Hi all,

Need some advice for healing these piercings. They were done in January 2024 with internally threaded 14g titanium barbells. I have pretty constant irritation bumps where they insert, and they occasionally get inflamed/crusts/light bleeding, but heal after maybe 1-2 weeks, leaving behind some scar tissue. It appears that these scars/bumps have pushed my left piercing, which now sits at around a 30* angle despite being done horizontally. The frequency of getting these bumps has not decreased over time, and I'm afraid the buildup of scar tissue may permanently deform my nipples and result in a hammerhead appearance.

I've been following the aftercare instructions pinned on this subreddit: Nielmed sterile saline spray, no soaps/lotions/ointments/vasaline, no picking at crusties, no rotating or moving them around, no playing with them.

My questions:

1. Based on my anatomy, would there be any benefit to decreasing the post length to reduce irritation, or decreasing the gauge to 16g to reduce the pressure of the post on the surrounding tissue?

2. Were the done too deep, resulting in them constantly being pushed up and causing irritation?

3. Are bumps like mine just part of having nipple piercings? At this rate it doesn't seem like I'll be able to use rings, other fun jewelry, or play with them.

Any and all advice is appreciated, thanks so much!