Recently Ive noticed a lot of customers coming in and claiming their piercing is infected, when really it is just irritated. I think its important that people understand the difference between the two, and let me tell you, there is a HUGE difference. Often a new piercing becomes irritated by the outside world. There are many things that can make a healing piercing angry that a lot of people don't think about or realize such as hair products, makeup, cleansers, perfumes, smoking, drug use, pet dander, pressure or rubbing from clothes, getting caught in hair, ect...All of these factors can cause your piercing to swell more or even become inflamed, but this does not mean your piercing is infected. This means it's up to you to find out what is making your piercing upset and correct it. When a piercing is irritated, it usually just needs a little TLC to get it back on track.
It's actually a lot harder to get a piercing infected then people think it is. Most of the time, your body does a great job of cleaning your piercings all on it's own. I would say 1 out of every 50 suspected infections are true infections. It does happen sometimes though, especially if you cant seem to stop playing with your fresh piercing with dirty fingers. An infected piercing will be very painful, swollen, hot to the touch and usually oozing a greenish/yellow puss or will sometimes just bleed. If you suspect an infection you should probably have a piercer take a look at it just to be sure, and NEVER take the jewelry out. When you remove the jewelry, you are removing the channel your body uses to drain the infection. Removing jewelry can cause the infection to become worse and possibly spread. If you piercing is infected it may require a trip to the doctor and some antibiotics, but you should keep the jewelry in place until the infection is cleared up. I'm posting some nasty pictures of infected piercings I found on the internet. Enjoy and have a great day everyone!
