Ear Piercing

Sore on Tip of Ear Won't Heal

Because your ear protects the mechanisms by which you hear, any wound or sore can be cause for concern, especially when it does not heal. A sore on the tip of the ear is not always cause for concern, but can be disturbed more than other places on the ear if you wear glasses, put your hair behind your ear or have a nervous habit of picking at your ear. If you try healing methods, yet the sore still does not heal, it might be time to call your physician.

All About Ear Piercing

Allergic Cellulitis of the Ear

A virus or, more commonly, a bacterium such as Staphylococcus aureus can get into the skin because of irritation caused by an allergic reaction. An ear is fairly resistant to such irritations, but every time you put an object o...

Ear Piercing & Sports

Children and adults with pierced ears must take special precautions while playing sports. Especially in the first months after piercing, the ears are susceptible to damage and infection. Pediatrician William Sears, MD advises t...

Allergies to Metal in Pierced Ears

Metal allergies can be evident in pierced ears or wherever skin comes into contact with metals, such as with watches, necklaces or other jewelry. This form of allergic reaction is called contact dermatitis, and is due to your b...

Tips for Reducing Ear Piercing Pain

How much a piercing hurts will partly depend on where it is located. Common earlobe piercings usually don't hurt much because the area is fleshy. Piercings at the top of the ear or the inner portion of ear cartilage might hurt ...

Ear Piercings & Swimming

One of the most common complications of ear piercing is infection. According to a college sample of students conducted at Pace University, 17 percent of individuals with piercings experienced medical complications, including ba...

What Are the Dangers of Pierced Ears?

Ear piercings are so popular that it is easy to forget that any cosmetic piercing carries inherent dangers and health risks. Earlobe piercings have been common for women, men and children for decades. More recently, piercings o...

How to Prevent Infection in Pierced Ears

One of the most common places to receive a body piercing is the earlobe. As part of preventing infection, you should only have your ears pierced with a piercing gun that has been cleaned and sterilized. Choose a clean and reput...

How Long After Piercing Can You Wear Dangling Earrings?

One question almost everyone asks when getting their ears pierced is how long they have to wait before wearing dangling earrings. If you care for your earlobe piercings properly, they should heal in four to six weeks, at which ...

Why Do My Pierced Ears Smell?

As a piercing heals, scar tissue forms. In the process of forming scar tissue, your body sheds dead skin cells. Your piercings may also secrete blood and plasma. While a foul odor coming from a piercing can be a sign of infecti...

How Long to Keep Studs in Pierced Ears?

During this time, you should not remove the training studs from your ears unless your doctor instructs you to do so--or you decide you don't want pierced ears after all. Keep your piercings clean during the healing period to av...

What Does Getting Your Ears Pierced Feel Like?

If you're getting your ears pierced for the first time, you may be feeling nervous about the pain. Most people find that because a piercing is over very quickly, the anticipation of the pain was worse than the pain itself. Ther...

How to Open Pierced Ears That Have Closed

If you feel a small knot in the skin where the hole is, it is more than likely the fistula, or skin tunnel, created when your piercing healed. It may be possible to pass a thin piercing taper through the fistula and reopen the pie

How Many Gauges Are There to Switch Your Ear Piercing?

Some body piercings, especially in earlobes, can be gradually stretched to accommodate large jewelry. The thickness of a piece of jewelry is referred to as its gauge, with smaller numbers indicating larger diameters. Earlobes a...

What Size Gauge Is an Ear Piercing Gun?

Getting your ears pierced is a rite of passage for many girls, and even some boys too. The words "ear piercing" may well conjure memories of a trip to the mall, where you sat in a chair in the jewelry shop trying to look brave,...

When Can You Get a Baby's Ears Pierced?

Fortunately, you can pierce your baby's ears at any age for cosmetic reasons if you chose to. Be aware of the risks, safety precautions and piercing care necessary to make sure you make an informed and safe decision for your baby.

How to Gauge the Ears Right After the First Piercing

One of the most commonly stretched piercings is the earlobe. It is possible to pierce the ears at a large gauge and stretch them immediately with a taper, although for best results and minimal tissue trauma, stretching should...

