I have had my eyebrow pierced for about 8-9 weeks. It's been doing fine, until now.
Today I discovered that there is a bump directly underneath the ring. It doesn't really feel very hard or anything. Also, the top piercing hole has started to bleed some. Is this normal?
I've tried to look through the other topics, but I can't really find anything because their's has been there for at least a year. But, I have read that you guys strongly advise that we do not touch it...does this include the cleaning of it? Because for the first 6 weeks I was cleaning mine 3 times a day, that's what the piercer told me to do, but for the past few weeks I've only been doing it once a day, as it's difficult to find time to do so with school and work.
Do you think I could have just bumped it in my sleep? I don't play with it..I rarely touch it..unless cleaning it.
Some advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Well, you are the cause of your problems. You have been overcleaning your piercing for about 7 weeks. Aftercare is only meant to kickstart the body in doing the healing. Anymore than that and you are irritating it; why the bump formed and probably why its bleeding. This could also be a sign of migration. the overcleaning it is breaking down the tissues in front of the piercing and you may notice that its shallower than before.
Bumped it in you sleep, may have happened as well. But the problem is just from overcleaning.
At this point, leave it alone. Do NOT move the ring or clean it at all. Just wash your face normally (as if the piercing was not there); being careful not to bump it.
You will notice that it may weep and become tender even red, this is normal as the body is expecting you to continue your pattern and its just doing its job of stopping the irritation. So it will take a few days for the body to stop this process.
If you notice crusties, put a warm cloth on the piercing for a few minutes until they are soften. Then take a Q-tip and remove them (trying not to move the ring). Then just leave it alone. If it looks dry or chapped, take another Q-tip and apply a water based moisturizer (we use St Ives) and rub into the tissues (not the piercing) until absorbed.
Keep in touch.
So apparently the person who did my piercing had no clue what they were talking about..he definitely said to keep moving it in and out, spinning it, while cleaning it, 3 times daily.
Now that I look at it I suppose it is probably starting to migrate...because it is a lot shallower than it was before.
Thanks for the advice...I'm definitely NOT going to clean touch it at all.
The piercer did not understand the principles of healing management and did not bother to learn. Most are just self taught and hear of about what other piercers use and without investigating; they just copy.
We are very sorry that you had to have such a negative experience.
Since we cannot see your piercing, it may not have begun to migrate. Hopefully with the cleaning stopped, you can save your piercing.
Just be careful and take notice of any shrinkage.
Good luck
I've left it alone completely since finding out about the overcleaning..the bump has gone down..now it's just slightly swollen below the ring.
however, there are LOTS of crustys and it's bleeding again, this time, the bottom hole.
Is this normal? Or am I freaking out over nothing?
Ok, sometimes, things get worse before they get better. This may be the case with you.
Please continue to follow our recommendations and leave it alone. Still remove the crusties if you have them.
You did not state just how much bleeding its doing. A little bit in the morning when you remove the crusties or just starts bleeding for no apparent reason. This is important so if you could let us know.
Otherwise, please be patient. It will get better.
The other day I woke up and like my left eyebrow was completely swollen up and red. In fact, the swelling was so bad that it was making it hard for my eye to open all the way.
so I removed the ring not knowing what else to do. Since it's been in for over 2 months it shouldn't close up, right? And if it doesn't would you reccomend putting in a barbell or something?
The swelling is down now, (a day later) and it's still quite bruised, but it doesn't hurt now or anything.
Your piercing is not completely heal for 1 full year so by removing the jewellery, the piercing may close. Because you had problems with the piercing, we are not sure just how your body will react to trying to insert another piece of jewellery into the eyebrow.
The longer you do not have any jewellery in the piercing, the chance of the piercing closing increases.
Because we cannot see the piercing and you seem to wake up with the additional swelling, we believe the problem is happening to you when you are sleeping and you may move around enough that you could be bruising your piercing. Is the eyebrow eye area looking like you have a black eye?
What products were you using to clean the piercing? What colour is the puss crusties that you have had? Was your piercing hot to the touch at some point?
The more you can tell us the better we can understand what happened to your piercing.
that first day that it was swollen it did look like I had a black eye...now it's just a small bruise where the piercing is. As far as the crusties and stuff goes, it was yellowish..it never smelled bad or anything so I didn't think it was an infection, and it wasn't hot to the touch.
But when I went to a friends' who had piercings they said it looked infected and they'd remove it immediately so that's what I did. But, I really don't want to lose the piercing..but I don't want to jack up my brow either.
You may have an infection, since you have yellowish puss. But removal of the ring was not a good idea because the ring acts as drainage for the puss to be expelled by the body. By removing the ring, the piercing closes and this can lead to a cyst.
Our advice is to seek medical treatment. There is already a good chance the you have lost the piercing because it is still young and when you remove jewellery when there is a problem, the body closes the piercing up very quickly.
To fully heal any piercing, it takes a year. Anything less and you can lose the piercing. We do not recommend you shoving something into the piercing as this can damage more tissues.
Keep in touch.
