[KitCat22]

I got my ear pierced back in late October 2010. It is now early January 2011 and it is a little tender still and sometimes a little pink. My ear is a slightly a little bigger then the other ear. It is a cartilage piercing. There is a bit of a bump at the back of my ear, and there is a little bit of a puffy bump in the front. I have been cleaning it with peroxide. I stretched the piercing from a 16 to a 14 in early/mid December. Is my ear infected? What should I do?

[Wondergirl]

Visit a doctor.

[ramona_]

First off, you shouldn't of changed the jewellery that quickly: you should've waited a minimum of 3 to 4 months, but I guess that's a little late now. Peroxide is absolutely terrible for piercings and whoever recommended it doesn't really know what they're on about because peroxide can eat away freshly healed skin and can dry out your piercing. Your ear sounds like it is infected, you should use a cleaning method called osmosis on your piercing twice a day for at least a week (I'll put the ingredients/method below). The bumps on the front and back of the piercing could be that you're developing hypertrophic scarring (when your body over produces collogen which causes scar tissue to rise to the surface of the skin and be raised above surrounding skin). If there is no improvement then DON'T TAKE THE PIERCING OUT, doing so can trap the infection and cause an abscess. Also, try not to touch your jewellery unless you have clean hands and don't twist the jewellery because that is just creating more and more scar tissue to build up.

OSMOSIS
(Approx. ¼ teaspoon of sea salt to ½ pint hot water). This method works best when used
With hot but not boiling water.
Soak a cotton pad with the saline solution and place on the piercing for 5 minutes (until it
Starts to cool down). This helps to open the pores of the skin. Pour the remainder into a clean
Container that's just big enough to cover area (e.g. navel/mug, eyebrow/long contact lens case or
An eggcup). Soak the piercing for 10 minutes, making sure the water is warm at all times. This
Draws any of the impurities or trapped fluid out of the piercing.
This can be repeated a few times a week to heal a piercing, but when treating a
Problematic piercing, twice a day is preferable.

Good luck!