Earlobe Infections Help for a Piercing Problem
EARLOBE INFECTIONS Help for a Piercing Problem
Your daughter has been lobbying hard for earrings. After all, she is the only one of her friends whose ears are not adorned with door knockers, shoulder dusters or hoops large enough to do the hula in. You wince at the idea of dangling so much metal from her ears--and what about the possibility of infection?
Fashion statements aside, earlobe infections do happen from time to time. '' Whenever you insert an earring into the ear, you are inviting bacteria that live on the skin to hitch a ride on the earring and cause an infection within the earlobe,'' says Sam Solis, M.D., chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Children's Hospital in New Orleans, assistant professor of pediatrics at Tulane University School of Medicine and a pediatrician in Metairie, Louisiana. ''If the skin around the earring is red, swollen, scabbed, crusty or oozing, you've got an infection there,'' says Dr. Solis.
The first way to avoid infection is to have ears pierced by the right person in the right way. Find a dermatologist who pierces ears with an ear-piercing ''gun,'' a device that pierces the earlobe with a sterilized earring, suggests Alvin L. Adler, M.D., a dermatologist and attending physician and clinical instructor in dermatology at the New York Hospital--Cornell Medical Center and Beth Israel Medical Center, both in New York City. ''Because a physician uses sterile equipment and techniques, the risk of infection is reduced,'' says Dr. Adler.
After that, here's what experts recommend to prevent infection or to nip it in the bud.
Keep ears clean. Treat newly pierced ears to a hydrogen peroxide wash twice a day, and follow up with an application of antibiotic ointment. Keep up this regimen for the first two to three days after piercing, then keep the area clean with plain soap and water, says Dr. Adler.
Go for the gold. Have your child wear earrings made of a pure metal such as silver or gold, says Katherine Karlsrud, M.D., a clinical instructor in pediatrics at Cornell University Medical College in Ithaca, New York, and a pediatrician in New York City. ''Many people are sensitive to nickel, which is a metal commonly found in inexpensive earrings,'' says Dr. Karlsrud. The allergic reaction to that metal may lead to an infection.
| |
| When to See the Doctor ''If an earlobe infection does not go away on its own after a few days, you should definitely see your doctor,'' says Katherine Karlsrud, M.D., a clinical instructor in pediatrics at Cornell University Medical College in Ithaca, New York, and a pediatrician in New York City. It is unlikely that an earlobe infection will develop into something serious, but if an infection is ignored, it can turn into cellulitis, a creeping infection underneath the skin. Cellulitis starts with a little bit of redness just where the earring is inserted. After that, it can spread over the entire earlobe, up the scalp, behind the neck and into the ear canal, according to Dr. Karlsrud. Cellulitis needs to be treated with antibiotics. |
Dr. Adler suggests that 24-karat gold earrings are worth the money when it comes to infection protection. ''Tenor 14-carat gold contains a certain amount of nickel, but 24-carat is the purest you can find in jewelry,'' he says.
Remove 'em. Remove the earrings at the first sign of infection. Your child may want to keep them in, but it's not a good practice. ''The body has a real hard time fighting off an ear infection while the earring is in place,'' says Dr. Solis. ''Take out the earrings, keep the area clean with soap and water, and the redness and swelling should go down by itself within a few days.''
Get tougher. ''At the first sign of infection, go back to applying hydrogen peroxide followed by antibiotic ointment twice daily,'' says Dr. Adler.
