About a month ago, I got my tragus pierced. It has been healing fine up until yesterday, when I noticed a fairly large bump above the piercing. I'm not sure if it's hypertrophic scarring, or an infection, or what, and am a little worried, not to mention that it doesn't look too pretty.If anyone has any suggestions on how to remedy this, please let me know!

 

 

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 Not sure what the technical name for the bump is but pretty sure it's the type you get rid of with SSS and camomile tea bag press or soak...someone else can probably confirm but I think that's what you do and the bump should go away over time.

I think they're quite commonly associated with BCRs or CBRs or whatever you wanna call them, the rings...so once it goes away, you may want to try and get it changed to a labret bar or barbell.

Looks like hypertrophic scarring - my tragus piercing did the same thing until I changed out the CBR I was pierced with (put in a labret stud). SSS will help, but I'd recommend a jewelry swap :)

 Thanks for the advice. I woke up today and it almost looks worse- it turned sort of a darker red/purplish color. Should I wait until it heals to change the jewelry, or should I go ahead and do that now? I have a barbell to put in if need be. Also, how do you suggest I go about doing SSS? It's kind of an awkward place to soak...should I just soak a q-tip with SSS and pat it on, or attempt to hold a cup up to my ear or something? Here's how it looks today:

 Hey dude, it may get worse before it gets better so don't panic too badly if it looks worse today, especially seeing as you probably haven't started any serious treatment of it.  It may take some time to go away too...

 I have a pretty fresh tragus punch and I basically just get a mug with my SSS mixture and tilt my head and dip the whole ear into the cup.  then I kinda bring my head back up so it's at a bit of an angle so that the water tilts in and fills my ear a bit more and soaks the entire tragus, back and front.  As for the camomile, you can either dunk the tea bag into your SSS and kill two birds with one stone or alternatively dunk it a few times in boiling water, allow it to cool a little and then use the teabag to press up against the bump.

 As for the jewellery change, yeah, definitely needs to happen but I can't be sure whether you should change it now or after the bump reduces or starts to heal...seems it's kinda off from the piercing a little bit so I guess a jewellery change would be okay at the moment but I would probably get your piercer to do it or something rather than do it yourself in this situation.  Maybe someone else has more complete advice on that part of your prob.

 EDIT:  And try to get a labret stud, not a barbell.  Barbell can have as much movement as a bead ring, and I think that's what causes the bump...so try and get a relatively snug fitting labret stud with a ball to restrict movement.

It could have gotten worse from sleeping on it.  And I agree about the CBR.  My rook was pretty pissed (never looked like that, though) until I switched the CBR for a barbell...it was like an instant fix!  I'd go talk to your piercer about getting some new jewelry!

 I second Benny's advice...I'd personally go to a piercer since it's such a fiddly area and they can taper the jewelry in if needed. I'd hate for you to get the CBR out and not be able to get the labret stud back in. Unless you have a very short barbell I'd use a labret stud, because having a barbell that's too long will only make it worse. Some people have also had luck with tea tree oil, either diluted or straight. If you dilute it you can put it in any kind of unscented "base" oil.

That looks like a boil or abscess to me. You may want to visit your physician for a professional opinion.

I'd recommend going to your piercer and asking them if that looks normal for healing cart. I know bumps often occur, but that one looks a bit ... more serious than I'm used to seeing (granted, I'm not a doctor or anything, and I'm not trying to freak you out). if you want to do salt soaks I found soaking a paper towel in warm salt water and holding it against my nostril worked better than me trying to soak my entire nose. if you're in a hurry you can grab a paper towel, get it damp and throw it in the microwave for ~10 seconds and hold that against your ear. I used chamomile soaks to help reduce the bump I got on my nose; buy some herbal chamomile tea bags, pretend you're making tea and let the tea bag soak in warm water for a few minutes, then hold the tea bag against your tragus. re-dip as needed to keep the bag warm. good luck!