Does cartilage piercing bump go away? Piercing of the earlobe has been there since before, but many people have started showing interest in cartilage piercing nowadays. Cartilage is the upper part of your ear.it is one of those areas on the body where piercings can be quite dangerous and lead to infections. Bumps that form here are never easy to be dealt with, as they do not respond to antibiotics treatment that fast. The infection rate for cartilage piercings is 34%, as compared to the rest of the body’s 22%.
Cartilage Piercing Bump
When you get a bump on your cartilage it usually indicate that you have developed an infection, but there are several other symptoms that will follow few days later. Some of them will include the following:
- You will experience severe pain upon touching the pierced area.
- redness of the skin around your piercing with tenderness
- Pain on the cartilage.
When the condition is worse, some of the signs you are likely to see include:
- Discharge of yellow or green pus from the affected area
- Hotness on the area around your piercing
- Fever in serious cases, especially if Pseudomonas aeruginosa is responsible for your infection
- Prolonged bleeding followed by a crush formed on your piercing
Apart from the bump, these are some of the most common signs of an infected cartilage, and then you have to make plans to schedule for your doctor’s appointment.
Cartilage Piercing Bump Causes
For a bump to arise on your cartilage piercing, there are a number of things that you may have done to it. If not, there are some conditions you allowed to take advantage of your ear. Let us look at some of the reasons why you developed the lump.
- Unsterilized piercing equipment
Consider this as one of the biggest suspect. Some piercers do not put hygiene as a priority as they use unsterilized equipment, such as gun and needle. Allowing your piercings done with unsterilized equipment is a sure bet that you will get infected because bacteria can transfer from person to person.
- Poor quality or Inappropriate Jewelry
This will also lead to infections and development of cartilage piercing bump. Wearing an earring made from material that you are allergic to can result to an infection. Nickel is one of the elements that are known to cause allergic reactions. The jewel that can do better will involve those that are made from gold, stainless steel, or titanium.
- Poor Personal Hygiene
This can as well causes you do develop cartilage piercing bump. Always be on the watch to keep your pierced area clean and dry while it is still healing. Also, ensure that your hair doesn’t touch your piercing as it transfers germs to the delicate area.
- Trauma or injury
Also know that, you may end up getting a cartilage piercing as a result of some physical injuries, over cleaning of the piercing, and the use of a piercing gun. Regularly touching your jewelry may also cause an infection.
Cartilage Piercing Bump on Back of Ear
A lump that appears on the cartilage piercing can be in front or at the back of the ear. In most cases, the bump usually forms at the back maybe because there is a bit much flesh there the inner side. Often, cartilage piercing lump is caused majorly by the pathogens known as the Staphylococcus Aureus as well as the Pseudomonas Aeruginosa. Following is a brief study of the symptoms that could be brought about by bumps that are at the back of the ear and also the infection.
Redness
Among the many symptoms of infected cartilage piercing is indicated by the skin that is around the piercings is turning red or even to a color which is different from that of a skin.
Pain
When your piercing is very painful to touch, this is a clear sign that your ear is under an infection especially when the signs of reddening or even aching are present.
Oozing
If it is in normal condition oozing after the piercing is a common thing. To some persons, however, it might even be normal to have the white or even the very pale yellow discharges. In my opinion I would not agree with that. But, if you observe a green or even brown pus-like discharge or even leaking from the ear cartilage piercing bump then there is something that is not right. This shows that the infection is at the higher levels.
Bad smell
If the bump at the back of the cartilage is producing a bad smell, it is also a sign of a serious problem that should not be ignored. A bad smell can come from the piercing without having to take the jewelry out necessarily.
Cartilage Piercing Keloid
A keloid is described as the scar tissue that grows and rises in or around a cartilage piercing. These growths are commonly confused with hypertrophic scarring in ear cartilage piercings. However, Hypertrophic scarring is a temporary condition and is treated by changing the jewelry and subjecting the ear piercing to sea salt soaks remedy. Prescriptions and surgeries from your health care provider are the only treatments for a permanent keloid condition.
Causes of keloids
- Hereditary
In some cartilage piercing bumps, keloids are inherited down along the family members. Those with close family members, such as parents or siblings, with keloids are most likely to keloid in connection with ear cartilage piercing. Piercing the ear cartilage, no matter the method, results in keloids around, inside or outside of the piercing location. Receiving a piercing with a sterilized needle from a professional body piercer that provides thorough aftercare guidelines decreases the possibility of keloid formation.
- Melanin and Sex
The amount of melanin in the skin and the sex of the person receiving a piercing are also factors in the possibility of keloids from an ear cartilage piercing bump. African Americans and women are more prone to keloids from piercing, according to a research finding by Milton S. Hershey Medical Center College of Medicine. Potential piercing candidates are likely to be aware of keloid condition before having the ears pierced.
If you have ever experienced chicken pox, acne or surgery in the past, keloids will most likely form at the site of the skin trauma and indicate a predisposition to keloids from ear cartilage piercing. Avoid body piercings completely if you have past or current keloids.
Swollen Cartilage Piercing
Swelling of the cartilage is a bit different from the formation of a bump at the cartilage piercing site. Swelling may be due to trauma performed on the skin while a cartilage piercing bump is a clear sign of things gone wrong especially if it is associated with the symptoms we have talked about.