The Best Way to Pierce Ears

Proper piercing of any body part requires a thorough knowledge of sterilization techniques and cross-contamination procedure. It is important to remember that sterilization means removing all viable microorganisms on an object,...

How to Remove Earrings From Newly Pierced Ears for Sports

Newly pierced ears require special care for about six to eight weeks after the piercing. During this time, situations may arise that make it necessary to remove the piercing studs. Such situations may involve a particular dress...

How to Hide Pierced Ears

Although you may fancy a number of ear piercings, from the stretched lobe to the rook at the highest fold or your cartilage, your employer or your conservative grandmother may not. In certain situations, you will have to hide o...

How to Clean Pierced Ears

Knowing how to safely care for piercings is an important part of having pierced ears. This is especially true during the healing process, when ears are more susceptible to damage and infection. Proper maintenance begins with re...

How to Clear Up Infected Pierced Ears

Other contaminants that may cause infection come from contact with bodily fluids or unsanitary water, such as when swimming in a lake or river. You'll know your ear piercing is infected if it secretes thick, green, smelly pus, ...

How to Get Your Ears Pierced

Ear piercings are easily the most common and mainstream body piercing today. Archaeological evidence demonstrates that people have been piercing their ears for at least 6,000 years. These days, both men and women get their ears...

How to Get Your Ears Pierced Evenly

Unfortunately, unless you have an extraordinarily steady hand and a good eye, this method will likely result in uneven piercings. Nowadays, you can get your ears pierced in many malls and department stores, or you can choose to...

How to Get an Infant's Ears Pierced

Many parents want to have their infant’s ears pierced as soon as possible. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents wait until the child is old enough to care for the piercing. It is possible, however, t...

How to Change Pierced Earrings

Changing pierced earrings for the first time is both daunting and thrilling. The boring training studs your piercer placed in your ears beg for something more eye-catching that reflects your personality, taste and style. They c...

How to Take Care of Pierced Ears

When you decide to get your ears pierced, it is important to have a reputable technician do the job to minimize the risk of infection. After the procedure, you will have to spend a little time each day cleaning and caring for y...

How to Heal Newly Pierced Ears

The ear piercing process takes only seconds, but newly pierced ears require six to eight weeks of healing time, according to the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. Taking proper care of the pierced ears and keeping them clean will s...

How to Stop Pierced Ears From Seeping

Your pierced ears might ooze or seep light-colored fluids during the healing process. Fluids draining from your ear piercings is normal during the healing period, but if the seeping and oozing are constant or continue after the...

How to Heal Pierced Ears

Piercing is a type of body adornment dating back to ancient times and it continues to be in use today. The earlobes are the most popular body part to pierce, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). Newly-...

How to Take Care of Newly Pierced Ears

Ear piercing is a very common type of body adornment and many people have it done at a very young age -- some parents even have their infants' ears pierced. Done on men and women, old and young, ear piercing is often used as a ...

How to Remove Pierced Earrings From Your Ear

If the earrings have been in for some time, or if they are beginner earrings used for the first piercing, removal can take some extra effort. Removing earrings properly will help ensure that your ears do not suffer infection or...

Information on Nose Piercings

Nose piercings originally were an ethnic adornment or a sign of rebellion in the United States. But now they often are merely a personal adornment, like pierced earrings, and they are popular among all ethnic groups. Nose pierc...

Pierced Ear Infections

Generally it is done on the lower part of the lobe, although almost any outer area of the ear can be pierced. According to the UCLA Department of Medicine, if a piercing does not heal correctly, it can develop an infection. An ...

Why Are My Pierced Ears Sore?

Soreness, irritation and discomfort are possible symptoms for newly pierced ears or ear piercings that are healing. Regardless of the reason for your ear piercings being sore, a professional piercer can help diagnose the cause ...

Problems With Ear Piercings

These days, when people are piercing noses, eyebrows, tongues, belly buttons and other areas farther down, the innocuous earring seems to be an afterthought. However, an article in the "Journal of General Internal Medicine" in ...

Parts of the Ears to Pierce

After piercing your earlobes and the outer rim, or helix, of your cartilage, you may be interested in piercing other parts of your ear. Professional body piercers offer piercings of other parts of your ear cartilage. During a c...

