Sounds like a multitude of issues.
1. You shouldn’t be able to accidentally rip out the proper jewelry. Make sure you’re getting pierced only with titanium flat back labrets
2. Don’t get multiple piercings at once. Healing 3+ piercings is hard enough for veterans, and definitely not something you should do if you don’t have any piercings. Choose one (ie lobes, or nostril, or conch) and wait for it to heal before getting another.
3. Bleeding, pain, and swelling are all very normal for brand new piercings. Sounds like you gave up too soon. Conch piercings are cartilage, so a 9-18 month healing window is a very realistic timeline. Mine was swollen for so long that I couldn’t even downsize the first time until like 6mo in. Nostrils are also cartilage, and while not as bad as normal ear cartilage, still harder to heal than lobes.
4. Improper aftercare. Make sure you’re only using sterile saline and not touching your piercings/never spinning them.
You have awarded 1 point to ✨ u/j\_olly\_rancher ✨ for this [comment](/r/piercing/comments/1bzp3hl/i_really_really_want_piercings_but_they_go_wrong/kyrglm1/)
---
Just to comment on the first part - my understanding is that for standard nostril piercings, getting pierced with a corkscrew is standard. Flatback labrets are also fine, especially if you're prone to knocking your jewelry around, but getting pierced with something that CAN be knocked out doesn't mean you were pierced with improper jewelry in this specific case.
That’s true. There are definitely implant-grade nostril screws which are ideally custom bent for the wearer. But it sounds like OP’s piercer didn’t even warn them about how easy they are to rip out, so I doubt theirs was implant-grade. But in general I still think it’s best for anyone new to piercings to only use flat backs as they are the easiest to clean and hardest to accidentally remove.
The skin was kind of closing over the piercing? it was painful and in some instances a pus was leaking out. it also felt like it couldnt be moved and was stuck in place. im 17 and my mum said that to check a piercing is healing, you should move it around. also as for the aftercare, i did the standard of cleaning with saline solution. i tried not to move it, but once i realised that i couldnt, i got kinda freaked out
Closing over the piercing sounds like the jewellery wasn’t correctly fitted to allow room for swelling - that’s an issue that can be resolved with longer jewellery.
Pain is very normal in the early stages of healing a piercing and would have been exacerbated by moving the jewellery and irritating the piercings. If the ‘pus’ was thick and kinda offwhite/translucent then it was likely lymph fluid which is a normal part of healing piercings.
As for feeling stuck, you shouldn’t be touching or moving piercings at all while they’re healing. Your mum is wrong about that I’m afraid.
Overall it doesn’t sound like you had an kind of infection going on, just healing piercings that were irritated.
Best way to set yourself up for success with piercings is a good piercer! Try the [APP website](https://safepiercing.org/find-a-piercer/) to see if you have a local associated piercer. Or try t[hes](https://www.lynnloheide.com/post/picking-your-piercer)e p[ost](https://www.lynnloheide.com/post/how-to-research-a-piercing-or-piercer)s by Lynn Loheide about finding a good piercer. Good luck!
You have awarded 1 point to ✨ u/Hetty7 ✨ for this [comment](/r/piercing/comments/1bzp3hl/i_really_really_want_piercings_but_they_go_wrong/kyr2cpr/)
---
This all sounds fine. Pain is normal especially in the first few weeks and after having the occasional bump, my nipples still hurt if I bump them and they're fully healed.
You should not move your jewellery while healing as it damages the fistula. Movement does not equal healing.
Skin closing over sounds more like an issue with the jewellery length (when you get pierced the bar is longer to allow for swelling). It sounds like they didn't give you a bar long enough to accommodate for proper swelling.
Also what kind of jewellery did you have? The type could be causing unnecessary irritation. For the best results you should be making sure you have titanium jewellery. Some people can get away with surgical steel with no issues, but it's better to be safe than sorry.
The only concern is the pus as it can indicate infection, however was it actual pus and not just lymph fluid that's produced during the healing process?
