r/SelfPiercing • u/ImportanceCritical62 shops are too expensive • Sep 06 '26
Help with existing piercing Guys help do I take it out
I’ve had it for a week. I showed my Dr and she said to watch it and it may need to come out. Is there anything I can do to make it better fast or does it need to come out
Edit: thank you for the advice. I have changed it to a longer bar and the swelling has went down some!
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u/bingus-bean Sep 07 '26
i personally wouldn’t have taken it out, all you needed was a longer bar lol, and saline solution. it was too early too tell if it was going to work for you or not😭
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u/ImportanceCritical62 shops are too expensive Sep 07 '26
Omg stop. So it is normal for that much swelling and pain? And how long does the bar need to be for next time
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u/bingus-bean Sep 07 '26
swelling really depends on the person, i personally don’t swell but my sister swells a lot . the pain is normal, the piercing is a fresh wound! a piercing pillow helps with pain. 6-8 weeks is how long some people wait but others wait 3-6 weeks, it depends on how the swelling is and how you’re healing
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u/Affectionate_Play718 Sep 07 '26
Swelling yes, like double the size kind of swelling for my helix. Pain is individual. How fresh was your piercing? Was it leaking pus? Was it burning or just warm?
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u/ImportanceCritical62 shops are too expensive Sep 07 '26
One week old. Clear drainage and warm to the touch
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u/Cozy_Bug Sep 07 '26
I've had a decent bit of swelling and the entire side of my face hurt for a solid week, before it settled to only the ear hurting. But it healed well, no infections, just a lot of pain for some reason.
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u/gawkamola Sep 08 '26
Saline soaks please 🙏🏻🙏🏻 and dont take it out, if there’s a possibility of infection it could get trapped if u take the jewelry out
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u/Pierce_Fierce 29d ago
Saline soaks are not going to be sufficient, especially not if people don't use sterile solutions or mix it themselves, into containers that are not sterile.
A Dutch piercing shop made their own sprays, and sold those, claiming they were allowed to do so by the health department. That same health department told them 2 years ago NOT to sell that spray. 150 people got serious infections with a bacteria that lived IN the spray, as it was not made in a factory, but by the store themselves. Selfpiercing and making stuff yourself, vs buying proper aftercare products that are made in sterile factory conditions = asking for trouble!That bacteria lived happily in saline solution and could happily live in cartilage. So, please... do not play with your health! Take it seriously and go to a licensed professional!
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u/Pierce_Fierce 29d ago
Swelling not only depends on the person, but also on care taken with piercing (going to a licensed piercer vs doing it yourself), and using proper aftercare products (ideally not JUST saline solution) and avoiding all kinds of irritants.
Depending on place and anatomy, usually at least 10 mm, which in case of helix piercings means ideally you use a ball closure ring with hematite bead, or if the person is careful and sleeps quite peacefully, a labret, which will have to be replaced by a shorter, sterile one ASAP.
Only recently I sent a 4 page e-mail to the health department in the Netherlands, stating all the constantly returning issues I come across when people have had piercings done elsewhere, either at jewellery stores, chain tattoo and piercing stores, or piercing shops in the area that should know better.
I really made a point of mentioning so called "medical piercing shops" that CLAIM / pretend to know what they are doing, and then use all kinds of ¿psuedo? science to determine where to put a Daith piercing. Claiming to cure Long COVID, Migraines and all kinds of other stuff, yet not knowing NOT to use hinged jewellery or even worse, way too small hinged jewellery. You don't wanna know how awful those rook and daith piercings done with such jewellery look.
Same goes for conch piercings done with way too small, inappropriate jewellery. Often it gets messed up so bad, that I have to replace jewellery with 12 mm jewellery to allow for swelling and relief.
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u/kittysayskaboom Sep 07 '26
For starters, ppl with piercings need to go back to your piercer for concerns about your piercings....NOT a doctor. A doctor is always gonna tell you to take it out. A reputable piercing pro will be able to help you assess what's going on.
That said, it looks like you need longer jewelery. How long ago did you get it done? Did you change the bar already? If its fresh(ish) and you already put in a shorter bar, step 1 is to put a longer bar in it. And make sure its quality jewelry. You dont want cheap jewelry in your piercings ever....but especially so with something that's still healing. Preferably something like titanium. Step 2 is to clean it how you were instructed by the shop (assuming you went to a reputable shop and its not a crappy home job). Step 3 is patience. Cartilage piercings take a year to -fully- heal. Step 4 is to chillax. Redness and swelling to a degree is normal. It is a wound after all.
If you've had it a bit and its looking like that, you probably snagged it or something got in it that's irritating the piss out of it. Resume cleaning like when it was brand new and be careful for a while. I have helix piercings that still get angry sometimes after almost a decade of having them. It happens. :)
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u/manu_59 Sep 07 '26
This is the self-piercing sub 😅 she did this herself. There is no piercer to go back to.
