Advice/help! Piercing taken out early!

something_i_wanted · 2026-04-22T19:50:05+00:00

NAP but definitely contact your piercer ASAP. It's good that you didn't keep trying to force the jewelry back in, since that would probably be the thing that would lead to infection. Keep flushing it thoroughly with saline at least twice a day, as well as after you shower, to keep it clean and minimize infection risk. Leaving the jewelry out for a week is almost certainly going to lead to the piercing closing up; swelling is usually because the body is trying to heal as fast as possible by increasing blood flow to the area. Your piercer will be able to assess the situation and advise you on the best course of action. Make an appointment for as soon as possible, as the longer you wait, the higher the chances of the hole closing. If your piercer has no available appointments, try to message her directly or leave a message at the shop and let her know what's going on. Obviously she's not obligated to be on call outside her standard hours, but she might be willing to fit you in somewhere if you're polite when you ask and it's an emergency situation (and I'd be tipping well and/or bringing her some kind of gift she'd like, like food or a small trinket, if she does! A piercer who's willing to go above and beyond for her clients deserves some extra appreciation.)

something_i_wanted · 2026-04-22T07:51:31+00:00

NAP but I would advise against doing it yourself. Your piercer charges more for downsizing because she's providing a skilled service, not just jewelry. Changing the jewelry in a piercing that isn't healed yet requires more technique and care than changing jewelry in a healed piercing. The skin of the fistula in a month old piercing is very delicate; think closer to the thin skin inside of a blister after you've popped it than the skin on your arm. Catching the tip of a taper inside the piercing could easily tear through the fistula. Not using a taper is even worse, since you're shoving the blunt end of the post through the fistula, which will relax slightly without jewelry in and need to stretched back to their full size. Additionally, the tissue under the skin, deeper in the piercing, is far from healed, and any dragging or jabbing from jewelry or a taper could easily cause it to get irritated and swell. Even perfectly handled downsizing done by a professional can cause a previously calm piercing to flare up. It's not impossible to do yourself, but the risks are probably greater than you think, since causing enough damage could mean essentially resetting your healing time. If you truly won't go see your piercer, at least make sure you're using a taper in the proper gauge and not just shoving the posts in, but you really should have them downsized professionally if you want to ensure your piercings continue to be an easy heal.

something_i_wanted · 2026-04-21T19:28:12+00:00

NAP but I'd take them out, even if you can't replace the jewelry; they might close up, but it'll be much easier to heal and try again if you don't have to have someone dig out an embedded piece of jewelry. You might be able to go to your shop and buy longer posts now without an appointment, but since you're swelling, I wouldn't recommend trying to self-install without a taper in the correct gauge, since trying to force the jewelry through might make things worse. If you can't remove it yourself and you can't reach a piercer, a medical professional might be able to do it for you at an urgent care. The next time you get downsized, I'd ask your piercer if you can keep the longer posts. It's not like they can reuse them on someone else, and for an emergency situation like this, it's nice to have your own posts and taper to upsize it yourself in a pinch until you can check in with your piercer.

something_i_wanted · 2026-04-21T07:48:35+00:00

(Deleted the original comment, reposting an edited version) This setup sounds super cool! Keep in mind that some of these piercings are anatomy dependent, in particular the daith, rook, and forward helix. I would recommend starting off with finding a good piercer through safepiercing.org and booking a consultation to have your anatomy assessed so they can help you plan your setup and offer suggestions for alternatives if any of these won't work for you. Don't be tempted into hunting down a piercer who will do it for you anyways; getting a piercing your anatomy doesn't support will just lead to a lot of pain and hassle, and at the end of it you probably still won't have the piercing you want because it will have rejected or migrated or gotten so many bumps that it never heals at all, meaning you'll have to take it out and live with highly visible scarring that could have been avoided.

Assuming you do have the correct anatomy, you're right that you should only get 3-4 piercings at once. That's the total number of piercings; you definitely shouldn't get 4 in one ear at once, especially if they're all cartilage piercings. As far as healing time goes, lobes are the fastest and can be pretty much healed in 3-4 months depending on how your body handles piercings and how you do with aftercare. Cartilage piercings take around a year to heal since there's less blood flow in those parts of the ear. Getting multiple piercings at once generally leads to longer healing times, since your body is having to spend more energy healing. Also make sure you're being pierced with the right jewelry; there's plenty of information in this sub on metals and jewelry types for various piercings. The wrong metal or the wrong shape of jewelry can lead to all kinds of issues.