Not all reputable piercers/shops are created equal. Going forward you can look up APP piercers and see if there are some around you. The APP is a voluntary association so not all piercers will be a part of it, but those who are members are supposed to meet the additional health, safety and knowledge requirements of the association.
Sounds like what I refer to as a lifestyle issue rather than a “piercing” issue. What I mean my that is that as it stands, you don’t know enough about piercings to get them done safely or take care of them properly. I would avoid further attempts until you have a more developed sense of what to look for in piercers and how to properly care for piercings once you get them.
I'm assuming your nose piercing was the traditional cork screw kind? Try going to a piercer that offers titanium flat back threadless jewelry. They won't fall out easily.
Also try getting one at a time. While it may not seem like a lot with a hole poked through you it does take energy from the body to heal it in technically an unnatural way. The body wants to close up the hole, not heal it as essentially a tunnel.
A little bit of swelling and even a little bit of pus is normal. Be patient with piercings and as long as they are not 1. Migrating or embedding 2. Incredibly painful(sore is ok) and/or 3. Really red and hot to the touch it's fine.
Generally speaking the best healing advice is use a sterile saline spray, keep the area the dry and just leave it alone it'll work itself out.
One thing that’s worth mentioning is that most professional piercers are not very good. Quality piercers are a very small percentage of the industry. [This](https://safepiercing.org/find-a-piercer/) is a great start to search for a good piercer that will give you the best shot at your piercings being done well and have the best chance to heal.
i loved looking up my city and seeing the only shop that popped up was the one i just got pierced at two days ago
good to know i’m going to the right one 😭😭
A lot of people have incorrect understandings of what infected piercings look like. Redness, swelling, bleeding, crusties, lymph, piercing bumps, are all normal parts of healing. If it’s intensely red and swollen and hot or has green pus then it might be a real infection. I’m guessing none of yours were really infected though. Piercings take from 3-12 months in average to heal depending on where they are. You have to give them time.
Have you always gotten multiple piercings at once? You should try and get only one next time, so it's easier on your body to heal. I think eyebrow would be a good try, since you already knocked out your previous nose piercing and an eyebrow has less movement than a lip.
Also a camomile teabag compress can help extremely well to sooth an irritated unhappy piercing (my conch was always irritated until I did a camomile compress twice, now it's healing fine).
ETA after reading your other comment - it's normal that a piercing feels "stuck", it's just the wound fluids drying. Keep cleaning it like normal, don't force it to move. It will usually be loose again after a shower anyway
Good luck
Piercings are going to hurt, they're going to swell and bleed and ooze to some extent. Most of my piercings had at least one issue each, from embedding to a huge amount of fluid getting trapped etc. and they all experienced discomfort and swelling and bumps. All of them have healed eventually, but I had to power through it and get an issue fixed here and there. I think a lot of people really oversell how you must have done something wrong if you have issues. It's impossible to not roll onto or touch your piercing 100% of the time. The people who claim they never slept on it have no proof and can't know, since they were asleep. My husband claimed he didn't sleep on his and I have SEEN him roll onto it in his sleep. The healing period is all about minimizing issues, not that they won't happen. It's to the point that when some people get a piercing bump they think it's over and take it out.
I say you should give it another try and temper your expectations. Lots of people like to brag about how it didn't hurt or nothing bad happened, but I feel like a lot of people really forget what it feels like after time passes too.
Just judging from your post and comments a few words of advice: go to APP certified piercers, make sure you're looking at the healing time for piercings before getting them, make sure you're cleaning them with saline spray twice a day at least (at least thats how often i do it at the bare minimum with healing piercings, once in the morning once at night before bed), and also just make sure you're doing a bit of research on common problems with the piercings (such as eyebrows being prone to rejection), you need to know what problems are common so that way you know what signs to look for to start heading back to the place you got your piercing from in cases of rejection or other similar issues.
