Bitching about piercings
I'll cut the rest of this, in case some of you are squeamish enough to NOT want to read about a 7.5 year old nipple piercing still having problems.
So, I had both of my nipples pierced in October 1999. Initially the left one didn't heal up too well and the right one seemed to heal perfectly. However within a few months this situation reversed. The left one has been no trouble at all since then, healed up perfectly, never any crusties for years now, just perfect.
The right one is another matter. It started acting up, crusties all the time, and in fact more or less a repeating spot/zit on either side. Despite a few half-hearted attempts to keep it very clean (wash twice a day, apply anti-septic) it's still in this state.
So last night a friend berated me and suggested I try again with the regular cleaning and dressing it regime. So this means trying to keep soap out of it in the shower (I have no water-proof plasters at this time, guess I could try with normal ones if needs be, or of course buy some), then later on using boiled, cooled and salted water in a small glass to clean it. This is done by just holding the glass over the nipple for 5-10 minutes, swishing it around some. I also started actually taking this piercing out so the water can get in there fully, and it also means I can be sure all of the piercing itself is clean. After that I dry the nipple and piercing, put the piercing back in, redry if necessary, then tape a Melolin pad over the whole nipple.
And then I mentioned some of this to ts_aiden and they asked if I had any known allergy to the metal in the piercing, which I don't. However she's had issues with piercings before (ear-rings were specifically mentioned) where one of a set is fine and the other causes problems, i.e. they're not necessarily identical (she said one ear-ring was fine, the other not).
So, when I do the whole cleaning/dressing thing I'll take both piercings out, put them in the freshly-boiled and salted water to be as sure as I can they're sterile, then put them back in the opposite nipples to the usual way around. After that I'll continue as normal with just the right nipple cleaning, and keep an eye on the left one too. If it should start acting up then I know that jewellery piece is the problem. If not, then hopefully the right nipple will settle down this time anyway.
So, I had both of my nipples pierced in October 1999. Initially the left one didn't heal up too well and the right one seemed to heal perfectly. However within a few months this situation reversed. The left one has been no trouble at all since then, healed up perfectly, never any crusties for years now, just perfect.
The right one is another matter. It started acting up, crusties all the time, and in fact more or less a repeating spot/zit on either side. Despite a few half-hearted attempts to keep it very clean (wash twice a day, apply anti-septic) it's still in this state.
So last night a friend berated me and suggested I try again with the regular cleaning and dressing it regime. So this means trying to keep soap out of it in the shower (I have no water-proof plasters at this time, guess I could try with normal ones if needs be, or of course buy some), then later on using boiled, cooled and salted water in a small glass to clean it. This is done by just holding the glass over the nipple for 5-10 minutes, swishing it around some. I also started actually taking this piercing out so the water can get in there fully, and it also means I can be sure all of the piercing itself is clean. After that I dry the nipple and piercing, put the piercing back in, redry if necessary, then tape a Melolin pad over the whole nipple.
And then I mentioned some of this to ts_aiden and they asked if I had any known allergy to the metal in the piercing, which I don't. However she's had issues with piercings before (ear-rings were specifically mentioned) where one of a set is fine and the other causes problems, i.e. they're not necessarily identical (she said one ear-ring was fine, the other not).
So, when I do the whole cleaning/dressing thing I'll take both piercings out, put them in the freshly-boiled and salted water to be as sure as I can they're sterile, then put them back in the opposite nipples to the usual way around. After that I'll continue as normal with just the right nipple cleaning, and keep an eye on the left one too. If it should start acting up then I know that jewellery piece is the problem. If not, then hopefully the right nipple will settle down this time anyway.