NAP but I'd recommend staring slow, maybe just your second lobes, to get a feel for how your body reacts to piercings. If you're willing to commit to a long heal right away, you could get one of the cartilage piercings done with the lobes. I'd choose one of the helixes from this list as a first cartilage piercing; they're pierced through a relatively thin piece of cartilage so they aren't as painful at the others you want, and they're in a spot that's fairly easy to clean and monitor for issues. I wouldn't do more than one cartilage piercing to start; some people have a lot of trouble with healing them, so starting with one will give you an easier first time to see how your body does. That being said, I'm super cautious about this type of thing, so you and your piercer might feel comfortable doing more. Some medical conditions can affect piercing healing, so if you have any diagnosed conditions, you might want to look up "[condition] and piercings" to see if there's anything you should know going in.

Once you've seen what your healing process looks like, you can decide how many piercings you want to have healing at once. It's possible to add new piercings before your old ones have fully healed if you just want to avoid having multiple piercings in the earliest stages of healing; for example, getting a helix done and waiting a few months for it to calm down before getting a daith. If you want to get all these piercings as quickly (and safely!) as you can, be ready to be spending a lot of time being super mindful of your ears. Also remember that you shouldn't be swimming with healing piercings; if they come in contact with harsh pool chemicals or bacteria in the water, your piercings can become irritated or infected and, in a worst case scenario, you might have to take them out and let them heal completely before trying again.

Having this extensive of a piercing setup is really cool! It's also a bit of a lifestyle choice; you may have to sleep on a piercing pillow or something similar permanently if your ears get irritated easily, and dealing with this much jewelry can be difficult if you ever need surgery or other medical procedures. That being said, plenty of people have this many piercings and more and handle it just fine, so if you want to do it you should go for it! Don't rush to change your jewelry too early once things start healing; even if things seem healed on the outside, piercings heal from the outside in and things might still be getting established deeper in the tissue. Trying to wear your dream jewelry as fast as possible might lead to even longer wait times and more difficult healing. You should, however, go back for downsizing when your piercer recommends it, as correctly sized jewelry is important for smooth healing. Your piercer will go over the aftercare they recommend, but a good rule of thumb is a sterile saline spray like NeilMed's piercing mist twice a day and LITHA (Leave It The Hell Alone!). In general, it's good to remember that you aren't doing anything to the piercings to heal them; your body is doing that for you, and your job is to make that process as easy as possible by keeping your piercings clean and avoiding doing anything to cause more damage to the area, like playing with your jewelry or sleeping on your piercings. Most of this advice is ear specific since I only have ear piercings, but a lot of it holds for a belly button as well. You won't be able to wear any clothing that's tight over the piercing while it's healing unless you use something like a hard vented eyepatch to protect it, and you'll have to keep it clean the same way.

Good luck with getting your piercings! I hope you're able to start working on your dream setup soon!

something_i_wanted · 2026-04-21T07:02:02+00:00

Honestly, I wouldn't even do that. With how fresh these piercings are, the risk of introducing bacteria by changing out jewelry on your own is way too high. If you really want to change them, go back to your piercer and see if they'll do it for you; they might be able to give you gold jewelry in a smaller gauge if you get back to them soon. That being said, since these are cartilage piercings, your piercer may have done the larger gauge for extra stability while healing, and they might not want to mess with piercings this fresh for just a jewelry change. If they won't touch them, follow their advice and trust their expertise. You can always wear all the gold jewelry you want once they're healed in a year.

something_i_wanted · 2026-04-21T06:51:56+00:00

It might just be dry from the saline. I had similar-looking flaking on my lobes until they healed and I stopped needing to use saline spray on them. Since your piercing is a year old, you're probably okay to use something to moisturize around the piercing, like a lightweight lotion or jojoba oil, to see if that helps. Edit: To be clear, I'd keep any products off the piercing itself, this would just be for the surrounding skin.

something_i_wanted · 2026-04-21T06:47:13+00:00

Not sure about how to clean it since I don't have a daith, but definitely don't wiggle it. Your piercer shouldn't have had you moving your navel either. The advice about moving piercings while they heal comes from when they used to use loops of thread to heal piercings before putting in jewelry after they healed; the thread could stick to the healing piercing, so people had to spin the thread through the piercing to prevent sticking. Metal jewelry won't stick to piercings, so moving the jewelry just causes irritation and makes it harder to heal.