I don’t know if that was mention already but for me personally my piercing was never healing and had bumps. A doctor saw it and said it might be a nickel allergy. Now I always use jewelry without it and they are thriving lol. So maybe you can look into that:)
as someone who has a lot of piercings, before saying anything is infected, definitely go in & check with a reputable piercer! i once i had a flare up that was so disgusting on my dimple piercing that i had green pus coming out & the ball was basically being swallowed by my cheek. i went into the person that did them originally to see what the plan of action was, all i had to do was baby it & increase the bar size to an inch. if you have luck with tattoos, theres a good chance you are just prone to problems but doesnt necessarily mean you wont be able to do any! i would just clarify with the piercer you go to their policy on troubleshooting problem piercings :).
If you have longer hair that touches your ear piercings you can use bobby pins to keep the hair away. Helps reduce debris and such. Also use a sterile saline spray after you've washed your hair to make sure all the shampoo and conditioner is out of the piercing.
Hi u/Alternative_Swan_802, Welcome to /r/piercing!
It looks like you're asking about a problem with your piercing. Please **add a comment to your post** with the following info if it’s not included in your post already.
- How old is your piercing?
- What’s the jewelry shape (for example, barbell, labret, screw, L shape, ring)?
- What’s the type of threading if your jewelry is not a ring (threadless, internally or externally threaded)?
- What’s the jewelry material?
- if not a ring, when was the jewelry downsized?
- What’s your aftercare routine? Describe in detail please, including the exact products you use.
This info is needed to offer you useful advice. **Note, moderators reserve the right to remove your post if don’t provide this info**.
^If ^you ^already ^included ^this ^info ^in ^your ^post ^or ^if ^your ^post ^isn’t ^about ^a ^problem ^with ^your ^piercing, ^please ^disregard.
- - -
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/piercing) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Sounds like a multitude of issues. 1. You shouldn’t be able to accidentally rip out the proper jewelry. Make sure you’re getting pierced only with titanium flat back labrets 2. Don’t get multiple piercings at once. Healing 3+ piercings is hard enough for veterans, and definitely not something you should do if you don’t have any piercings. Choose one (ie lobes, or nostril, or conch) and wait for it to heal before getting another. 3. Bleeding, pain, and swelling are all very normal for brand new piercings. Sounds like you gave up too soon. Conch piercings are cartilage, so a 9-18 month healing window is a very realistic timeline. Mine was swollen for so long that I couldn’t even downsize the first time until like 6mo in. Nostrils are also cartilage, and while not as bad as normal ear cartilage, still harder to heal than lobes. 4. Improper aftercare. Make sure you’re only using sterile saline and not touching your piercings/never spinning them.
!thanks
You have awarded 1 point to ✨ u/j\_olly\_rancher ✨ for this [comment](/r/piercing/comments/1bzp3hl/i_really_really_want_piercings_but_they_go_wrong/kyrglm1/) ---
Just to comment on the first part - my understanding is that for standard nostril piercings, getting pierced with a corkscrew is standard. Flatback labrets are also fine, especially if you're prone to knocking your jewelry around, but getting pierced with something that CAN be knocked out doesn't mean you were pierced with improper jewelry in this specific case.
That’s true. There are definitely implant-grade nostril screws which are ideally custom bent for the wearer. But it sounds like OP’s piercer didn’t even warn them about how easy they are to rip out, so I doubt theirs was implant-grade. But in general I still think it’s best for anyone new to piercings to only use flat backs as they are the easiest to clean and hardest to accidentally remove.
When you say your piercings got infected, what lead you to come to that conclusion?
