? About Pierced Ears?

Hi, I had my daughters ears pierced at 5 as well. All went well then they got red and pussy. I brought her to the docters to see what was wrong. I found out that she cannot wear silver plated earings. She has to wear 24K gold plated earings. Anything less causes her hears to get red and painful. Just a thought.

I've always had problems with cheap earrings. I'm jealous of those who can go in and buy a 5 pack of earrings for $5! LOL I rarely wear earrings, if I do, it's usually the piercing stainless steel type. I've got multiple piercings-7 in each ear and only have problems with the bottom 2 holes?!

My daughter had her ears pierced when she was 2 months old. I didn't want her to remember the pain as badly and she wasn't old enough to start playing with her ears. She was fine until she was about 1 year old when she started picking at them. She's had little infections here and there in her ears. I reinsert the earrings with neosporing on the posts and on her ears if they seem to bother her. The sometimes "infections" seem to come from times when her hair gets stuck in her earrings and she pulls it out (she's 4) or the lack of cleaning.

I wish you lots of luck!!

Do you have gold earrings in her ears or are they the (I hate to use the word....but, ) cheaper variety earrings? Maybe she's allergic to the non gold ones. Sometimes they do cause problems. My daughters had to change to gold or let the ears grow back closed because of infections.

OK...First, how and where did oyu get them pierced? I use to pierce ears at my old job and here are a few things...The gun is the worst way to get them done. It just breaks the skin and that can lead to easier infections and problems with growths on the back of the piercing from scare tissue. The alternative way would have been to take her to a professional piercer and they use a hollow point needle and remove the skin where the hole will be. It sounds barbarick i know but on a pain level it hurts the same. The other things to know are the people who do the piercing with the gun go through about ten to fifteen minutes of training and then practice on there co-workers..This goes for Claires, the Piercing Pagoda and anywhere that uses the Gun. I stopped doing it because I dint agree with using the Gun. And the other thing is she could be allergic to the jewelry that she has in. Your body can be allergic to anything from Stainless steel to Surgical steel to gold So I would take her to the doc they can look at it and tell you whether or not it is infected do to allergic reaction to the jewelry or if it is infected from bacteria. Also you can put Neosporin on it...if it clears up in a few days then it is her playing with them with dirty fingers if it doesnt go away it is that she is allergic to the jewelry and then it will be trail and error on what will work in her ears. If she just got them done and you are still within the healing time dont use the Neosporin until the healing period is over. Also the cleaner that Claires gives you is junk I dont know where you went but I would toss it and use Aclohol you are better off. Sorry to sound so matter of fact but it makes me made that the people who do this type of piercing dont go over anything and are not properly trained! It isnt your fault as a parent I think the should require ALOT more training before someone is considered qualified to put holes into childrens ears!!! So again I dont mean to sounds KNOW IT ALL but I have been there.

As far as the piercing goes, what's done is done--so don't sweat that part. Your main goal is to stop infections. I had that problem and so did our daughters. ARRRGH! Our absolute FIX was using GOLD, instead of sterling or surgical steel-or any other metal, until their "systems" are more immuned to other metals. I could finally wear "other than gold" after I was 17 (BUT, I had my ears pierced when I was 11)--my girls could after around age 11-12 (I did both of their piercings at age 2 weeks). Also, she may be trying to "show off" with her pretty earrings by taking them off, with grubby fingers, and putting them back in at school or while she plays. You can find decent earrings with a screw-in backing, so it will be difficult for her to take it off (I had to do it so my own kids wouldn't TRADE their good earrings for some cruddy ones from friends) Good luck with this!!

My ears will get infected within 24 hours if I use any sort of cheap metal. I always use surgical steel or silver. I see that another person recommended gold, which is also good.

What kind of earings are you having her use. If they are not 14K gold or higher or surical steel, she may be alergic to the metal and that could be causing the problem. My girls all had pierced ears by the time they were a couple of months old and only once did we have a problem. One girl was given some cute earings that were not real gold and they gave her infections until I discovered the problem. After that we were more careful. I also can not wear metals that are other than 99% silver, 14K gold or surgical steel. L.

Hi B., what kind of ear-rings she is wearing? I have the same problem and I did figure out that if I put on my ears something different than 18 carat gold they get infected. May be she has the same problem.

well, she may be alergic to what ever metal you are using for earrings. This seems extreemly likely if everything was fine while she had the piercing posts in.

My daughter is allergic even to Gold and so am I we can only use sterling silver, some people have to have surgical steel others gold. You might see if that is it. Once we got rid of the gold my daughter and I were fine, but have found nothing besides silver is ok. We don't even have to be all that careful if we use sterling, but no amount of cleaning helps if we don't we get infected.

try sea salt for cleaning and it could be allergy to the metal, usually nickel.

Hey!

