Advice needed?

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by raptorjesus » Sat Nov 26, 2011 2:51 am

Grettings all.

So, I've been stretching very slowly for about year and a few months now (I was actually just chilling with a 2mm plug and then kind of picked it up again around March this year). I'm currently on 6mm's.

The problem is as follows. When I transitioned from 5 to 6mm, my ear became really itchy a few days after the stretch. Small red patches also appeared and pus (or another yellow, slightly sticky liquid came out) came out from then if I scratched them. At the start I wasn't really bothered since I thought that maybe my ear was slightly infected and so I cleaned it very thoroughly. However, this didn't help and to make it worse, those red patches became quite dry once they took hold (disgusting, isn't it?!?) and so I kept applying Jojoba oil as needed (I tried doing it at least once a day and let it sit all the way through the morning when I would wash it off in the shower). My ear seemed to be getting better but it was still a bit itchy (even though I resisted) and at one point, it seemed like this god awful thing had passed but unfortunately it hadn't. Even though I kept this regime up (I also done at least one sea salt soak a day), the ear turned bad again and I started scratching it and ended up getting it the worst its been. Now everything around the stretch was red and leaking the yellow liquid. Even so, I avoided scratching and kept applying Jojoba and cleaning daily. This is about 2 weeks after the initial problem arose. At this point, I'm really annoyed and worried but since I had used Acrylic taper, I was guessing that it was its fault so I ordered a metal concave taper which came (BTW, this was the first time I had tried a concave taper and they're so much better that I'm not going back to traditional tapers ever again) a few days after. Once it arrived, I went ahead and thoroughly cleaned my ear and it didn't have a huge impact straightaway but slowly, it began getting better. About a week later, it was nearly cleaned up (I was applying Jojoba and cleaning daily) when once again, it became bad but this time it was very minor and I avoided scratching it. Well, just now I decided to downsize to a 5mm since it's one of my last cards. So, what should I do now? I know I must wait but maybe there's something extra I can do.

A few side notes/questions:

1) My "thorough" cleaning regime is quite simple. I boil a cup of water and add sea salt (I used to add just enough for it to cover the entire cup bottom but now I'm gonna do 1/4 teaspoon per cup due to people saying this is better) and at the same time, I take out my plug, grab my taper and the o-ring and throw it in a pot which is filled with enough water to submerge everything. Then I boil this bad boy for about 5 minutes (until its definitely boiling) and then without letting anything touch the plug, taper and o-ring, I stick them back into my ear (I use a taper when doing this because I find that it makes the plug go in without any problems). Throughout this process, I wash my hands regularly with satin soap that I got specifically for piercings/tattoos. So as you can see, I'm very careful.

2) Is there any better way to sterilize metal at home than boiling it? I've been using this method for years and I can't seem to find anything more solid (apart from an autoclave obviously).

Can't think of anything else for now so I'll leave it.

Thanks in advance
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by professorkittens11 » Sat Jun 23, 2012 4:09 pm

Use a salt water saline and/or anti-bacterial hand soap to clean it everyday. Massage it with jojoba oil, coconut oil or olive oil a couple times a day until your ear is red (makes you blood circulate better). If massaging and cleaning it doesn't help I would down size drastically and then start over. You probably had a blowout or lost elasticity in your ear and ripped it or something.
Hey, I'm Caitlyn.

I have Angel piercings 3/4 almost 7/8 plugs and I'm hoping to get my septum pierced! C:
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by CliftonGK1 » Sat Jun 23, 2012 4:24 pm

For your question regarding sterilization of metals w/o boiling:

While it's not full sterilization, isopropyl alcohol is one of the most widely available and potent microbicidals you can safely use on metals. Ammonia, peroxide, and chlorine based antibacterials can react with the metal. Isopropyl is safe to use with stainless and titanium and is more effective than ethyl and methyl alcohols, having higher sporicidal activity than either.
Optimally you want to use a 70 - 80% solution and soak your jewelry for 5 minutes.
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by mouse2cat » Mon Jun 25, 2012 10:45 pm

The itching makes it sound like an allergic reaction. You need to try a different oil and see if that helps.
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