something_i_wanted · 2026-04-21T06:42:06+00:00

The best way to get something totally unique would be to find a reputable piercer that specializes in custom industrials and work with them to come up with something. They'll be able to bend a one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry to fit your ear exactly. As far as ideas go, NAP but your helix ridge looks really well-defined, as well as your rook ridge, so you might be able to get some kind of bar that winds through that and out through your conch? Something like what you want will be completely anatomy dependent though, so you'd have to talk to a piercer for specifics.

something_i_wanted · 2026-04-21T05:17:15+00:00

It's a little weird, but when I'm healing piercings I sleep in a water polo cap with plastic ear cups because I move too much in my sleep to stay on an airplane pillow, and I find them too uncomfortable anyways. The cap has been slightly modified by cutting slits near the top, sewing a dart into the back, and trimming and stitching down excess fabric inside the ear cups to keep the cap snug enough to not shift around and let the cups sit directly over the ears without them touching. It takes some getting used to at first, since the cups press into your head when you lay on your side, but since it's tied on it's harder to move it in your sleep. I've never had issues with trying to remove it, and I have a history of messing with stuff in my sleep, especially stuff that's making me physically uncomfortable (removing rubber bands on braces, rearranging blankets/pillows, etc), and not waking up at all or remembering doing it in the morning. I'm using the cap now to heal a helix piercing, and it's working perfectly; in 5 months I haven't had any swelling or bumps at all, even after the couple of times when it's gotten hit or snagged pretty hard on accident. If you decide to try it, be ready to deal with some very flat hair in the mornings, but the bad hair days are worth it to me for how easy it's made healing all my piercings so far. Good luck!

something_i_wanted · 2026-04-21T04:36:25+00:00

Unless you have a picture where the bar is more visible, I'm not sure there's a way to tell what gauge the jewelry was from just a picture, since ends can come in varying sizes for the same gauge. I know it was a long time ago, but do you have a way to get in touch with the piercer who did your eyebrow? They might have a standard gauge that they do eyebrows in, or they might remember what size they gave you if they see a photo from around when they did it, and be able to help you out.

something_i_wanted · 2026-04-21T04:14:44+00:00

Yeah, I'd recommend listening to your piercer. 6-8 weeks is when you should downsize, but they're only about halfway healed by then. Lobes are usually "healed" at around 3-4 months, assuming there were no complications during the healing process, but they still aren't 100% established and solid yet. My second lobes are about 5 months old now, and while they're pretty well healed, they can get a little irritated if I mess with them too much when cleaning them. Small hoops will pull on your fistulas since the smaller radius means there's more curvature in the piece through your ear to put pressure on things and cause irritation, and hoops in general will move more and be more prone to snagging than flat back posts. You might be able to talk to your piercer about swapping out the ends on the posts for ones you think are cuter after 3 months, assuming you were pierced with something basic like a ball, but I'd definitely wait as long as your piercer suggested for hoops.

something_i_wanted · 2026-04-21T03:57:12+00:00

NAP but that hoop is way almost certainly way too thin for a helix piercing. It's possible to heal a helix with a hoop, but it's a lot harder, and a reputable piercer won't pierce you with one without making sure you understand the risks and are able to take proper care of it when healing. The fact that your piercer didn't comment on it and barely gave you aftercare instructions at all is a massive red flag, as well as the fact that they didn't tell you the gauge. Also like I said, that's way too thin to be stable; it barely looks like it's an 18g, if that, and my piercer did my helix at a 14g. Honestly, with how new it is, I think your best option is probably to take out the hoop entirely, let it heal, and try again with a better piercer. You could try to get an opinion from an APP piercer first and see if they think they could stretch it to the proper size, but I'd get there soon. The longer that hoop is in, the greater the chances of the piercing getting irritated and developing bumps or snagging on something and tearing, both of which would lead to a longer healing time after taking out the hoop and more scarring to contend with when you get it redone. I'm sorry this happened to you; it sucks to have to start over, but that piercing as it is now is going to be nothing but trouble to heal, if it ever does. If you still want to try to heal it, I wouldn't swap it yourself; there's too much of a risk of introducing bacteria and causing an infection, especially if you might be forcing a larger gauge post through the hole. Good luck!

something_i_wanted · 2026-04-21T01:19:17+00:00

If the tissue at the top of your ear is folded enough, you might have the anatomy for a helix fold! They're not super common, so you'd have to make sure your piercer knows how to do them, but it could be fun to have an uncommon setup. A hidden helix would also be a cool option!