If you are having trouble with her current piercings and the other advice here does not help you can let the piercings close over and have your daugher's ears repierced. We have had to do that in my family both with a sister(one of 4) and a niece(one of 5). I can map out exactly how and I would agree with one of the other posters. The gun method would not be the answer. But, in my family we numb the ear before piercing so there is no pain, no crying and no flinching. (I have seen it done on both a 7 year old and a 14 year old.) If you need any other information I would be glad to help.
Take care!
Vida

Be sure that the earrings she is wearing are surgical steel posts or stainless steal. My ears get infected if I wear cheap earrings (especially the kind that little girls love to wear..they come in a pack with a bunch of different colors and shapes). I am forty and have been having this problem my whole life.

i had this problem when i was a kid and it still affects me to this day. i have to wear only surgical grade steel with no coatings or 14 karat gold or higher, because my ears are sensitive to the other kinds of metals and coatings they use. I had gone thru 4 sets of pierced ears before we figured it out becasue they got so infected the had to remove them and let them close. I have found the same to be true with the other piercings that I have had over the years as well. My nose especially. I would give it a try with the good quality gold or go to a body piercing shop for the better jewelry.

What quality earrings do you put in her ears? I have a reaction to metals that are not pure (such as potmetal that is coated with a gold or silver colored metal) that cause my ears to get infected. You might try 100% gold or silver and forego the cute costume jewelry earrings for a while and see if that helps. Hypoallergenic studs or wires tend to work best for me whenever pure gold or silver isn't available.

Good luck,
C.

B.-

It's been mentioned already, but she may have a nickel sensitivity. I have a friend who if she wears anything but sterling silver or 18K gold breaks out terribly! You can get lots of good allergy-free earrings (even for little girls) in a catalog called "Whispers". I think they have a website...

But you seem to have a handle on the keeping-them-clean thing, so I don't know what to add to that.

But if it keeps getting infected with cleaning and allergy-free earrings, you may jst have to nix the earrings until she's older.

Best of luck to you!
-B.-

Try coating the posts with Neosporin and then putting them in. I noticed almost everyone already said this, but gold is gentler on most people...good luck!

Hi,

I would try a different kind of earing. It might just be the kind of metal that the earing is made out of that isn't letting her ear heal all the way up. Her ears might be over sensitive to them and you could try the Hypo allergenic ones or stainless steal or 14k you kinda have to play with a few earings to see which one stops the infection. I also used Hydrogen peroxid, put a Q-tip in some and rub the front with it real good and use another Q-tip and rub it on the back and I the infection is real bad I would take the earing out and was it with HY Peroxid and then put it back in. It shouldn't hurt, but it will bubble up alittle. Hope this helped.

i was the exact same way as a child and the infections didn't really stop until i was in my teens. but we found ways to make it not so bad. first, make sure the earrings are 14k gold or stainless steel. some kids are alergic to the metal used in most earrings. you can find stainless at any piercing shop. try a post so there is less for her to touch during the day. (i was a picker and a toucher so i completely made things worse.) and i don't know what you're cleaning with now but you could try bicitracin (?). it's a dark brown cleaner that works at fighting infections. good luck!

Honestly I would take them out and let it heal over until she is old enough to decide that she wants them pierced by a professional piercer with a needle, as a previous poster suggested, usually the big needle is a deterrent enough until kids are in their teens.

I have had my ears pierced at 6 yo and nothing but problems with it, recurring infections, pain, sensitivity to metals and visible scarring (fortunately not too bad).
I have become very opposed to pierced ears at a young age, once they are teenagers it's another story, but definitely not before they can take care of the wounds themselves.

both of my girls have had this issue. I took out the earrings and let them close. I then had them re-pierced in a few years. My oldest daughter has done fine. She has multiple piercings. My youngest is 11 and has tried to pierce her ears twice. The last one she had a puss pocket that had a tablespoon worth of puss or more come out. As you can imagine she is upset because she does not have pierced ears. But I am going to wait until she is 13 to try it again.
I don't know if it is the dirty hands, or what. But I almost look at it like my girls are allergic to it. I even tried different type of earrings.
Good luck
Bev

She may be allergic to the metal in the earrings she is wearing. when i was young i could not wear anything but gold earrings. have her try wearing gold earrings for a bit and see if that helps.

I waited until I was 16 to get mine done and it took two solid years to get them to heal completely!!! I fought with infection after infection and had my parents poke through holes that had partially grown closed more times than I care to count!

My advise: continue to clean them regularly - I used rubbing alcohol and be patient!!! It just might take her longer to heal than most!

Good luck!!!

My Nine year old has the same problem, I really do not know what to do about it. She got so bad that she had actually pushed the back of the earing through the hole in her ear. I took tea tree oil and some olive oil and it is looking better for the infection. I am begining to think she has a sensitivity to the type of metal that is in her ear.

