Help-cartilage bubble.

[Oryx831]

This isn't my first cartilage piercing, in fact, it's probably the 5th or 6th. Most of them have been the run of the mill cartilage piercings, but I've had an industrial and now this conch. Well, I took the industrial out due to the bubbles on both sides of my ear and on both holes. My conch has been doing very well up until just a couple of days ago when it developed one of those bubbles. It doesn't hurt, it isn't swollen in any other way, it's not red-actually it looks a little more pale than the area around it (although it might just be shinier). Anyway, enough rambling. How do I get rid of it? I've heard of people disinfecting a needle, popping them and some have pus, some don't. Those that don't just deflate and the extra skin comes off and there aren't any more problems. I know that any time you stick a needle in your skin, it's a risk, but I really don't want to lose this piercing because of the bubble. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Christie.]

Do you use hairspray or any other sort of products that may clog it up? I sometimes get lumps around my helix piercings because of all the hairspray I use which clogs it up so all the crap just builds up inside.

It's easily sorted by using your basic saltwater solution and just cleaning yr piercing with that but it's best if the solution's fairly warm so it opens up the pores or whatever!

If it doesn't work out, might be best for you to pop into your nearest piercing studio and ask them for further advice.

[Oryx831]

I don't use any hairspray or anything like that. I get these bubbles every time. With all of my cartilage piercings. It's the reason why I end up taking them out. I use bactine to clean it and I was putting A&D ointment on it, but stopped the ointment because I thought maybe the bubble was due to too much moisture. I'll try the saltwater soak, but I don't know how helpful it's going to be if I can't figure out what is causing the bubble in the first place because it'll just keep coming back. We'll see what happens though. Thanks for the advice.

[Elmo]

sounds like hypertrophic scarring, it's quite common in cart piercings. My first piece of advice would be to stop touching it, and try not to cause it any unnecessary stress by bumping it, catching it on hair/clothes etc. Second, hot sea salt soaks - twice a day. Basically pamper it and treat it like a new piercing - it's clearly a bit peeved.

Unfortunately, they don't always disappear. Sometimes they do, my Tragus had them and eventually they went away and now it's perfect, however my upper cartilage piercing didnt and i eventually had to take it out, and even now, there's still a bit of a lump, so it's a bit hit and miss. Just treat it as well as you possibly can.

[Witch]

i got this with my anti tragus and had to retire it

[Jen-Y]

My industrial had this kind of reaction but i kind of expected it anyway and just kept cleaning. As the piercing healed(which to be fair took about a year) they just went away and now they're completely gone.

http://wiki.bmezine.com/index.php/Hypertrophic_scarring

That tells you a wee bit more and suggests tea tree oil? I never really thought of putting anything like that on it.

[Oryx831]

I had the bumps with my industrial and still have small ones to this day and it's been out over a year. Maybe I should just stop getting piercings. My body reacts terribly to them. I've had my eyebrow done and my nose done twice and had to take them out due to infections. I'll try the sea salt soaks for a while and I might try the tea tree oil because I've used it for things other than piercings. Thanks a bunch for the link and thank you everyone for all you're advice.

[karbon14]

if none of those things work, wait till it's completely healed (so normal flesh colour and doesn't hurt) then get a PTFE bar and screw it down to size, then tighten it a tiny bit more. leave it like that for a week or so then do the same again, just a wee bit at a time. eventually the pressure should get rid of it.

[Purplerose]

This probably wouldn't be recommended by anyone but I put a wee spot of hydrocortisone cream that I use for excema on mine for a couple of days and it was gone within the week.

[karbon14]

steroid creams tend to be fine to use... that's pretty much what they're for anyway.

[AntisepticDying]

I got it when I got my helix done, I used the salt water solution and it went away and now my it's fine. So I suggest that really.

My conch never got a reaction like that but took forever to heal. I got my industrial done last week, so far so good so the salt water soaks twice a day seem to be doing their job. *fingers crossed*

[fracture4]

tea tree oil sorted out the same problem with my tragus!