Ear Piercing
Everything You Need to Know About the Most Popular Ear Piercing
Earlobe piercings are by far the most popular and common piercing in the world, and are one of the oldest recorded forms of body modification - cool right?
Typically, earlobe piercings are the first piercing you might get for a number of reasons, the main ones being their minimal pain scale and smooth healing process!
Pain index of earlobe piercings:
As far as ear piercings go, the ear lobes are by far on the lighter side when it comes to the pain scale. As there is no cartilage in the ear lobes, the pain is mild with a fast-healing time (around 1-2 months!).
You should be able to tell when your ear lobe piercing is fully healed when there is no redness, discharge or crustiness, and the tissue feels normal and painless to touch.
How to know your earlobe piercing is healing normally:
There are a handful of things that should happen when your earlobe piercing is healing. So, if any of the following things happen, try not to worry as they’re all completely normal parts of the healing process.
- Redness and inflammation are relatively common with any new piercings. A swollen earlobe piercing should occur around 24-48 hours post-piercing. Light bleeding may occur in the first 24 hours, along with some mild bruising, but this is nothing to worry about.
- Tenderness, itching and discomfort in the area of the new piercing.
- A pale white/yellow fluid is to be expected and will dry crusty. You can and should gently remove this crust during your cleaning routine.
It is important to note that the healing process of piercings can fluctuate - and so whilst they can appear healed, they may then regress before healing again. This could be due to a number of factors including catching/knocking the piercing, stress, diet, and hormones. The key is to ensure you maintain a regular cleaning routine throughout the healing of your new earlobe piercing.
Most importantly, it is vital that you leave the jewellery in at all times during the first 6 weeks. Piercing areas will shrink or close extremely quickly if the jewellery is removed - so if you are liking your new piercing and don’t want to end up having it re-pierced, ensure you do NOT remove the jewellery until the piercing is fully healed all the way through.
Needles or guns?
It is never advised to have your earlobes (or anything else!) pierced with a ‘gun’. A piercing gun is a spring-loaded device which uses blunt force trauma to force (often low quality) jewellery through the tissue. The force used often results in uneven or wonky piercings, excessive swelling, irritation, and infection, and therefore a potentially traumatising piercing experience.
Furthermore, due to their material and engineering, piercing guns cannot be fully sterilised, so can be breeding grounds for bacteria and blood-borne pathogens.
On the other hand, specially designed piercing needles are super sharp and hollow, which means that it creates a clean space through the ear lobe with minimal pain. The space is immediately filled with sterile jewellery of an appropriate size, made from high quality materials (such as medical grade titanium).
The nature of needle piercings means that they take place in a much more accurate and controlled way, with much less trauma to the tissue, resulting in faster healing times (compared to guns) and a much more pleasant piercing experience for everyone involved.
How to care for your new earlobe piercing
Luckily, earlobe piercings are a relatively easy area to look after once you’ve had it pierced (assuming you are being consistent with your aftercare routine). It is important to care for them as best you can for a smooth and quick healing process.
Let’s start with the most important things to remember:
As with any new piercing, keep it free from dirty hands, hair and telephones.
The ONLY time you should touch your new piercing is when you are cleaning it, and when you are you will need to do so with clean hands.
Here are some more top tips on how to care for your new earlobe piercing:
- Always make sure you wash your hands before touching your earlobe piercing area.
- Wash the piercing area regularly with fresh, warm salt water.
- Gently rotate / twist the jewellery during your cleaning routine.
- Leave your earrings in your ears for a minimum of six weeks - new piercing areas will close up extremely quickly once the jewellery is removed. Trying to put the jewellery back in will cause serious discomfort, and you may not even be able to.
You can see our full aftercare instructions here.
How to know if you have an earlobe piercing infection
If your new earlobe piercing is bothering you, don’t panic.
Ear lobe piercings shouldn’t typically cause any serious discomfort. So, if you feel your piercing start to cause major irritation, swelling and aching, it may be a sign of infection. Taking swift action on infections and allergic reactions is important to take care of the issue and limit any further irritation. Signs of an infection include green or yellow coloured discharge with a strong odour (not to be confused with the pale yellow discharge which is normal for healing piercings); the pierced area may feel hot to the touch and you may develop a fever and swollen glands. There are a few things you can try to do to reverse or stop your earlobe piercing infection from progressing, such as:
1. Washing your hands before touching the affected area before cleaning.
2. Applying a warm salt-water compress to the earlobe area.
If you think your ear lobe piercing may be infected, come in and see our team at Paradox / Metal Fatigue or contact your GP if you are unable to visit us.
The cost of an earlobe piercing
Earlobe piercings are a straightforward and easy piercing, both to have and to do (by a professional body piercer, not yourself!). The price of an earlobe piercing may vary depending on your chosen jewellery, and whether or not you’re daring enough to have multiple lobe piercings at once.
Typically, an earlobe piercing at Metal Fatigue with a standard Titanium Micro Barbell or 1.2mm Ball Closure Ring (BCR) will set you back £15 for a single, or £25 for a pair.
What type of ear piercing jewellery can I wear?
With any new piercing you should avoid changing the jewellery until your piercing is fully healed. It may be tempting and exciting to fit that shiny new jewellery in your earlobe, but risking potential irritation, infection and subsequent healing setbacks isn’t worth it, so please be patient!
There are a number of different types of jewellery piercings you can choose from for your new earlobe piercing:
- Studs (Barbells)
- Labret studs (flat-backs)
- Ball closure rings
- Drop earrings
- Circular barbells (horseshoes)
- Body spirals
Once your earlobes are fully healed, the fun begins! Experiment with different earring styles from simple studs to statement pieces - no matter your style, there are plenty of options for you to choose from.
Here's our top favourites!
Lastly, earlobe piercings are relatively easy to stretch; if that's something that interests you, a whole new world of possibilities for jewellery has just opened up. If you would like to learn more about stretching your ears, feel free to contact us for more info.
If you have any questions about getting a new earlobe piercing, or if you’ve already had it done – don’t hesitate to get in touch with our professional piercing team today.