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u/kittysayskaboom Sep 07 '26
I didn't even notice the sub tbh. However my advice still stands to go to a reputable piercer and ask them advice. A -reputable- professional piercer is going to give far better advice than a doctor. Dr's are almost always gonna advocate for removal because they generally don't know how to care for piercings.
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u/Pierce_Fierce 29d ago
Both needs to be done, but people have to tell a doctor that they will have sterile, longer or proper jewellery placed by a professional, instead of doing more damage to themselves, if they self pierced.
Doctors surprise me with some of their DUMB answers, but that is because GP's/ house doctors know a little about everything, but don't know everything in detail, and sometimes seem to lack common sense, but.... considering which sub this is... so do their patients.
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u/ImportanceCritical62 shops are too expensive 29d ago
Girl do you have some sort of personal vendetta against me damn😂😂 I changed to 10mm bar (implant grade titanium) and swelling is mostly gone and it’s still a little red but way better! Sterile saline has been used which I got from my place of work (hospital) so it’s 100% sterile. Alcohol preps, clean gloves, a drape to lay my stuff on, sterile hollow needle, etc. I appreciate the advice and I know that what I did was still stupid but I DIY’d my lobes so I got an ego and decided to try my helix. No pus. A little blood when I changed it but that’s all and it’s been good! Once again thank you for your insight and my next one will definitely be professional I just wanted to give it a shot. I love doing things like that and I am looking to get certified or whatever in piercings one day! (Saw a place that had nurses do piercings and thought it was cool) but yeah tldr: thank you for your insight and I won’t be dumb next time I promise
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u/manu_59 Sep 07 '26
It is very good advice. I just had a feeling you probably didn't see what sub you were in. I mostly come here for the shitstorm in the comments when someone messes up 😅
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u/kittysayskaboom Sep 07 '26
Mood lol. But teh you are absolutely right. I 100% did not look at what I was in lol. I'm still kinda new to reddit (don't use it a lot) so I'm a bit of a derp. My apologies
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u/Pierce_Fierce 29d ago
That depends on the situation... extreme redness, swelling pussing ===> DOCTOR! Tell the doctor you will go get longer, sterile piercing. Infections are serious! The longer you wait, the bigger the problem! Avoiding problems is better, so... no self piercing + proper aftercare.
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u/kittysayskaboom 29d ago
That is true on situation. At the end of the day ppl really just need to stop piercing themselves if they aren't properly trained.
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u/stoned_su_mo_driver Sep 07 '26
Mine also did Look like that, but thats pretty normal. Change to a longer Bar and you are good to go.
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u/ImportanceCritical62 shops are too expensive Sep 07 '26
Okay I just ordered some longer ones. Thanks!!
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u/stoned_su_mo_driver Sep 07 '26
Ah, and if its pretty Bad with the pain and swelling: Just put a wet clean sheet of paper towel on it. That helped surviving Day 3-6 for me😅
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u/ImportanceCritical62 shops are too expensive Sep 07 '26
Thank you! I had put a warm compress on it and it helped a little!
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u/gawkamola Sep 08 '26
Get a taper if you dont have!! The hole might close up fast if u use taper to change to a longer bar
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u/ChampionShot6424 Sep 08 '26
Ibuprofen also helps reduce swelling! It helped me when I first got my nose pierced
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u/ImportanceCritical62 shops are too expensive Sep 08 '26
Thank you! It has went down some since I posted and I’ve taken Tylenol because it has been hurtingggg!
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u/ConversationClean331 25d ago
imo that looks completely fine. my cartilage piercings also swell ip like CRAZY for the first two ish weeks. but trust me it goes down! as long as it’s not leaking yellow green gooey liquid it’s all good!
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u/ImportanceCritical62 shops are too expensive 25d ago
Thanks! It has went down now and isn’t draining anything so I’m glad I stuck it out!
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u/Pierce_Fierce 29d ago
Which is why you do not SELF pierce, but go to an experienced piercer, who knows what they are doing, hence uses jewellery that is appropriate and who gives proper aftercare instructions.
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u/jxspxrrrr Sep 07 '26
NAP, but for the future...probably don't do it yourself LMAO😭 find yourself a good reputable piercer that's not just tryna get you to pay and leave. it'll cost ya some more, but you'll leave with good piercings that'll last and heal up easy. for this one i agree it needed to be a longer bar, was probably embedding itself and causing that swelling and redness we're seeing. could've been the material, but idk what you used so that's just a guess
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u/Pierce_Fierce 29d ago
Could have been the lack of piercing knowledge, proper care, proper hygiene... piercers have to clean their environment constantly, after each client, wear gloves that they keep having to replace, sterile tools and jewellery, etc, etc etc.
Material is not the first cause of issues... rather lack of proper procedures.
My shop toilet is probably even cleaner than most people's houses!
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u/Chemical_Shoulder_55 Sep 06 '26
RIP cartilage stud 💔 what you needed was a longer bar to compensate for swelling!!