I've been reading all the responses to the tragus piercing. I got mine done about a month ago. I was told by the piercer to clean it about 3 times a day with orange Listerine. He never told me to cease the cleaning, so I've kept it up ever since.
I read that you should wean yourself off it. I plan to do that now that I know.
I have recently, within the past couple of days, developed a smaller lump above the outside and a huge lump on the inside.
I'm not sure if that is normal. Probably from overcleaning? I don't sleep on that side nor do I talk on the phone on that side. The one thing I can think of is using my ipod ear bud. That is probably really irritating it, right? I will stop putting the bud inside my left ear.
Is it normal to have 2 bumps? The one on the inside is just so big that it worries me. I don't want an infection or anything, if I just leave it alone do you suppose it will go down?
Thanks
Please read your original thread... have you been cleaning your tragus piercing with "LISTERINE"?
If so, PLEASE STOP. Listerine is a mouthwash and we use the original flavour one for all oral piercings. Never is it to be used for anything else.
Your piercing is over 2 weeks old and you are in fact overcleaning and irritating the piercing. Stop doing anything to it and leave it alone. Let the body heal itself.
The bump is not an infection, its an irritation from all the abuse you are doing to the piercing.
Thank you. Do you recommend I totally cease all cleaning and not buy a new product? How long do the bumps generally take to go down?
We do not want you to clean, move or touch your piercing anymore. Just let the body heal itself.
You will notice some crusties forming and when this happens, take a warm water compress (or after your morning shower) then take a Q-tip and remove the softened crusties. Other than this, just do NOT do anything to them.
How long it will take will depend on just how much you irritated the tissues around the piercing. If you had them for a month, it will take about that long for the bump to completely disappear.
