You pierced your whaaaaat?

    Piercings are a way of self-expression, also a form of addiction.  Once you pierce one thing, sometimes you constantly want more piercings.  I, myself, am guilty of this so-to-say, "addiction."  I have 8 piercings: naval/bellybutton, 3 ear lobe piercings, a tragus, conch, cartilage, and rook..yet I still want at least four more.  As with any piercing, you are told about the risk of infection, but usually you, as the person being pierced, ignores the risks and warnings because we are so excited to get pierced.  Some things before I get pierced that I look up are pain level, healing time, and stories about the healing process.  I have always been really good with piercings,they never reject nor get infected, until I pierced my rook.. (piercing to the right),  No, this is not my ear, but this is a rook piercing.  Notice the location, as well as it does not completely pierce the whole ear, rather curves inside the ear.  Meaning if you were to see the back of the ear, it would appear as if there was no piercing.  Cleaning a piercing, my piercer always says to clean it twice a day with non-scented, anti-bacterial soap.  I didn't put much thought into this piercing getting infected, but when you think about it, it would right?  This piercing actually has, by looking up stories, an unusually high infection rate.  Almost every story I read, the person experienced an infection.  A few days after piercing my rook, I had my first piercing infection. ..not cool.

   So now what? Do you take the piercing out?  NO.  The piercing will close up, and if not cleaned properly, the infection will remain in the ear and will still spread.  At this point, I waited a few days to treat my infection, thinking it was "just healing."  When my ear became swollen, felt hot to touch, and hurt to touch....and oozy...that is when it all became real.  So what is recommended?  A saline soak.  A simple solution actually.  

One of the best things you can do for all healing or irritated piercings is a saline soak. A warm, mild saltwater solution irrigates, cleanses, and allows the cells to rejuvenate. Saline soaks keep the cells well hydrated while simultaneously flushing out fluid and cellular material that accumulate in the wound. This reduces crusting and helps prevent pockets of trapped matter, which can create unsightly and difficult-to-eliminate bumps. If this debris is not removed, it can impede healing. The warm water also opens capillaries and stimulates blood flow, which transports oxygen to the region, promoting healing.  This is not an invitation to swim in the ocean, where you might encounter numerous microbes, motor oil, and other hazards. The goal is to use a solution with a saline concentration similar to that of the human body.

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A saline soak.  Within a day, my infection had started to heal.  Since the cartilage area of the ear does not have great blood, it does not have a great supply of immune cells to the ear to fight off infections...therefore resulting in my infected rook.  Although I did acquire an infection, what happens to those who have a serious, untreated infection?  Hospitalization.  Piercing in the mouth are especially serious when they become infected...so how are they treated once in the hospital? 

We give them an antibiotic to usually treat the streptococcus or staphylococcus bacteria that is on the skin.  But the antibiotics wont help because they needed an antibiotic that could fight the gram negative bacteria found in the mouth.  

In some cases, the part of the body can become disfigured, scarred, or even death.  As many piercers will tell you, it is all about keeping the area clean.  But sometimes there can be other factors that fall into play: how sterile is the piercing environment, how sterile is the piercing equipment, how sterile is the area being pierced, and how well are you willing to keep the piercing clean? Microbes are everywhere, beyond our control.  A piercing is basically an open wound, a hole in your body that needs to heal.  So when it is not kept clean, microbes can enter the infected site and do some serious damage to the given are. Yes, some areas are more prone to becoming infected, but that just means you need to take extra care, and immediately take action if the thought of infection crosses your mind.  Certain activities must be avoided because of the exposure to certain microbes.  A piercing is a small hole in one’s body but can cause major consequences if not cared for properly.   

http://www.piercingbible.com/saline-soaks
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=117058&page=1&singlePage=true