What can go wrong with a cartilage piercing?

Piercing the cartilage can cause significant bleeding and lead to septal hematoma formation that often is accompanied by infection. Other potential complications that may result in cosmetic deformity include perichondritis and necrosis of the cartilaginous nasal wall.

How do you know if your cartilage piercing is wrong?

An infected cartilage piercing will hurt and can ooze a thick or smelly discharge that's gray, yellow, or green. The pierced area may feel hot to the touch. It may also turn bright red or pink. Bad infections may even cause a fever, chills, and nausea.

Can U Get paralyzed from piercing your cartilage?

Nov. 11, 2010— -- Within days of developing a viral infection following a routine ear piercing, a 15-year-old British dancer lay paralyzed in a hospital bed, unable to move or communicate except by blinking her eyes at her devastated mother.

What not to do when you get your cartilage pierced?

Don't use soap, hydrogen peroxide, or rubbing alcohol to clean your cartilage piercing—these are too harsh. Read our full article about Cartilage Piercing Information & Aftercare for all the details about saline solution soaks.

Do cartilage piercings get infected easily?

Essentially, a piercing is essentially an open wound. In order for it to heal, an earlobe piercing usually takes about 6 to 8 weeks. Generally taking longer to heal and being more prone to infection, cartilage piercings take place on the harder part of your ear. Your ear piercing can get infected several ways.

Pros and Cons of Cartilage Ear Piercing | Pain, Infection, and more!

What does an infected piercing look like?

Your piercing might be infected if: the area around it is swollen, painful, hot, very red or dark (depending on your skin colour) there's blood or pus coming out of it – pus can be white, green or yellow.

How do I know if my cartilage piercing is healing correctly?

Keep an eye out for signs of healing—and know how long you might have to wait. "Ear lobes usually take about two to three months to heal, and cartilage takes about three to 10 months. Once it stops hurting, swelling, and secreting fluid, and any redness disappears, it's healed," Smith explains.

Are cartilage piercings safe?

How to take care of the pierced ear cartilage. Ear piercing is a relatively risk-free procedure if performed at the ear lobe and along the helix region. The risk of complications of piercing through the cartilage is greater because healing takes a longer time as compared to the ear lobe.

What piercing hurts the most?

Should I twist my cartilage piercing?

No, you should not twist your cartilage piercing as this can prevent healing. Just wiping the cleaning solution over the front and back of the piercing should be enough.

Are ear piercings risky?

Piercing can lead to scars and raised areas caused by an overgrowth of scar tissue (keloids). Bloodborne diseases. If the equipment used to do the piercing is contaminated with infected blood, you can contract various bloodborne diseases, including hepatitis B, hepatitis C, tetanus and HIV. Tearing or trauma.

Can I wash my hair after cartilage piercing?

Tilt your head so that your hair is under the water but your piercing can stay dry as much as possible. You can now begin gently washing your hair. Keep your head in this position until the shampoo and conditioner has been fully rinsed from your hair.

Can cartilage get infected?

Perichondritis can lead to chondritis, which is an infection of the cartilage itself. This can cause severe damage to the ear structure.

What does a rejecting piercing look like?

Symptoms of piercing rejection

more of the jewelry becoming visible on the outside of the piercing. the piercing remaining sore, red, irritated, or dry after the first few days. the jewelry becoming visible under the skin. the piercing hole appearing to be getting larger.

What piercings reject the most?

The most common body piercings that reject are navel piercings and eyebrow piercings. The surface piercings most likely to reject are those that reside more closely to the skin's surface such as the sternum or nape (back of the neck) and Madison piercings.

How do you know if a piercing is bad?

What is the most painless piercing?

What is the least painful piercing? Most piercers agree that earlobe piercings are the least painful type of piercing because they are positioned on a fleshy, easy-to-pierce portion of skin. Most oral piercings, eyebrow piercings, and even navel piercings are also surprisingly low on the pain scale for the same reason.

How long does a cartilage piercing hurt?

The cartilage is thicker in this area, which means there will be more resistance when this skin is pierced. Expect a dull pain that measures around a 5/10 on the pain scale. It should take around 6-9 months for the piercing to fully heal.

What's the least painful piercing?

How likely is a cartilage piercing to get infected?

Even with meticulous care, cartilage piercings become infected about 30% of the time. One study followed a more than 450 nurses who pierced their ears. About 30% of “high” ear piercings, or piercings of the cartilage of the pinna/upper ear, become infected.

Can a cartilage piercing infection spread?

Leaving an infected piercing untreated can result in a more severe infection or an abscess (a swollen area filled with pus). Upper ear piercings are more likely to get infected. Left untreated, these infections can spread into your body (called a systemic infection).

What helps heal a cartilage piercing?

What should a healing piercing look like?

It looks good – most piercings look pretty good from the outset. A small amount of redness is not uncommon, but this should subside within a couple of weeks. You may notice some dry matter at the entry or exit of your piercing. This is called “exudate” and is a byproduct of the healing process.

Is my piercing infected or healing?

According to Thompson, the telltale signs of an infection are simple: “The area around the piercing is warm to the touch, you notice extreme redness or red streaks protruding from it, and it has discolored pus, normally with a green or brown tint,” Thompson says.

How long should a cartilage piercing be swollen?

Although it can sometimes take around 8 weeks for the wound to fully heal, these symptoms should not last more than 2 weeks. Infection may be present if a person experiences: swelling that does not go down after 48 hours. heat or warmth that does not go away or gets more intense.