Get Rid of an Infected Piercing
A lot of people struggle with infected piercings and don't really know what to do. This article is mainly for oral piercings (lip, tongue, etc), but you can still read up and get new ideas.
Steps
- Look at your piercing. Is it red, extremely swollen, or thick yellow or green pus oozing from it? If so, it's infected. Please note that in the normal healing process of a piercing it will be somewhat crusty, and it will ooze white pus, but it will not be thick.
- If it has any of the symptoms above, you should never take a piercing out as it can lead to further complications.
- You need to flush out any of the pus or bacteria you possibly can with a syringe and fresh cold water.
- To flush out your piercing, fill your syringe up by making sure the tip of it is fully submerged in water. Then, slowly pull the top part up. Your syringe is ready to go. You want to line the tip of the syringe correctly with the hole of your piercing. Now squirt the water through, it doesn't matter how fast or slow you do it to be honest. Just make sure water goes through your piercing.
- Spit the water out after it goes through the hole, it contains pus and bacteria that you don't want to ingest.
- After you've flushed your hole, swish a few teaspoons of sea salt and warm water OR non-alcohol mouthwash around your mouth. This is just to be careful and to remove any other bacteria and to help the healing process.
- Talk to your parents about the infection if you are under 18. Ask them to take you to the doctor so it can be looked at, it can be more dangerous than it sounds! The doctor might prescribe you an antibiotic that will kill the bacteria that caused the infection.
Tips
- Wash your hands before touching your infected piercing, so no more germs or bacteria get inside there.
- Suck on ice cubes or eat a few Popsicles to reduce swelling in your lip. Anything cold really will do the trick!
- Always use sea salt and warm water or a non-alcohol mouthwash to rinse your mouth with after you eat or drink; food particles can get lodged into the infection and make it worse so ALWAYS rinse!
Warnings
- Your piercing may close up over a short period of time, just remember to keep flushing the hole.
Things You'll Need
- Sea Salt
- Syringe
- Non-alcohol mouthwash
- Antibiotics
