobes would get fat and red and really hot to touch.  There'd also be this really disgusting pussy discharge and occasionally blood.  I also had this weird thing where I couldn't go without earrings for more than 5 minutes or the skin would close over the hole and the inside would get infected.  The ear would then have to be pierced again to let the infection drain.  Gross and painful, but true 
 
For years, we couldn't figure out why some earrings would let my ears heal a little bit, but others would make them worse. Just before I started the 6th grade, Mom bought me a nickle free necklace.  I'd had this problem with necklaces where I would get red, itchy bumps on my neck if I wore certain necklaces.  This nickle free one never did that to me and it was what made me realize that I have a nickle allergy.
 
Unfortunately, nickle is one of the main components of surgical steel, so all those 'hypoallergenic' earrings are the worst things I could possibly wear. I can wear sterling silver, 10k and up gold, and anything that is nickle free.  What I've ended up doing is buying packets of nickle free earring hooks and switching them out on any earrings I couldn't wear otherwise. Now I've got tons of awesome earrings!
 
Here are some tips from what I've discovered works:
 

• Use Witch Hazel to clean your ears.  This is antiseptic, doesn't burn like alcohol, and does a great job.
• Rather than wearing various earrings to figure out what is hurting you, get different bracelets where you know the metal content.  Tape them down on your inner wrist so they stay in contact with your skin.  If you get a rash or itchyness, then you know to avoid that metal and you haven't infected your ears furthur.
• Use Peroxide to clean the earrings. It's fun to watch the bubbles and gross to see how dirty they are.
• Try wearing french hooks or hoops rather than posts. Posts sit too close to the hole and don't allow air through for healing.

Good luck! You can get through this and enjoy all the beautiful earrings you want. 

[Elisto]

Keeping the metal in contact with you skin instead of putting in earrings to test out the metal is a good idea, although for me, I can wear silver rings and other jewelry, it's just earrings that give me a problem, so I wonder if the degree of sensitivity matters.

[ponybabe]

Thanks so much for all your tips and reassurances
 
I'll keep in mind what everyone has said and start experimenting with some of the earrings I have. If I have any problems, I'll be back

[mlp4me]

I notice that if I change my earrings that I will have issues for week or so after (warm burning feeling). I'm notoriously bad for not taking earrings out for months because of this... In fact you've reminded me I need to visit wally mart to get some new ones for in my cartilage...
(I have 4 lobe piercings 3 cartilage, each ear.)
I'm a slow healer as well and have NEVER used soap on any piercing as it burns. Sterile saline solution is all that you should need, heck, go buy some contact lens cleaner that works and is cheap. Never use peroxide/rubbing alcohol it will cause scarring.