I had this problem too and found that I am alergic to many metals so I have to wear hypo-alergenic jewelery. I also make sure that I soak the earrings in peroxide to clean before wearing.
I also had a time when my ears were first pierced that I wore regular earrings without problems but the itching started and then the infections so my doctor said that I was sensitive to nickel(I think that's the name of the metal) which is in most jewelry. I couldn't wear metal watchbands either and had to put clear nail polish on the clasp. Now Wal*Mart and other stores have very reasonably priced Hypo-alergenic jewelry and I'm free to bling again.
Good Luck and may you have a wonderful day!

B.,
Hi, I had this problem when I was little and it turns out I am allergic to nikel (spelling?) Anyway, I switched to sterling silver and gold earings and that solved the problem. If I wear cheap earings now, it does the same thing. Good luck.
K.

I use to have this problem and I had to change the type of jewelery. I wasnt able to wear anything fake it had to be sterling silver. so just keep cleaning and explain to her to not play with them if she wants them to keep looking good. Hopefully this helps.

Hi B.!

I don't know how much this will help, but I recommend going to a good piercing parlor, and getting some sea salt.
Last year after I had my first baby, I so badly wanted to go get my nose pierced. We headed off to a place called the Black Hole in NE Portland. What I learned that day, I will remember for the rest of my life...
First we talked about breastfeeding and the possiblities of getting an infection. After a lengthy conversation...I talked myself outta my nose peircing(personal reason for baby's health).
But we discussed regular ear peircing...Mostly about the difference between a parlor, and say "Clairs"(gun style). He explained that the only sterle part about the gun style is the earring it's self. The guns cannot be completly cleaned therefore carrie many diseases and germs. Jewlery store such as Clairs are huge chain stores, and they can carry insurance for such things, and they cover up lots of cases. Gun style is a very harsh way of peircing...after all look how big the post of the earring is. People who start with a smaller hole, have a better chance against infection, and they can work there way into larger holes later on when they are healed. A good parlor will peirce with a hoop, this making it easer to care for.
If you are in the Portland area, I recommend talking to someone at the Black Hole. The web site is www.blackholebodypiercing.com I think this would be a good place to start....
Good luck!

I think all little girls go through that I try rinsing them with salt water at night get a littel bit of epsome salt and put in about 1/2 cup of water and mix it reall weel and then take a q-tip and clean it just like you would anyother time

Hi B.. I'm a 52 year old mother of 2 (now adult "kids"). Anyway, I've had my ears pierced for many years and remember they used to get easily infected at first and even now can become irritated. What I've noticed is that they seemed to get infected/irritated when I were "post" earrings. I think the area of the earring kind of covers up the pierced hole, keeping it moist and ready for infecting microbs. Earrings that dangle, even just a bit allow the hole to be exposed to air and helps keep it dry and more resistant to microbs. This seems even more important when the piercing hole is relatively new (anything less than a year). Have your daughter try small "hoop" type earrings and make sure that the metal is at least surgical steel. Good luck. J.

don't use the cleaner they give you, use rubbing alcohol. that made a big difference when i had mine done.

She might be allergic to the posts. My daughter couldn't even wear anything that wasn't a 14 carat post at first. If she slept with her earrings in and the posts were anything but gold she'd get raging infections. Stick with the gold posts for a while and see if that makes a difference.

She may have an allergie to the earrings. you should have the doctor check it out.

Echoing the sentiments of others with regard to the metal of the earring. 18K gold, not only for the posts, but the backs as well. Take them out every evening before going to bed and wash her ears and her jewelry. She may have eczema, not an infection or allergy. Take her to the doctor to verify what you are seeing and to get the correct medication. Not all people can tolerate piercings. That's why they created stick-on (adhesive) jewelry for little girls and have clip-on earrings for us big girls. I hope things work out well for all of you.

My daughter at 6 years old had her ears pierced a second time. She was at her fathers and went to a sleep over. She ended up with a swollen ear, and half her face. It was bright red. The thing was, the ear was swollen before she went. Her dad took her to the doctor's and it ended up cellulitis. A terrible condition. She nearly ended up in the hospital. (Of course I learned about this after ever thing was back to normal.)

So you really need to keep cleaning her ears until they heal. She might be allergic to the metal in the stud. I can only wear silver--not gold or stainless steel. Make sure that you turn them every day--not your daughter.

Hi B.,

That happened to me as a small child. Turns out, I could wear nothing but 14k gold (@ a minimum). Over the years with some perseverance, I could finally wear other metals.

Michelle

I am 26 years old and my ears get infected every time I wear earrings (and sometimes when I'm not wearing any!). My 3 year old daughter has her ears pierced and every once in a while hers will start to get infected too. I just take them out, clean her ears with a washcloth and then dip her earring in a tube of neosporin, and get A LOT of it on the earring. Every time I change them I do this as well. She usually does fine for several days when we do this. Hope this helps! ~R.