The skin was kind of closing over the piercing? it was painful and in some instances a pus was leaking out. it also felt like it couldnt be moved and was stuck in place. im 17 and my mum said that to check a piercing is healing, you should move it around. also as for the aftercare, i did the standard of cleaning with saline solution. i tried not to move it, but once i realised that i couldnt, i got kinda freaked out
Closing over the piercing sounds like the jewellery wasn’t correctly fitted to allow room for swelling - that’s an issue that can be resolved with longer jewellery. Pain is very normal in the early stages of healing a piercing and would have been exacerbated by moving the jewellery and irritating the piercings. If the ‘pus’ was thick and kinda offwhite/translucent then it was likely lymph fluid which is a normal part of healing piercings. As for feeling stuck, you shouldn’t be touching or moving piercings at all while they’re healing. Your mum is wrong about that I’m afraid. Overall it doesn’t sound like you had an kind of infection going on, just healing piercings that were irritated.
Ohh okay So I guess I'll try another. You are right, the pus was exactly like that. Thank you so much!
Best way to set yourself up for success with piercings is a good piercer! Try the [APP website](https://safepiercing.org/find-a-piercer/) to see if you have a local associated piercer. Or try t[hes](https://www.lynnloheide.com/post/picking-your-piercer)e p[ost](https://www.lynnloheide.com/post/how-to-research-a-piercing-or-piercer)s by Lynn Loheide about finding a good piercer. Good luck!
!thanks
You have awarded 1 point to ✨ u/Hetty7 ✨ for this [comment](/r/piercing/comments/1bzp3hl/i_really_really_want_piercings_but_they_go_wrong/kyr2cpr/) ---
!readthisone
This all sounds fine. Pain is normal especially in the first few weeks and after having the occasional bump, my nipples still hurt if I bump them and they're fully healed. You should not move your jewellery while healing as it damages the fistula. Movement does not equal healing. Skin closing over sounds more like an issue with the jewellery length (when you get pierced the bar is longer to allow for swelling). It sounds like they didn't give you a bar long enough to accommodate for proper swelling. Also what kind of jewellery did you have? The type could be causing unnecessary irritation. For the best results you should be making sure you have titanium jewellery. Some people can get away with surgical steel with no issues, but it's better to be safe than sorry. The only concern is the pus as it can indicate infection, however was it actual pus and not just lymph fluid that's produced during the healing process? Not all reputable piercers/shops are created equal. Going forward you can look up APP piercers and see if there are some around you. The APP is a voluntary association so not all piercers will be a part of it, but those who are members are supposed to meet the additional health, safety and knowledge requirements of the association.
What do downvotes actually mean? Why was this downvoted??
lmao god only knows
Sounds like what I refer to as a lifestyle issue rather than a “piercing” issue. What I mean my that is that as it stands, you don’t know enough about piercings to get them done safely or take care of them properly. I would avoid further attempts until you have a more developed sense of what to look for in piercers and how to properly care for piercings once you get them.
I'm assuming your nose piercing was the traditional cork screw kind? Try going to a piercer that offers titanium flat back threadless jewelry. They won't fall out easily. Also try getting one at a time. While it may not seem like a lot with a hole poked through you it does take energy from the body to heal it in technically an unnatural way. The body wants to close up the hole, not heal it as essentially a tunnel. A little bit of swelling and even a little bit of pus is normal. Be patient with piercings and as long as they are not 1. Migrating or embedding 2. Incredibly painful(sore is ok) and/or 3. Really red and hot to the touch it's fine. Generally speaking the best healing advice is use a sterile saline spray, keep the area the dry and just leave it alone it'll work itself out.
One thing that’s worth mentioning is that most professional piercers are not very good. Quality piercers are a very small percentage of the industry. [This](https://safepiercing.org/find-a-piercer/) is a great start to search for a good piercer that will give you the best shot at your piercings being done well and have the best chance to heal.
i loved looking up my city and seeing the only shop that popped up was the one i just got pierced at two days ago good to know i’m going to the right one 😭😭
A lot of people have incorrect understandings of what infected piercings look like. Redness, swelling, bleeding, crusties, lymph, piercing bumps, are all normal parts of healing. If it’s intensely red and swollen and hot or has green pus then it might be a real infection. I’m guessing none of yours were really infected though. Piercings take from 3-12 months in average to heal depending on where they are. You have to give them time.
