Earring woes - help!

Pinklepurr

My DD, age 12 had her ear lobes pierced 9 months ago. We didn't try and change them for the first 10 weeks or so and when we did there were no problems. A new pair of earrings, silver plated, slipped in painlessly and easily.

She wore those for 24 hours and we then put her starter earrings back in (18ct gold plated) but changed the butterfly to 9ct gold ones which were easier to get on/off than the backs from the starter earrings.

Since then, she has left her starter earrings in but has suffered from two or three infections. Fortunately we were able to clear them up within a few days with frequent sea salt soaks.

However, she MUST now remove her earrings for PE or else get a detention! As she is not confident doing by herself, we have started to remove them in the morning before school and replace them when she gets home. The problem is, she finds replacing them painful, to the point she is in tears! I don't understand why as there are no signs of infection now and she has had them pierced for 9 months. We have tried numbing her ear with an ice cube etc but that doesn't seem to be making a difference. I wonder if her ear is trying to close during the short time she is at school?

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated! My DD is close to giving up and allowing them to close up.

HPoirot

I have infections if I wear anything less than 18ct gold or sterling silver. There is utter hell to pay if I try pushing in an earring the morning after I've worn a 9ct one (say, on a night out) for example. If you disinfected the starter earrings and the appropriate back and got her to wear them again she might be fine they tend to be "medicated" to prevent against infections.

geri1965_2

My sister is unable to wear earrings as her lobes are too plump.

I had an ear piercing once which closed over when I was asleep trapping the stud inside. I had to have it removed with pliers in A&E.

Sometimes we need to take notice of what our bodies are telling us.

stir_crazy

I get infections if I wear earrings with nickel in them,so basically any cheap or novelty earrings. They can start to get painful within a couple of hours, and I find that if the holes have started to close then I cannot use the cheap ones to "reopen" them. I now only wear sterling silver or white gold earrings, although I tend to keep the same pair in all the time now.

Pinklepurr

Thank you for your suggestions. The only thing that has changed since she had her ears pierced (apart from the brief time she wore sterling silver plated earrings for 24 hours) is that the butterflies changed from 18ct to 9ct gold. Prior to that, we had no problems at all. Having said that, she can go for weeks not having problems, so I rather thought the infections were due to her touching her ears with dirty hands rather than an allergic reaction.

rosalie-lavender

My daughter had a similar problem and can only wear ear rings made from surgical steel. I got round it by making my own for her.

What you could try is these backs that have no metal in. My daughter found them much easier to put on than the metal butterflies. I buy the hypo backs. I have ordered from this company several times and they are quite good.

http://www.backs1.co.uk/#/plastic-backs/4542600270

They seem to have increased their range since I last ordered and now sell Nickel free earings too.

Saturnalia

Silver isn't biocompatible so shouldn't be used in healing piercings at all and shouldn't be left in more than a day or so (it can oxidise and leave blue marks on the skin!)

Stainless steel or titanium are good piercing jewellery metals. They are used in joint replacement surgery as they can be left inside the body long-term. There will be one or two people who react badly to these metals, but it's incredibly rare.

You can get retainers which are clear plastic posts with a tiny clear plastic ball on the front and an o-ring on the back to hold them on. They are near-invisible and designed to pluck straight out if caught (as the back isn't tight). Could your daughter wear these for PE days?

HPoirot

rosalie-lavender wrote: »

What you could try is these backs that have no metal in. My daughter found them much easier to put on than the metal butterflies. I buy the hypo backs. I have ordered from this company several times and they are quite good.

http://www.backs1.co.uk/#/plastic-backs/4542600270

They seem to have increased their range since I last ordered and now sell Nickel free earings too.

Thank you for the link, I'm ordering myself some too!

heartbreak_star

Where did she have them pierced at?

HBS x

Pinklepurr

We had them done at Claire's. I paid for the best earrings they had available and my DD followed all the aftercare advice religiously for at least the first 10 weeks.

balletshoes

She,s maybe just not ready for pierced ears ie its more the fear that putting earrings back in/removing them may hurt or cause another infection?
My dd is 12, she had her ears pierced first at age 9, i had similar issues to you with her not feeling able to take out/put her earrings in, it hurting her etc. Eventually we had to give up and she let them close up. she had them done again at age 11 but this time she was under no illusion that she was responsible for taking them out/taping them over for PE, keeping them clean etc. she managed all that fine 2nd time around (then got her 2nds done this year, forgot she needed to keep posts in for 6 months and now they,re closed up too!)

It may be time to discuss with your dd whether its worth the pain and hassle.