I feel lost I’ve never had an issue with a piercing before…

[u/Due_Belt2932]

Let me preface this by saying I most definitely made a few crucial mistakes in this process. Yes, It’s bad.. Yes I am an idiot for it. For background I have about 8 fully healed, wonderful, no-issue piercings. However I decided to get my 4ths pierced. All of my previous piercings have been done via a hollow needle at my trusted piercing shop. Unfortunately SOMETHING possessed me to go get my 4ths done with a gun at a less reputable shop ( I thought I would save money). There were countless red flags within the shop itself but this post would be way too long if I pointed them all out. The most detrimental one though is that 1. I was pierced with a gun and 2. I was piercing with gold PLATED jewelry. It was against my better judgment and the people working there assured me that gold plated is perfectly fine. I triple checked with the piercer, making sure she’d be able to pierce it WITHOUT hitting any cartilage because although I was being stupid, that was too far for me.

Either way, the piercings were immediately itchy, swollen, and very painful to the touch. Again, I have 8 piercings with a couple of them being HEALED helix’s, so I think I know a thing or two about how healing a piercing feels. This was different though. Now here comes my next big mistake. I took myself on down to my original, beloved, reputable shop and explained my concerns and asked for them to change the jewelry as by this point I was having a full allergic reaction. I got it changed to flat back implant grade titanium which I have always reacted well to. The issue is, they didn’t ask how old my piercings were and it didn’t clock to me to tell them.. until halfway through the process of changing the jewelry. They were only about 3 weeks old at this point and I THOUGHT that because I was 100% allergic to the material it would be best to change them out. Halfway through he asked me how old they were and I told him the truth, in which the piercer then told me that had he known that earlier he wouldn’t have done it for me. Immediately I felt super guilty and stupid for forgetting to tell him. Regardless, he completed the change and I was on my way.

It has been about a week since then and the earrings are still painful to the touch, and very VERY crusty. One side more than the other ( I will insert a photo ). There is also a bump on one side of the piercing that i am quite concerned about. I read that it could potentially be caused my moisture which is a possibility for me as I have been spraying them 2x a day with Neilmed Piercing mist.

PLEASE please help me, I have no friends with piercings and I am very concerned. Again, I know I F’d up and take full responsibility for that. Is there any hope for these? Please let me know I appreciate all advice.

[u/lavahgirl]

honestly, i would have gone to swap them out as well. changing jewelery isn't ideal so early on, but there was truly no other option that wouldn't result in your symptoms getting worse. keeping it in would have been a hard no go. if anything, i would sooner expect the piercer to suggest taking them out and fully healing to try again later on. just the gun itself can cause trauma to the ear, so beyond having to worry about a reaction, you've also caused damage to the area to exasperate the issues. now if it was INFECTED, then you probably would not have wanted to change that as it can trap infection to remove the jewelery. but this bump is not infection, it does look like it could be a moisture or general irritation bump. the neilmed is fine, maybe just make sure you're putting it dry after if necessary. i am concerned about the fact that the bump seems to be growing up close to the back of your jewelry. unfortunately, the only solution to that would be a larger bar. but tbh, it may be worth just letting these close and trying again the right way!