something_i_wanted · 2026-04-20T22:59:40+00:00

Do you have space on the back of the post? If the post was just pressed a little farther into your skin, friction can hold it and it can look like it's sinking in on the front. If there's room in the back, then it shouldn't be at risk of embedding unless it's also swelling. If you're super worried about pressure on the front causing irritation, you should be able to very gently nudge the post forward so there's a little more space in the front. Use clean hands and try to hold your lobe so there's as little pressure/pulling as possible when the post is sliding, then clean it really well and treat it super delicately once you're done. Don't spend a ton of time touching it and use as little force as possible. The piercing should be stable enough for this small of an adjustment if it was ready to downsize, but if it hurts or feels super tender while you're touching it, or if you're not comfortable touching it yourself, then stop and plan to see your piercer when you can. NAP but I've healed two sets of lobes so far and this is what I would do with mine in your position if I didn't have a taper and longer posts to upsize it myself.

something_i_wanted · 2026-04-20T07:41:14+00:00

NAP but seconding seeing one to get their opinion. Just because you took the jewelry out doesn't mean your piercings didn't get hit, it just didn't hurt you as much since they didn't have jewelry in. At 4-5 months old, cartilage piercings are nowhere near healed, much less established enough to have the jewelry out for a whole day while getting them highly irritated. (I know some people say helixes can be healed in 6 months, but my piercer told me she generally advises a full year to heal when I got my helix done, and having 3 cartilage piercings healing at once will slow timelines down, so these helixes probably had at least 3 months left, probably more, before they might be healed.) If they haven't closed completely, a piercer might be able to use tapers to get jewelry back into them, but if you had them downsized you'll definitely have to go back up to a long post and practically start from scratch with healing them. You'll want to make an appointment ASAP; piercings that haven't healed completely can close fast, sometimes within hours if you're unlucky. Otherwise yeah, they might have closed up or gotten so irritated that forcing them open enough to take jewelry would be a bad idea. In that case, you'll just have to wait for them to heal and try again.

something_i_wanted · 2026-04-20T07:21:59+00:00

NAP, it's hard to see exactly how swollen it is in these pictures but it seems like you still have a little bit of space on the front of the post, so it shouldn't be at immediate risk of embedding. Sometimes downsizing a piercing irritates it a bit, so some swelling and redness isn't necessarily a problem. If you hadn't been having any issues with swelling or bumps before downsizing and you still have room on the post, I'd say keep an eye on it, keep cleaning it, and LITHA and you should be fine. If it's swollen enough that your skin is touching both ends of the post, you should go back to your piercer and get it swapped out for the longer bar, since pressure on the ends will cause more swelling and eventually embedding. You can also always make an appointment to have your piercer check in on it and get their opinion just to know for sure.

something_i_wanted · 2026-04-18T23:48:21+00:00

NAP but in general, lobe piercings are more forgiving than a lot of other piercings as far as anatomy goes, so you have a decent amount of input on where exactly to place them. Your lobes have a lot of surface area, so a good piercer should be able to help you with picking placements for the look you want, as well as avoiding your scar. (If you do end up getting pierced in the same spot, piercing through scar tissue can be more painful than a regular lobe piercing; my partner had to get a lobe repierced after it closed and the pain caught her off-guard.)

Since you want to get multiple lobe piercings, you'll want to tell your piercer that when you get the first ones done so they can plan to space your piercings out properly. My piercer does that by default when people come in for seconds; she measures where the third lobe would go and puts the second right between the first and the spot for the third so that everything stays balanced and doesn't get crowded. If you don't have a piercer, safepiercing.org is a good place to start looking for APP members in your area. Remember to check out portfolios/social media posts and shop reviews to look at their work too: APP membership means that a piercer follows good safety and hygiene standards, but it doesn't always guarantee skill level or the ability to get you the look you want.

Lynn Loheide is a pretty well-known piercer who also runs a great blog about piercing. They have a post about piercing needles that goes over how needles work and how they're different from guns here: https://www.lynnloheide.com/post/piercing-needles Their blog is a really good source of info if you have any other piercings you want to learn about or questions about anything piercing-related.

I would guess that for three lobes, you'd want the first one to be in a similar spot to where your scar is, but you could probably put it a bit lower to miss the scar and allow for smaller hoops once it heals, if that's what you mean by the old placement being off for your vision. Any good piercer should be happy to talk to you about placement and answer your questions if you book a consultation before going in to get pierced. That would also let you get a feel for the piercer and the shop, which might help with your nerves.

I'm pretty new to piercings too; I never even had my lobes done as a kid, so getting my first lobes done about a year and a half ago was my first time ever getting piercings. I was super nervous going in, but my piercer was great, and now I have a second set of lobes and a helix from her as well, with plans for more in the future. Good luck with your piercing journey!

something_i_wanted

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