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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Lump Along With Redness At The Point Of Piercing On Earlobe?

Hello. So last year around May I pierced my own earlobes. Barely any pain, super quick & easy. A few days they started to get red and crusty, but I dealt with it because I really wanted the piercing. I figure now that they were infected. After a while I took them out because they just looked gross. The left one healed over great, no issue. The right one however, started to form a little ball, pimple looking thing on the front of the earlobe. I had a friend that had gotten one on her tragus piecing, & she told me it was a keloid . I did a lot of research and also discovered the term hypertropic scarring. I'm not sure which one it is. It continued to get larger , and it just looked like a white ish mole. Then one started to form on the back of the earlobe, but got much larger much quicker. Recently I've been putting tea tree oil on them twice a day, and it has been shrinking them. Last night there was white wax looking stuff that was coming out of the back bump. I went to a mirror and and was messing with it , and managed to pull it out. It was a white oval shaped ball of substance, I put it in the bathtub and tried to pop it with tweezers, and it just squished down, like play-doh. I looked at the back of my ear , and it looked sort of like a crater because there was still skin that had been surrounding the ball. I soaked it in warm water , and went to sleep. ( FYI the bump has never hurt, it has never been painful at all. ) This morning I woke up, and looked at the back of my ear, and it looks as if it healed over , there is a small scab. It's a lot smaller . Meanwhile the front bumb looks like it always has, still shrinking. I'm going to keep putting tea tree oil on the front bump, and I'm going to soak the back one in warm sea salt water , once or twice a day. I don't really know what else to do. Help ??
Tue, 8 Dec 2015
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Dentist 's  Response
Hi..
Welcome to HEALTHCARE MAGIC..

I have gone through your query and can understand your concern..

As per your complain a lump over the earlobe that discharges a white substance does not look like a keloid or a scar but it seems to me to be like a abscess filled with pus and it can be either due to infection or allergic reaction with the metal present in the earring in case if you are not wearing gold or plastic earrings..
You should gently remove the earrings from the ear and clean the area with an antiseptic solution like Betadine..
Put gentle pressure and try to remove pus as much as possible..
You can apply a combination of triple antibiotic ointment and steroid ointment over it..
Do it atleast twice a day..
Once the healing takes place you can wear either gold or plastic earrings as they do not cause allergic reaction to skin whch can further lead to infection..

Hope this information helps..

Thanks and regards.
Dr.Honey Nandwani Arora..
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What Causes Lump Along With Redness At The Point Of Piercing On Earlobe?

Hi.. Welcome to HEALTHCARE MAGIC.. I have gone through your query and can understand your concern.. As per your complain a lump over the earlobe that discharges a white substance does not look like a keloid or a scar but it seems to me to be like a abscess filled with pus and it can be either due to infection or allergic reaction with the metal present in the earring in case if you are not wearing gold or plastic earrings.. You should gently remove the earrings from the ear and clean the area with an antiseptic solution like Betadine.. Put gentle pressure and try to remove pus as much as possible.. You can apply a combination of triple antibiotic ointment and steroid ointment over it.. Do it atleast twice a day.. Once the healing takes place you can wear either gold or plastic earrings as they do not cause allergic reaction to skin whch can further lead to infection.. Hope this information helps.. Thanks and regards. Dr.Honey Nandwani Arora..