Earrings to Wear After Getting Ears Pierced

Before changing your earrings, ask your piercer if you have completed the healing period to avoid irritation. Once your ear piercing is healed, you can change your jewelry on a daily basis to match your clothing, mood or to coi...

Different Uses for Pierced Earrings

Pierced earrings aren't for ears alone. Some people wear pierced earrings on the nose, tongue or other body parts, but many people have found the earrings can be repurposed for arts and crafts and household use. An earring does...

Places to Get Ears Pierced

When considering an ear piercing, you want to pick an establishment that has your safety as its top priority. Asking questions about sterile instruments and cleaning procedures for equipment will help you make a safe decision o...

Problems With Pierced Ears

Ear piercings are probably the most common body piercing on the planet. Ear piercings even appear in ancient sculpture. Master piercer Elayne Angel in her book "The Piercing Bible" mentions an Iranian female bust from approxima...

Places to Pierce Your Ear

Ear cartilage piercings take six months to one year to heal. Migration or hypertrophic scarring is possible from pressure--from a telephone or sleeping--on the ear piercing. Migration is the process of the body expelling the je...

How Do They Pierce Your Ears With Gauges?

You can stretch an existing ear piercing into a large-diameter ear piercing. If you do not have pierced ears, you can pierce your ears at a large gauge. Typical ear piercings, from a piercing gun, are a small gauge, such as 20....

Alternatives to Pierced Ears

There are jewelry options for people who wish to wear earrings without undergoing an ear piercing procedure. Risk of infection, fear of the pain or choosing not to pierce your ears because of religious beliefs are all reasons y...

The Alternatives for Pierced Ears

Earrings are a common and popular form of jewelry that are usually worn by piercing a hole through the ear lobe and inserting the earring through it. There are many reasons why you might not want to have your ears pierced, but ...

Infection of a Pierced Ear

According to Kidshealth.org, people have been piercing their ears for thousands of years. When getting your ears pierced, it's important to have it done at a reputable place where the person has experience and uses sanitary equ...

Why Do People Pierce Their Ears?

Ear piercing entails having a metal earring rod forced through the outer area of your ear, or the pinna. Ear piercing should be done in a safe and sterile environment by a certified piercing artist. Many adults and children bot...

Types of Pierced Earrings

The areas of your ear that you can pierce range from the top helix to the lobe, with several spots in between. The types of pierced earrings used in the ears vary based on the location of the piercing. The materials used to mak...

What If They Make a Mistake When Piercing Your Ears?

Ear piercing is a common procedure, and complications are rare. However, piercers are human, and mistakes can occur. Minimize your risks by shopping around. Select a professional piercer with a clean, efficient shop and sterile...

Types of Piercing Needles

Sewing needles and piercing guns cause unnecessary trauma and the possibility of bacteria and disease transmission, as guns and inappropriate needles are not sterile and the piercing hole is normally a tear or rip instead of an...

Health Risks Associated With Cartilage Ear Piercings

Piercing the higher portion of the ear, known as the cartilage, is a fashion statement that can be dangerous. Before deciding to pierce the upper portion of your ear, familiarize yourself with the health risks associated with c...

Does Having Your Ears Pierced Hurt?

Getting an ear piercing, whether in the earlobe or in the ear cartilage, does hurt--but the immediate pain usually subsides pretty quickly, especially if you're getting an earlobe piercing. If your piercing keeps hurting, howev...

Parts of Ears to Get Pierced

The two main parts of ears to get pierced are the lobe and the cartilage. Earlobe piercing is much less painful than cartilage piercing, with shorter healing times and no chance of rejection or migration. One of the most import...

Does Getting Your Ears Pierced Hurt?

Ear piercing is the most common type of body piercing. You can have your earlobes or ear cartilage pierced, and many people choose to have both. The procedure can sting a bit, but should not cause undue pain. Minimize your chan...

Pros & Cons of Pierced Ears

Piercing is a relatively safe and quick procedure with minimal pain. But before you bring your daughter to the jewelry store to have her ears pierced or wish to have your own ears pierced, you should carefully weight the pros a...