Can you bruise your ear?

Ear piercing bruise? 8 gauge?

• i got my ears pierced at an 8 gauge two days ago and he inserted a stainless steel 8 gauge taper., i slept with it during the night and yesterday i woke up with a bruise/blood blister on the backside of my left ear. it is swollen alot more than my left and its sensitive to touch. no liquids are coming out except for clear lymph. today i woke up with a whole blood blister around the o rings of the taper on my right ear. Could it be that the o rings are on too tight? or is it infected? right now i have 8 gauge steel tunnels in my ears without the o rings on because it feels most comfortable. What should i wear to bed tonight to help diminish the size of the bruise/blood blister.

• Answer:

  Are you sleeping on that side, or turning onto that side in the night? Try hard to *not* sleep on that side right now. Contact your piercer. He'll have recommendations on how to fix this. In the meantime, if you aren't already doing this, do sea salt soaks. That's 1/4 teaspoon of non-iodized sea salt in a cup of warm water. Soak the piercing twice per day, for five minutes at a time.