FAQ: Piercing Bumps

Please note that if you suspect infection or a medical issue with your piercing, contact your doctor. The following is not medical advice and should not be taken as such. 

Piercing bumps (especially on the nostril) are not a typical experience of the healing process for piercings, but they happen often enough that we can call them common. A small bump, resembling a keloid, forms on the outer surface directly beside the piercing. These bumps appear for a number of reasons. While they are unsightly and annoying, they are not permanent and will go away with minor treatment. First, let's go over some of the causes. The best way to get that bump to go away is to eliminate the culprit.

Poor jewelry quality-the most common cause of a piercing bump is using subpar body jewelry. If you were pierced by me, you have the highest quality piece available and can rule this out. However, many piercers use jewelry that is chock-full of nickel, and who knows what else. Nickel allergies are fairly common and wreak havoc on fresh and healed piercings alike. If your piercing was "cheap," the jewelry is likely very low-quality. Toss it out and get a higher quality piece in. 

Trauma to the area - at some point, the jewelry on your fresh piercing will be snagged. I tend to get mine caught in towels and hairbrushes. If this happens again and again, or one time reaaaallly hard, a bump will form. My best advice is to be more careful. Perhaps a new routine that reminds you of your piercing is in order.

Touching often - do your best to keep your hands off your piercing. Our fingers are covered in germs and dirt. Touching your piercing often can transfer all the muck into your piercing. Even clean hands have oils that can be irritating to a healing piercing. 

Over cleaning or harsh soap - less is more when it comes to keeping your piercing clean. I advise that you use an alcohol and fragrance-free soap and wash around your piercing in the shower. For facial piercings wash around them whenever you wash your face as well. Use a saline solution twice a day to rinse your piercing. 

Dirt and debris (including makeup) - sometimes a small piece of dirt, sweat or other form of debris can irritate your piercing as well. Avoid makeup and other beauty products on the piercing. It's not a bad idea to keep a bottle of saline with you while you work out, or roll around in the mud...I don't know what you do ;-) 

Treatment- I always start with saline soaks. Mix 1/4 tsp of non-iodized salt per 1 cup of warm distilled water to make a saline solution. Clean your piercing with a mild soap. Fully saturate a cotton ball in the saline solution and place directly on your piercing for 5-10 minutes a day. The bump should start to reduce in size in about a week and will go away in time. Continue the soaks until it goes away completely. 

If it doesn't show.improvement in about a week, you can apply a small amount of witch hazel directly to the piercing bump after the saline soak. 

If the bump still remains after trying the saline soak method, contact your piercer. You can reach out to me directly for further treatment at 765-217-6026.