Ow.

[eveglass]

I am currently going through the unfortunate process of trying to re-open my ear piercings. I had my ears pierced when I was 10, wore earrings for a while, and eventually discovered I was allergic to nearly every metal that exists (with the exception of gold and, I assume, medical-grade steel or titanium). So I stopped wearing earrings.

This led to an obnoxious cycle: every 4-6 months, I'd want to wear earrings. So I'd take out the earrings and spend a painful 10 minutes trying to put them on, essentially re-piercing my right ear each time (a thin flap of skin kept growing back inside the hole). Since I don't really own too many gold-post earrings, I'd generally be wearing something I was allergic to anyway, and the holes would get infected. I'd be so annoyed with the whole experience that I'd stop wearing earrings again, until 4-6 months later I'd *really* want to wear some earrings.

So I decided to start wearing earrings again. I found some simple gold-post pearl studs and tried ever-so-hard to put them in. The left, always the more cooperative, went in after one or two tries. But the right, oh my poor right ear. I kept trying and trying. Even though I could get the earring from the back through to the front, it absolutely refused to go through from front to back. I was scraping the inside of the back of my ear, and it hurt like hell. Eventually I realized I was angling it wrong, got it in, and that was that (for a while).

Today, I took out the earrings to disinfect them with alcohol, and realized that in addition to everything else I'd done to my right ear, I also managed to lodge a hair inside the hole, around the earring post. Argh! I'm really hoping I managed to pull the whole thing out, because it was stuck in there pretty good.

Anyway, I'm keeping them in, this time. I don't really have any other gold-post earrings, but I don't want to go through this hassle again. I really, really don't.

Comments

[joane.livejournal.com]

Oh ow, ow ow ow!

I have the same issues as you in that I'm allergic not only to nickel, but to surgical-grade steel (as is my father). The absolute best thing to do, I found, to keep the piercings open, usable and *pain-free* is to get yourself a pair of *titanium* captive bead rings; you'll want 18 or 16-gauge, I think. You can get them at Adrenalin on Sherbrooke, if that store's still there, and they're not really expensive. Use those instead of posts whenever you're not wearing fashion earrings; small hoops are easy to sleep in, and the hole will be able to drain and heal properly without a backing to rub against/block off drainage. That made all the difference for me.

[joane.livejournal.com]

Here we go! They do still exist, and any of the rings in the left-hand column of pictures will work. The top two sets are screw-on balls, and the bottom set will have the balls held in under tension.

http://www.adrenalinetattoos.com/en_jewellery_titanium.html

[eveglass.livejournal.com]

Very cool. Thanks for the info. I'll look into that.

[blueelf13.livejournal.com]

I agree about the titanium... I can't wear surgical stainless steel either, or nickle or gold or silver... I can wear titanium, and would recommend either hoops or a barbell... you can get curved ones and have it hang down a little with a fancier end on either the top or bottom for decoration too...

[reyl.livejournal.com]

I went through pretty much the same thing. What worked for me was getting them re-pierced, with a slightly larger needle (12 gauge), and keeping surgical steel hoops in. Piercing grade steel jewelry is the only thing that hasn't caused me pain. Gold bothered me too. Only use your fancy post jewelry for special occasions, remember to put the steel back in, and hopefully they'll heal properly?