Hey guys.
I got my lip pierced on New Years Eve. (I'm not sure which sized gauge it is, but I think it may be a 14.)
When I had it pierced, for the first couple of days, I washed out my mouth with Listerine, and cleaned my lip twice a day. Now, lately, I've been a bit irresponsible and keep forgetting to clean my lip.
Today I woke up, and felt a strange feeling under my chin. I felt it and realised that my gland under my chin had swollen up*. I'm not too sure what to make of it, as the piercing itself feels fine, it's not sore or oozing puss.
Have I been playing cleaning with it too much?
Do I need to clean it more?
Would it be a good idea to go to the doctors straight away, or wait for a couple of days?
Also, just underneath the hole of the piercing on the inside of my mouth, there is a white blobby thing (Sorry it's not very scientific) I heard that it's collected lympth tissue and white blood cells and is harmless. Is this right? Should I remove it or leave it there?
I know I've asked alot of questions here, but I'd like to thank you in advance for taking the time out to read this and help me out. :)
*I have had this before when I caught impetaigo from an ex boyfriend. It went away within a week, and I was fine.
Thanks again.
If your glands are swollen, then please seek medical attention. There is no reason why these glands should swell up. If you have had this before and it went away, you may decide to see what happens, but we recommend seeking medical attention just to make sure.
Do not increase your cleaning as this will only irritate your piercing more. You have some type of bump inside the piercing and this can be caused from overplaying and overcleaning. Since you were really not cleaning too much, then we can assume that you are playing with the lip ring just too much.
Please stop cleaning or moving the ring. Leave it alone and allow your body to heal itself. The bump will start to dissipate as you stop irritating it. It could be lympth and white blood cells and if it is, then your body is trying to rid itself of the bacteria and again, we would recommend seeking medical attention.
Do not remove the ring as the ring is actually allowing for any trapped bacteria to exit the body, if you remove the jewellery you will effectively be closing it off and all the bacteria will get trapped inside. Not a good thing, as this can develop into a cyst and need surgery to remove.
Let us know what is going on.
Thanks for the reply.
Well, I asked my mum's friend, who's a nurse what I should do about the gland, and she said to bath it in hot water everyday for about 20 minutes to increase circulation around the gland. Which I did. The gland has more or less gone back to normal.
I stopped messing around with my lip ring, and the only time I ever touched it was to wash it in the shower. Since then, it's been healing nicely. The white blob thingy has gone now, and everything seems to be great.
If the swollen gland returns, I'll definitely go to the doctors straight away.
Thank you for the reply, and the advice. It's appreciated.
Very glad to read that your piercing is doing better and that the gland is normal again.
You also left the piercing alone and allowed the body to heal it.
Take care
