CinnamonGirl

I've had this lumpy type thing in my left ear for...well, a while now. Now, I know lumps are bad...but it didn't hurt, or otherwise have any effect on my life, so I just sort of ignored it.

Bad idea, eh? This week, it started hurting. So, I went to see the doctor tonight, and behold! An infected cyst. He poked my ear (ow), drained out the pus (ew), gave me a prescription for antibiotics, and sent me on my somewhat-less-than-merry way.

Ah, yes, and a bit of a lecture. It seems that my doctor believes earrings are evil. My ears are pierced seven times (three in the left, four in the right), so I wondered what caused the cyst, since the other six holes are doing just fine. He made a comment about poking a needle through skin, with obvious distaste. He also told me not to put an earring in that particular hole...ever. Apparently, the earring will just pierce through the cyst, it will get infected again, yada yada yada.

"So...should I get the cyst removed, then?" I asked. "No, it isn't really necessary." Um...apparently it is, if I want to wear that earring again.

This, of course, has brought on some questions. First off, questioning my choice of doctors. He was my general physician for...at least ten years, and a very good one at that. I hadn't seen him in about five years, due to not being sick, then moving out of state (and out of the country). As a doctor, he's entirely competent, and I liked him quite a bit when I was younger...but the whole distaste for earrings in general, and especially multiple earrings, bothered me. I could see not liking, say, tongue piercings or facial piercings...but EAR piercings? C'mon, now.

Obviously, I don't have a lot to stand on here, since my ear was infected...but I still found that weird.

Secondly, and more along the lines of health (ah, I knew there was a point in here somewhere!), how common is this? I've searched google, webMD, yahoo health, and I'm not coming up with a lot here. Doc acted like he sees it all the time, but honestly, I've never heard of it. Infections, sure, but a cyst? Nope.

Thirdly, how silly would it be to try and get this thing removed? I love earrings. I love wearing lots of earrings. Is that really worth undergoing minor surgery for? I haven't decided yet...cost is really the main factor here, as I'm not sure how much, if any, of the cost my insurance will cover. (of course, I'll check, I just haven't been able to yet.) Not to mention I feel a bit flakey for even considering surgery just so I can wear an earring again...

Thoughts, anyone?

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"...for though she was ordinary, she possessed health, wit, courage, charm, and cheerfulness. But because she was not beautiful, no one ever seemed to notice these other qualities, which is so often the way of the world."


"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

ShaniFaye

I cant wear "cheap" earrings or I get these every time, I always have. I had to wear ones with gold posts or ones made out of pewter for the cysts not to show up. Sometimes I grin and bear it if the earrings are really cute. But I can have them in for only 3 or 4 hours and the cysts show up, but they go away the next day after I've had them out

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jwoody

I had a cyst removed from my neck about a year ago. The procedure was entirely painless, took less than a minute and left no scar.

Can't help with the cost thing 'cos it's free in the land of the Kings.

godxzilla

seems like he is letting his personal taste get in the way of his professional opinion. I would find another doctor. thats just not right!

wish I had some medical advice for ya, but I dont....

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Mike

the_marq

If you are not comforatble with this Dr, find a new one. I personally don't think he is doing anything even remotely wrong. It is his medial opinion that earrings are bad, he has a point that they can lead to infections and other nasty stuff.

You said yourself:

So really the leap to not liking ear peircings is just a matter of degrees. When it comes right down to it, a peircing is a peircing. Some are safer than others, but none are entirely safe and none are really nessecary.

Personally, I like 'em; tounges, bellybuttons, nipples...sexy sexy sexy. It's a risk I am glad plenty of people take, but I digress.

If you don't like the advice your Dr is giving you, find a different Dr.

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#3 in a series

thinktank

Best way to deal with something like this is to make sure all of your jewlery is surgical stainless steel, and to clean all of your piercings daily with provone (surgical grade soap, should be avaliable at any piercing shop) and you should stop running into problems like that. I think that if the cyst isnt a high risk for getting re-infected you shouldnt have to worry about it, but i would take the advice and leave out the earring.

Camelbackcinema

I get these cysts in my earlobes fairly frequently. They start out small, then get really big and so painful that I can't sleep on that particular side of my head (thankfully they haven't occurred on both sides at once).
The only thing the doctor has done for me is to give me some antibiotic cream and pills when one ruptured while I slept. Besides that he said there was nothing I could do for them.
They sure are annoying though.

yellowchef

if hes been your doctor for a long time trust his word. You may not agree with it but he is right, it will get infected again. I do a lot that goes against my Dr's wishes but I still think hes a smart competent man. Take your antibiotics, let the cyst heal and then try wearing your earrings again. Keep them clean and wash your ears as well as your jewlery. If it comes back you may just have to consider taking them out, or is it worth the pain?

iamnormal

Sites with info on complications of ear piercing
http://www.google.com/search?&safe=o...s+Ear+Piercing

Pictures of ear keloids
http://images.google.com/images?q=ear%20keloid

JStrider

sounds like you had an abcess...
they can happen when you have an infected piercing and you take it out... then the skin closes up trapping the infection inside...

its really pretty bad that more doctors aren't more piercing knowledgable... usually the first thing they tell you to do is to take out the infected piercing... when its better to keep the jewelry in to allow it to drain properly...

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-=JStrider=-

~Clatto Verata Nicto

braisler

Not all cysts are created equal. Doctors will often refer to any sub-surface enlargement within soft tissue as a cyst. Some of these "cysts" are more serious than others, read pre-cancerous. Other "cysts" are really just a pimple that is deeper than the surface and has grown larger than normal because it is in soft tissue, your earlobe.

The advice about cleaning your jewelry should be extended to include throughly cleaning your ear around the site of the piercing before inserting the jewelry. We all have tons of bacteria on the surface of our skin all of the time. On the skin's surface, they don't do any harm and many are beneficial, but force those same bacteria under the skin's surface by pushing in your piercing, and TaDa you have just inoculated yourself.

Let the current infection clear up completely. Then be more careful about hygiene when inserting your jewelry in the future. And don't feel bad about ignoring your doctor's advice. He is only a medical doctor after all.

CinnamonGirl

I'm not ignoring his advice...yet

I was just surprised by how much he hates piercings...I've had my ears pierced for more than ten years, multiples for 9, 6, and 3 years respectively...and none of my doctors (including him, years ago when I got them) has said anything to me about my ears.

I've been a good girl, taking my medicine twice every day, and I haven't put any earrings at all in since my visit. My ear doesn't hurt a bit, and the lump is VERY small (I wouldn't be able to tell it was there if I wasn't actively looking for it).

I have about a week left on antibiotics, after that...I guess we'll see. I don't want my ear to get infected again, obviously, but I'm wondering if the cleaning/sterilizing every day would prevent infection if I DID start wearing earrings again, and if it's worth the risk.

*shrugs* I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, I guess.

__________________
"...for though she was ordinary, she possessed health, wit, courage, charm, and cheerfulness. But because she was not beautiful, no one ever seemed to notice these other qualities, which is so often the way of the world."


"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

sob

The reason they tell you to take it out is

a) It's a foreign body
b) It allows a portal of entry for microorganisms

All doctors know about placing drains, but you can't leave a drain in forever.

I'd be interested to see the basis for your statement about leaving it in.

MSD

I get little cysts (overgrown pimples) in my earlobes without any piercings. I just wait until they get big enough to get near the surface and pop them like regular pimples. Wipe with a bit of rubbing alcohol afterwards, and dont' worry about it.