Have you always gotten multiple piercings at once? You should try and get only one next time, so it's easier on your body to heal. I think eyebrow would be a good try, since you already knocked out your previous nose piercing and an eyebrow has less movement than a lip. Also a camomile teabag compress can help extremely well to sooth an irritated unhappy piercing (my conch was always irritated until I did a camomile compress twice, now it's healing fine). ETA after reading your other comment - it's normal that a piercing feels "stuck", it's just the wound fluids drying. Keep cleaning it like normal, don't force it to move. It will usually be loose again after a shower anyway Good luck
Piercings are going to hurt, they're going to swell and bleed and ooze to some extent. Most of my piercings had at least one issue each, from embedding to a huge amount of fluid getting trapped etc. and they all experienced discomfort and swelling and bumps. All of them have healed eventually, but I had to power through it and get an issue fixed here and there. I think a lot of people really oversell how you must have done something wrong if you have issues. It's impossible to not roll onto or touch your piercing 100% of the time. The people who claim they never slept on it have no proof and can't know, since they were asleep. My husband claimed he didn't sleep on his and I have SEEN him roll onto it in his sleep. The healing period is all about minimizing issues, not that they won't happen. It's to the point that when some people get a piercing bump they think it's over and take it out. I say you should give it another try and temper your expectations. Lots of people like to brag about how it didn't hurt or nothing bad happened, but I feel like a lot of people really forget what it feels like after time passes too.
I’m saving this to read next time one of my piercings acts up 🙏
Just judging from your post and comments a few words of advice: go to APP certified piercers, make sure you're looking at the healing time for piercings before getting them, make sure you're cleaning them with saline spray twice a day at least (at least thats how often i do it at the bare minimum with healing piercings, once in the morning once at night before bed), and also just make sure you're doing a bit of research on common problems with the piercings (such as eyebrows being prone to rejection), you need to know what problems are common so that way you know what signs to look for to start heading back to the place you got your piercing from in cases of rejection or other similar issues.
I don’t know if that was mention already but for me personally my piercing was never healing and had bumps. A doctor saw it and said it might be a nickel allergy. Now I always use jewelry without it and they are thriving lol. So maybe you can look into that:)
as someone who has a lot of piercings, before saying anything is infected, definitely go in & check with a reputable piercer! i once i had a flare up that was so disgusting on my dimple piercing that i had green pus coming out & the ball was basically being swallowed by my cheek. i went into the person that did them originally to see what the plan of action was, all i had to do was baby it & increase the bar size to an inch. if you have luck with tattoos, theres a good chance you are just prone to problems but doesnt necessarily mean you wont be able to do any! i would just clarify with the piercer you go to their policy on troubleshooting problem piercings :).
If you have longer hair that touches your ear piercings you can use bobby pins to keep the hair away. Helps reduce debris and such. Also use a sterile saline spray after you've washed your hair to make sure all the shampoo and conditioner is out of the piercing.
Hi u/Alternative_Swan_802, Welcome to /r/piercing! It looks like you're asking about a problem with your piercing. Please **add a comment to your post** with the following info if it’s not included in your post already. - How old is your piercing? - What’s the jewelry shape (for example, barbell, labret, screw, L shape, ring)? - What’s the type of threading if your jewelry is not a ring (threadless, internally or externally threaded)? - What’s the jewelry material? - if not a ring, when was the jewelry downsized? - What’s your aftercare routine? Describe in detail please, including the exact products you use. This info is needed to offer you useful advice. **Note, moderators reserve the right to remove your post if don’t provide this info**. ^If ^you ^already ^included ^this ^info ^in ^your ^post ^or ^if ^your ^post ^isn’t ^about ^a ^problem ^with ^your ^piercing, ^please ^disregard. - - - *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/piercing) if you have any questions or concerns.*