Meanwhile, you can avoid having tight necklines that can be able to pull on the ear. Keep away from swimming with an ear cartilage piercing that has not healed as it can also cause swelling. Also, avoid submerging the piercing in the bath as it is able to harbor bacteria. Don’t sleep on top of the piercing. Protect the new piercing from being bumped against as it hurts resulting to swelling.
Hypertrophic Scar Cartilage Piercing
A hypertrophic scar is a cutaneous condition characterized by deposits of excessive amounts of collagen which gives rise to a raised scar, but not to the degree observed with keloids as we stated above. Like keloids, they form most often at the sites of pimples, body piercings, cuts and burns. They are said to contain nerves and blood vessels.
Hypertrophic scar on ear cartilage piercing is seen in red or pink in color, however can fade to a lighter tone. They are fleshy bumps that stay within the boundary of the piercing, often forming in a ring shape, or as a dome off to one side. Other characters may include being itchy, with dry skin which flake from them without any pus or drainage.
These scars should not be confused with keloids, which are darker in color, spread far beyond the bounds of the piercing site with no real specific form, often tender, painful and itchy. They are red or much darker than the normal skin tone, they carry a lot of collagen, and they can often develop months or years after the piercing.
Cartilage Piercing Bump Treatment
If you have developed a cartilage piercing bump, it is important to identify the best treatment option to correct the issue. You need to understand that your cartilage piercing will heal in three stages:
- The first stage is the inflammatory stage in which your wound is still open.
- The second stage is growth stage in which your body produces collagen.
- The final stage is remodeling or maturation stage in which disorganized collagen fibers repair and realign. You can experience issues in any of these healing stages, but you can look for treatments that are suitable for your condition.
Treating Inflammation
A reddened bump doesn’t imply infection. In some other cases, inflammation is able to develop at the area from the irritation from the piercing rather than an infection. With an inflammation, the redness is normally localized, improving with time, don’t spread and don’t have a foul smell.
Draining an inflamed cartilage piercing bump fluid won’t help at all, because it doesn’t have the infected material. Injecting of the bump with cortisone normally assists to reduce the inflammation, although you may require more than a single treatment, depending on the size of the inflamed skin area.
Potential Complications
Trying to pop an infected skin area yourself might make an infection to be worse, more especially if you make use of a contaminated object and introduce even much more bacteria into the wound. A serious infection that usually enters the blood stream might be much fatal.
Let the doctor determine whether a bump that usually develops at the skin area of the body piercing requires any draining. Only a medical professional should perform the procedure.
- Tea Tree Oil
Pure tea tree oil is a naturally potent anti-bacterial treatment. It is normally applied in treatment of the acne and all other forms of mild infection.
If you have an intention of using this method of treatment, then you should make sure that you use about 100% of the pure tea tree oil. Any other type of ingredients might worsen the problem and can then irritate the skin even more.
All you are required to do is use the oil directly to the affected skin area by use of a cotton swab. If the skin is much sensitive, then you should dilute the oil using water for it to be essential for your cartilage piercing bump.
- Salt Water Soak
This is one of the most versatile solutions that is used to any piercing related problems. Saline solution is a very powerful stuff. It’s easy to make. All you are required to do is stir a quarter of a teaspoon of sea salt or even the rock salt into a glass that has warm water.
- You then take a clean cotton pad and then soak it in the salty liquid.
- Use the salty liquid to the piercing and let the salt work as required.
- Not much else is needed to be done.
- Chamomile Salt Soak
Most of the people have applied the use of chamomile so as to soothe and also relax the body and also the mind before sleeping.
Chamomile is a very versatile herb. The soothing properties that it has are not limited to the mind and also the muscles. It is also much soothing and very much calming to the skin. Simply brew a cup of chamomile. Except that you will not add a sweetener as you normally would. Instead you will add a quarter of the teaspoon of the sea salt to sooth the skin and also fight infection as the same time. Apply the brew to the cartilage piercing bump by use of a cotton swab about three times a day. You will begin to observe the results within a number of weeks.
- Aspirin
Aspirin is indicated for its health benefits. It is equally said that it can be applied to treat keloids. It is a simple yet much effective treatment that you should try. All you are required to do is crush up the aspirin tablet. Mix it in with a very small amount of water so as to form a thick paste.
Use the paste to the cartilage piercing bump on the piercing. Then just wash it off by use of a sea salt soak. The anti-inflammatory properties that are in the aspirin should have the keloid reduce in size in no time.
- Honey
Honey is a very powerful antiseptic. Infections don’t normally stand any chance once you add some honey to it. It is also perfect for use on the sensitive skin because of the fact that it is natural and also gentle.
All you are required to do here is use a dab of honey to the bump about 3 times a day. You might even try to add some amount of honey to the chamomile and also sea salt brew.
- Lemon Juice
This is nature’s way of keeping everything very fresh. Not every other person has success with use of the method, but some other people swear by it. Squeeze the juice of one half of a lemon into a cup. Dilute it using 50% water. Use it to the piercing by use of a q-tip.
Monitor the results over a period of two or three weeks. If you see any difference, then keep it up. If not, then you should try something else.
- Hydrogen Peroxide
Application of the solution on your cartilage piercing bump is indicated to dissolve the dead cells that are present and assist so as to reduce the infection.
Dip an ear bud in the hydrogen peroxide and also slightly move the jewelry so that it is able to be applied to the base part of the skin. Also, depending on the given skin sensitivity, apply the method in one week.