pierced my ear: need help

[Xhoshi]

Hey guys,
I just pierced my ear today, at school with a sowing needle and apple. I was planning on putting a stud inside but i lost it and instead put in a safety pin to keep it from closing up. I was wondering when it will be fine to take out the safety pin and put in a stud. I'm hoping soon...:(

[BizzleLuvin]

gross! youre messing with a very painful infection my good man. take out the safety pin, disinfect your ear, disinfect the stud and stick 'er in. then dont mess with it! twist the stud regularily and clean the hole with warm soapy water every day.

[Xhoshi]

i disinfected the safety pin before i put it in.
i think that the shit is stuck tight in there....

[Spoken Word]

It's hell at first. It takes some tlc......and be ready for pain..
at least for me it was.....i felt a little ball for weeks... i was freaking out..

now i barely use earrings but the holes never close....

my advice to you is to clean it every night and don't stick dirty things in there....an infection is nasty.. thankfully, mine never got infected

[bong_man]

lol leave the safty pin in and see what happens :)

[WhereDaBudAt]

if your ear gets infected can you post a picture of it? lol

[Xhoshi]

yeah...i think its about time to take the saefty pin out.
i'm positive that it's clean, but i dont wanna risk it.
besides, doing what i do on a regular basis, it may end up getting ripped out.

[LuckyG]

Wait a second, a sewing needle and an apple? What's the apple for?

[birdgirl73]

The apple, usually cut in half or in a thick plank, is to place behind the ear that's being pierced so the needle will go through the ear and then into something that won't be injured by a needle and that'll keep the needle from sticking the "piercee" in the neck or side of the head. It's a tried-and-true home-piercing aid. Sometimes people use a piece of potato instead. Serves as a firm backing and a sort of "pin cushion" for the piercing needle once it goes through the ear.

Clean that wound well. If you can remove the safety pin and put in your stud, do that. I'm hoping the hole you pierced is big enough for your stud. A sewing needle often isn't quite big enough. If you have to leave the safety pin in for now, make sure you twist it periodically so the pierced skin doesn't heal/stick to the pin. The best cleaning solution is hydrogen peroxide or a mixture of half hydrogen peroxide-half drugstore saline. You need to clean it daily and let either the stud or the safety pin stay in there for about three weeks till the hole heals over and seals. Even after that, you need to keep a stud in it around the clock so it doesn't heal over.

[Raelum]

I would take out the safety pin soon! a couple of days shouldn't be a big deal but safety pins, paper clips, sowing needles, etc... are made of low quality metals and some of those metals will react with open wounds and cause an infection. you should use something sterile like surgical stainless steel (like your stud).

The cheap metals in the safety pin will more then likely give you an infection.

Also I read and was told that "twisting" your piercing during the first 2 weeks isn't a good idea because it can cause scarring, and if you plan on stretching your lobes or "gauging" your ears it may make it a little harder.

Hope this helps~!
~Raelum:smokin:

[slipknotpsycho]

lol i used to peirce my own lip with saftey pin just for the attention and shit... it also had alot to do with phobia tho... when i learned i could do it, i kept doing it, to prove to myself it wasn't so bad (i had a terrible phobia of needles) before pericing my lip, like a coupl eyears prior... i woudl turn white and nearlyp ass out from just pericing my ear...

anyways, wife didn't believe i could do it, i showed her too... i've peirced my lip over 50 times by now lol... (yet somehow when she was getting her tat the other she seemed to of thought i was scared?)

anyways, you really shoulda sterilized eihter first... i usually soak everything in alcohol or hydrogen peroxide, then burn it til it turns black, wipe off the black and once again, give it another bath in either.... never had an infection problem by following this...

taking it, might kinda be painful getting ht stud in but you can do it... just be ready to force it through... it helps to stretch the skin (in your case pull down on your ear obe pretty hard, not enough to cause pain, but enough to be 'uncomterable') and try to do it quickly as you can....make sure to treat your ear... can pour alcohol on it, but you can also do the same with hydrogen peroxide... can also put some ina small bowl and just kinda dip your ear in it for a few seconds.. if you do the bowl thing tho, make sure to rub/massage the pericing (with the stud in) to help kinda make sure everything gets coated well...

on a side note, there's a whole nother way you can perice yourself tho i ttakes forever (for those scared of pain... really only works on the lip tho) take a hoop with pointed tips (you know the ones that have the balls that just snap in place) and put it in your lip, and squeeze it together/close it off as tight as it takes to cause somehwat of some pain (when you let off pressure it won't hurt, but you'll still feel ht epressure) do it everyday (tightening it) eventually it'll just work it's way through your lip... you do have to pop a couple layers of skin at the end... but other then that... you don't really ever feel anything.

[birdgirl73]

The dermatologists and other docs I know who do ear-piercing, and my husband has been known to do piercings for his office staff, always recommend the twisting technique as a way of making sure the healing, seeping puncture wound doesn't "glue" itself to the metal for too long and stick so that when you do eventualy move the earring or stud, you re-open the wound and cause it to bleed.

Sterile technique and quality, non-allergenic metals are very important. I was addressing this issue above as a self-piercing question because that's what it was. But ideally, people who want piercings should get someone who knows sterile technique and has sterile needles and quality metal earrings (or other jewelry items) to do that job for you.

Cheap metals don't cause infection. Bacteria and viruses are what cause infections. But certain metals, particularly nickel but also, for some, copper and some steel alloys, can trigger strong allergic reactions and irritations. Stainless steel, 14- or 18-karat gold, titanium, and platinum are safer metals for the skin. (But good luck affording platinum!)