Ear piercing

[tss]

I last got my ears pierced about 5 years ago. I got a 2nd hole done in my ear lobes on Saturday, I thought it would hurt but it really didn't.. The woman said it would be sore the first night and if it was sore a few days later I should put neosporn on them.. My ears have been sore Today and what I've read said do NOT put petro based stuff on them because it will clog up the holes.. Is the soreness normal? If not what should I do?

Sorry, I know this isn't a medical site or anything but 90% of you are women.

I'll try to get a picture of one of my ears to post... Not because it is swollen or anything, just so you can see my 2 holed ears.

[tako]

Some soreness for a few days is pretty normal. If it's a noticeable consistant pain/soreness or you notice the area around the piercing getting stiffer than it usually is then you have a reason to be "worried". The stiffness is generally an early sign of swelling, which, after a couple days is usually the beginnings of infection swelling, vs an immediate reaction by your body to the puncture wound it just received.

I always, regardless of swelling, soreness, or anything else, make use of the following treatment with a new piercing for at least a week and usually two to three:

Hot sea salt water. Sounds weird, but it really works. Take a small cup (like the little plastic cups that come with cough medicine, or a shot glass or something similar in size) fill it with hot water add a generous pinch of sea salt and stir it in well. Then, as awkward as it will be, hold the cup up to your ear and soak the new piercing in it. Soak the ear until the water starts to cool off noticeably, at least 5-10 minutes. After soaking, be sure to rinse the ear and piercing well the salt, if left on your ear WILL dry it out. (It's easy to do it right before a shower because then you can be really sure that your ear is really well rinsed XD) You can rub a little bit of Olive Oil on your lobe if you notice the salt drying out your skin over a period of time, you want to be careful with lotion because getting that in the piercing can cause more problems.

Sea Salt will stop any bacterial growth that may be going on and promotes healing. I've used it on almost all of my piercings and also, since I stretch the piercings in my lower lobes, they get angry and inflamed sometimes when I move up a gauge size, this has always worked wonders for me.

If you find that actually soaking your ear in the glass is too tricky you can always apply it to your ears using multiple cotton balls thoroughly soaked in the salt water.

Doing this once or twice a day at most is plenty, too often and you will be over drying the piercing and do more harm than good.

You really do want to be using sea salt, any other kind of salt is over processed and not the same thing (and won't have the same benefits), or contains other chemicals that will cause over drying.