Growth On Tragus Piercing

My skin has grown over the backing of my tragus piercing.?

I reached behind my ear this morning to discover my skin had grown over the back of my stud for my tragus piercing. I pushed it through and it was very painful. should I go and get a hoop rather than this dreaded stud?

How do (I properly) clean my new Tragus Piercing?

You should have purchased some H2Ocean from the studio you went to, if not head back and buy some. You can spray it directly on the piercing or onto a q tip and use that to clean the piercings. i did this morning and night. Really only move the piercing after it has been soaked/cleaned so that the piercing is loose/lubricated.

Try not to move the piercing too much as this promotes skin growth and can cause keloids (gross).

If you get any crusties do not pick them off, spray them down with the H2Ocean and then work them off gently with a soaked q-tip.

I didn't get a lot of discharge with my Tragus but it did take awhile to heal completely, about 6-8 months, which is natural for such a thick piece of cartilage.

I got some uber soap from the piercer that was a light green color, he pumped it in a baggie for me because the bottle was super$$ because i was starting to grow extra skin around my industrial. the uber soap dried out the excess skin and i have a smooth piercing now, i also used it on my tragus when it would get hot and bothered.
This is something you might want to ask about?

Also, make sure you are washing your hands with Dial unscented hand soap or doing a wipe down with rubbing alcohol before putting you hands anywhere near your new piercing. cleaning with germie fingers defeats the purpose.

Itchy tragus piercing. Is it normal?

It's definitely normal! If it's not red, warm to the touch, there's no bump, no bleeding, and no pus, it's fine! Don't itch it though, that could cause an infection. I got my tragus pierced 4 months ago and it still itches occasionally. But don't worry, it gets much easier!(:

Can I clean a tragus and a rook piercing with alcohol?

No alcohol isn't good for your piercings! Use a mix of sea salt and hot water to clean your piercings twice a day, I do that for my tragus and rook and there is no bumps on either piercing. The mix will be good for the bump also if you soak a cotton wool ball in it and hold it to your piercing or submerge your ear into a bowl of it.

What ways can you cure a polyp that has formed on a tragus piercing?

None of the above, sister. If you've been able to get rid of it for a short time, that should tell you that something is irritating it in your daily routine. Usually, it's one of two things that gets an ear piercing worked up and a little angry:

1. Abuse: Stop touching it / keep it clean. Do you use the phone on that side of your head a lot? All phones are notoriously dirty and full of hair / face oil and just massage dirt into your piercing. Does it get pushed into your head from a firm pillow while you sleep? Are you changing your pillow cases more regularly than every 4 days? Are you tucking your hair behind your ear a lot? Do you listen to your ipod with ear phones? All of these things traffic the area and irritate the piercing until it's healed (and sometimes after).

2. The jewlery is not properly sized / shaped for your ear. Not everyone can wear a pretty little silver ring in their tragus. Perhaps you need a barbell, or a labret stud, or a horseshoe barbell. Perhaps the diameter of the ring is too large and it's pushing on the piercing.

The challenge with tragus piercings is that the front of the piercing is attached to the face, which moves A LOT. It's also more prone to being oily than say, your earlobe. It's alwo pretty close to where you apply makeup, so that could be getting in the piercing, as well. The back of the piercing is really hard to reach, and therefore really hard to keep properly clean.

In the end, this is what you need to do. Stay with a good cleaning regimine of keeping the ear clean with Dial Antibacterial soap in the shower every morning, being sure to keep it properly rinsed. Try not to touch your piercing, keep hair away from it (other than tucking) and keep it from touching phones. You might want to go visit your piercer and see if s/he suggests a jewelry change, as well. It's amazing what changing a ring will do in just a day or two.

Good luck -

Rob

I have a bump on my rook piercing?

Sea salt soaks. I thought you weren't supposed to use tea tree oil on such a fresh piercing (cartilage takes longer to heal, so 2 months is still a new piercing). Also, warm, dry compresses are awesome. I've had my rook, daith, tragus, 2 industrials, conch (both punched and pierced) and if they ever started to get hypertrophic scarring, the warm compresses worked best.

Taking a washcloth and getting is as hot as possible and then putting it in a ziploc bag with a paper tower wrapped around it has always helped me. Yes, it's kind of tedious, but I've seen fast results from this method. The heat helps. Actually, if you have a heating pad that would work too. I know it's in an odd location, so that's the trickiest part, but I used to do it before going to sleep so I could just sleep on it. Good luck. Also, if you don't have a curved barbell in it, you could consider going back to the shop and putting that jewelry in. It might help reduce the problem.

Also, the advice to swirl or move your jewelry is BAD. Do not touch the jewelry/piercing. Carefully do sea salt soaks or the (dry) warm compresses, but other than that, leave it alone. One more thing, the ocean is dirty. While sea salt soaks are good, the ocean is bad. It is a cesspool of filth and you do not want your new piercing to be aggravated from it. Same with pools. Stay out of them as the chlorine (and all the other people with their dirtiness) isn't good for it either.

Can I still wear my earplugs if i get my tragus pierced?

I would say yes, I have mine pierced and can still wear earplugs. At first when you get it pierced you might want to try to get that swimmers stuff that you can mold into your ear, that way it should mold around the earring but still block the water from getting in your ears. Make sure you don't reuse it on that ear though b/c of risk of infection and always use antiseptic gel on your piercing so as to prevent infection.