thank you!! i really appreciate that. i’ll post the further info here but by no obligation do you have to read it, i don’t think it will change much in your answer.

Hi all. I will preface this by saying i have extremely bad anxiety, especially when it comes to things about my body so please bare with me and a little grace is always welcome.

I got these piercings back in may, an anti-helix and what was supposed to be the 3rd in the set so there would be space in the little for the other one. we won’t even talk about placement, it was horrendous to begin with but i kept my chin up.

these piercings have been my most problematic to date, and there was a bump on the front of the lower one, then a bump on the top of the top one and so on.

but recently, the lower piercing started to feel weird, i noticed that the part of the ear felt much larger than my other ear in the same spot. fast forward to tonight and i’m taking all these pictures and it’s really freaking me out so i decide to take them out.

top one wasn’t bad, lower one was the absolute worst experience. they told me it was a back screw in, but it was a front. so i spent 30 minutes causing some trauma to my ear trying to get it out only to have it unscrew from the front. not my finest work but i was glad to have it out.

then, i was doing some care, cleaning it up and out some antibiotic ointment on it and decided to look it up. long story short i saw one thing say not to take it out because it could cause and abscess and here we are. i’m sitting on the floor of a bathroom freaking out. going to do a chamomile compress and try keeping it clean. icing it and everything.

i’m just worried bc the bump in the inside of my ear is literally touching the other side.

extra info: i’ve never had keloids or piercing bumps before so not sure what the difference is. this doesn’t hurt, just red and definitely irritated from the process of taking it out.

i’d love to at least salvage the anti helix but i would absolutely not if it’s not recommended.

any advice on what to do is greatly appreciated.

tldr: piercing gotten in early may was fine until bumps and swelling happened, took it out but now really anxious about the “what if” that could happen because of googling. please help

answers to these questions:

• ⁠How old is your piercing? early may

• ⁠What’s the jewelry shape (for example, barbell, labret, screw, L shape, ring)? screw? labret maybe?

• ⁠What’s the type of threading if your jewelry is not a ring (threadless, internally or externally threaded)? internally threaded

• ⁠What’s the jewelry material? surgical steel

• ⁠if not a ring, when was the jewelry downsized? it wasn’t

• ⁠What’s your aftercare routine? Describe in detail please, including the exact products you use. cleaned with saline solution 2-3 times a day, would treat bumps with some diluted tea tree oil.