I've had my labret for approximately 3-4 weeks. My aftercare consists of rinsing with listerine approximately 5-6 times day and saline solution soaks 3-4 times day. I clean it 1-2 times per day with antibacterial fragance free face soap.
I know that this cleaning may seem like too much per your aftercare instructions, however the discharge from my labret is plentiful and quick to develop. Sometimes the entire exterior of the piercing is covered in discharge within 30 minutes of cleaning. This develops into a yellow brown crust.
Today, while soaking the piercing with a cotton ball and saline solution, I drew blood from it. The exterior of the skin is pressed out like a volcano, and there is a bump in the middle now. In other words, there is internal tissue protruding slightly from the piercing. This is on the exterior of my chin. This worries me, I don't think the piercing is infected at this point and i know that this was probably caused by over-cleaning. However I don't want to stop cleaning and develop an infection.
Also, the stud on the inside has pressed into the back of the lip, a considerably thick layer of white skin has grown over it. I know it is normal to have some skin grow over, but this seems excessive, I'm afraid this might be keloid.
Please advise. Thank you.
What you fail to understand is that you have created the situation that you will develop an infection because of the overcleaning you are doing. You will breakdown the natural ecology of your skin and this will become a battleground for bacteria and an infection will develop.
PLEASE STOP DOING ALL THAT CLEANING TO YOUR PIERCING. IT IS NOT NECESSARY! Its also the reason the inside of the piercing is not doing well either.
Since your body has responded within 30 minutes of you doing the cleaning, this should have been a strong indication that you have been doing something wrong.
The more you clean, the more your body is trying to fight the irritation (the overcleaning), so the more you clean, the more the body is fighting it and you create the never-ending circle. In order for your body to start to heal itself, you need to leave it alone.
It will take a few days if not longer because of the amount of abuse you have caused the tissues.
What we recommend is that you just use warm water compress for a few minutes and then take a Q-tip and remove any crusties that have formed. You can do this 2 times a day. You will notice for a few days that the puss is increasing but it will start to subside because the body is trying to figure out what you are doing.
Please be patient and keep in touch with your progress.
