Pierced Earlobe Infection

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW:

A pierced earlobe infection is an infection in your earlobe after you get it pierced. Your earlobe is the fleshy bottom part of your ear. Infections are caused by germs.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Care for your ear at home:

• Clean your earlobe: Wash your hands carefully before you touch your earlobe. Wash the infected area with soap and water 2 times a day. You also may use saline (salt water) to rinse the infected area. Do not use rubbing alcohol.
  
  
• Leave the piercing in, and move it regularly: You should not need to remove your earring for the infection to heal. Turn the piercing so that your earlobe does not swell around it.
  
  
• Use compresses: Apply warm or cool wet cloths to the infected area. Do this as often as directed.

Medicines:

• Antibiotic medicine: This medicine will help fight or prevent an infection. It may be given as a pill or an ointment that you rub on your earlobe. Do not touch the tip of the ointment tube. This could spread the germs.
  
  
• Take your medicine as directed: Call your primary healthcare provider if you think your medicine is not working as expected. Tell him if you are allergic to any medicine. Keep a current list of the medicines, vitamins, and herbs you take. Include the amounts, and when, how, and why you take them. Take the list or the pill bottles to follow-up visits. Carry your medicine list with you in case of an emergency. Throw away old medicine lists.

Prevent an infection:

• Keep your earlobe moist. Apply lotion or ointment to it as directed.
  
  
• Avoid earrings with nickel in them.
  
  
• Make sure a sterile piercing gun or a new needle is used for piercings.

Follow up with your primary healthcare provider in 1 to 2 days:

Write down your questions so you remember to ask them during your visits.

Contact your primary healthcare provider if:

• You have a fever.
  
  
• You feel a bump at the piercing site.
  
  
• Your earlobe feels warmer or more itchy than usual.
  
  
• Your earlobe is painful, red, or swollen. You may have yellow, smelly discharge from the piercing site.
  
  
• You cannot see your earring because your earlobe covers it up.
  
  
• Your earring is pulled out and rips your earlobe.

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The above information is an educational aid only. It is not intended as medical advice for individual conditions or treatments. Talk to your doctor, nurse or pharmacist before following any medical regimen to see if it is safe and effective for you.