Hi there,I got a scaffold piercing done on Sunday and it's become infected (according to my doctor). I've been cleaning it, etc but I caught rather a bad cold which affected it quite badly. It's amazingly sore, swollen and getting worse day by day. My doctor told me to take it out now but also gave me some antibiotics because I said I'd rather not remove it. She said something about the swelling affecting my circulation and that I could always have it done again when I was feeling better. What should I do? Please help me.
no keep it in you will get over it mine was infected too but that didnt stop me
You could always take the industrial piercing out ( Scaffold, if thats what you call it) and put in two hoop earrings insted of the bar, give it room to breathe. and keep taking the antibiotics, It's going to hurt to take it out, so use pliers to remove the balls on the end of the bar. Hope this helps!
Take vitamin B12 and zinc and be sure to get a lot of vitamin C-- i suggest you take Emergen-C, or whatever it's called. Your doctor is VERY wrong, you never, under any circumstance, take out an infected piercing. The jewelry allows the infection to leave the piercing and if you were to take out the jewelry, the skin would trap in the infection which could lead to even worse problems and i promise the infection will get even worse. Make sure the piercing is hot to touch, very swollen, incredibly red and that the pus is green/yellow, thick and foul smelling. Swelling is normal for such a new piercing and be sure to not sleep on that side of your face for at least a month. If you just have swelling, and no other signs of infection, it's most likely not infected. You need to do salt soaks, on top of the vitamin C, B12 and zinc, 2-3 times a day for 10 minutes (but no more). The salt soaks will draw out bacteria and infections and have shown great healing results so i HIGHLY recommend you do this. A salt soak consists of 1/4 tablespoon of non-ionized sea salt + 8 oz. of hot water-- make sure the water is hot, but not hot enough to burn your skin. After you take the salt soak off, you'll notice some pus exiting the piercing (NEVER FORCE PUS OUT OF THE PIECING) and just clean it, gently, off with a wet q-tip. You can also put tea tree oil on the piercing to also help it heal and get rid of the infection. Finally, make sure you are NOT moving the jewelry-- this brings in unwanted bacteria, hurts/irritates the fistula and will only prolong healing time. These are things i highly recommend to everyone experiencing an infection and when they first get the piercing. This should really help and you should notice results. Do NOT put alcohol, peroxide, ointments, bactine, etc. on the piercing. All of these things will do much more bad to the piercing than good, so don't do it.
Don't take it out without consulting your piercer. If you take out an infected cartilage piercing, it can close up over the infection... which is BAD. So go straight to your piercer, and ask them what to do.
