Ear ring embedded/infection advice

[Miz Diz]

I saw a post a while back about someone's little girl having the backs of her ear rings attaching to her lobe.

My dd is 3 and has had her ears pierced for a little over a year. I check to make sure they are not infected at least once a week. Anyway, I just checked her a couple of days ago, but just now she was sitting in my lap and her left lobe was bulging around her ear ring. I checked the back and it is swollen and the back looked attached. I was able to pull it out and it is bleeding a little bit. It is swollen. I put antiseptic on it.
Her other side is fine.
How long should I keep the ear rings out? Is it because of the back - do I need to get those flat discs?

The ear rings are sterling silver. Do you think it is okay to keep using these since the other ear was fine?

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Fabinva]

My daughter got her ears pierced before she was 1yr old, she is 5 now and had no major problems. She did have once an allergic reaction to a silver coated pair of earrings and I took those off and waited a few days and since then only wears gold earrings and the kind that loop around (no backs).
You should wait until her ear looks healed and check often after putting back the earring, if it starts to get bad best to switch to gold earrings.

 

[MommaSnowwhite]

My DD had problems with her recently pierced ears and I called a Tattoo and piercing shop and this is what they told me to do. Put her original earrings in and put warm salt water on it a couple times a day. Always works like a champ!

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

You might want to switch to gold earrings. I have had my own ears pierced for over 25 years, and if I wear anything other than gold posts and back for more than a few hours, I get a reaction like what you are describing. Those flat disk things just make the problem worse for me.

Then do what MommaSnowwhite suggests with the saltwater. Be careful about leaving no earrings in for any length of time because you don't want that hole to close up.

 

[Feeln'Froggy]

My daughter ears "eat" her earring backs, we went to small gold hoops and have not had any problems since.

 

[dhcoffey]

Both my girls have problems with their ears and earrings like that and we switched both of them to hoops or the wire earrings and never had any more problems.

Heather

 

[jen2207]

Soak the earrings in peroxide - you'll see little bubbles come up from the backs and earrings that will rid them of any "gook" - yes, it's technical term

Since she has had her ears pierced for over a year - she should be fine to have the earrings out for a couple of days. Let her ear "heal" since it was bleeding a bit - then you can use the earrings again. You can clean her ear with a little peroxide on a cotton ball too.

 

[Ellester]

My dd had the same thing. She was able to wear any type of earring for over a year then one day her Minnie Mouse earring back was attached to her ear. Now she can only wear earrings with backs for a very short time before they get infected and really gross (it's been about two years since the first nasty episode). We also have found that pure gold hoops (with an open back) are the best for her. Good luck!

 

[pigletto]

I have had my ears pierced for over 15 yrs and had this exact problem last week. And they were 18k gold earrings with the the butterfly backs. I took them out cleaned them with dettol (both my earrings and ear lobes). Everything was hunky dory so I put them back in after a few days and it's puffy again today
It feels like the back sits to close to the ear so eventually the skin trys to grow around it or gets irritated.
I have never had this problem before.. but I agree with the previous posters. I will have to start wearing these ones only for a bit and then changing into my white gold hoops.

 

[oldbay]

I have found a little bacitracin on the earring post before you put it in the ear helps if it is a tiny bit infected. It would also help to put this on the back of the earlobe that was bleeding to cure the infection quicker and prevent any scarring. I prefer bacitracin to neosporin.

Also disinfecting any new earrings in rubbing alcohol occasionally will help to prevent infections. I agree gold is best, as are hoops for preventing infections.

I would watch though and not keep the holes empty for too long (more than a month) b/c then can close up even if you had them for a year. It is hard to get new holes there then b/c of any scar tissue.

Good luck

 

[Miz Diz]

Thanks for all the advice. I was freaking out about it, but am calmed down now. Her ear actually looks better already. It is not swollen, but there is a scab where it was bleeding. I have some antiseptic from Claire's and put that on her ear. I asked her if it hurts and she said no. I'll give it a few days and put in her gold hoops. These were her mickey ear rings that she got for getting out of her diapers and pullups and they are her favorite.

Unfortunately we lost one of the ear rings that she had them pierced with. I wonder if I should buy another pair like them and do the salt water.

 

[MommaSnowwhite]

The tattoo guy told me to keep earring in her ears to prevent closure - something about the healing process. He also told me to stay away from hoops during the healing process because they are thinner than regular posts. I would use a good pair of hypo allergenic or gold earrings if you don't have the original ones. Sounds like she is already n the mend!