EAR PIERCING--> I pierced my own ears last night. How long before I can know if its been infected or not?

wow- you're brave- you'll be sore because you just did it, but in a few days, maybe 2 or 3 if there is an infection, there will be drainage or crusty things. Clean it in the morning and night with peroxide or any over the counter ear piercing cleaner.

An infection can occur at any time during the course of healing and sometimes even after they are healed (though that is rare). Ear lobe piercings take 6-8 weeks to heal completely, during which time they can become sore and/or red any time they are irritated either by bumping them or sleeping on them. Generally most people think they have an infection when the piercing is only irritated, normal things you can expect during healing are redness, soreness, swelling, secretion of clear or yellowish fluid which forms a crust on the ear around the jewelry....These things are normal during healing!!! signs of an infection would be if the whole ear was red not just around the piercing, infections also give off a bad odor and are more then just sore but painful to the touch. If you think you have an infection go see your doctor!!! In the mean time you should be washing your piercings twice daily with a liquid unscented anti-bacterial soap and water, and do sea salt soaks once daily for 5-10 minutes Sea-salt soak: mix 1/4 tspn non-iodized sea salt with 8 oz warm water, mix until salt is disolved and soak. The List of NO: No rubbing alcohol (it just irritates the piercing and makes it take longer to heal) No swimming (pools, lakes, and ocean harbour bacteria and micro-organisms which can cause infections) No peroxide (it just irritates the piercing and makes it take longer to heal) No ointments of any kind (they just stop oxygen from getting to the piercing) No ones mouth on them (bacteria again) No touching them unless you just washed your hands (this includes when cleaning them) No using fabric towels on them, use disposable paper products only (paper towels instead of wash cloths as wash cloths harbor bacteria) Change your pillowcases every day to help prevent the spread of bacteria from your pillowcase to your open wound on your ear. clean off your cell phone regularly so you do not put that dirt and bacteria up to your open wound. Good Luck and keep them clean

A lot of people here are saying that piercing your own ears is bad - it isn't. Before piercing guns and all that shizzle were invented EVERYONE self pierced their ears. Anyway for answering your question - they can get infected at any time. Any piercing can get infected , whether it's healed or not. Just keep them clean (clean them twice a day , no more because it can dry out the piercing!) and they should turn out fine For cleaning them I recommend doing 'sea salt soaks' (or sometimes known as SSS). You can buy bags of sea salt in most supermarkets. Just use 1/5 of a teaspoon and a cup of water and clean them twice a day. Don't use peroxide to clean them as this will kill the bad AND the good bacteria (the good bacteria helps them heal) Hope I helped =]

keep them clean thats the main thing apparenty salt water is very sterile

if you did it yourself it might take a few more days. i remember when i got my first set done it was like almost a month, but that was when they were definatly not going to close. if you are just going to take them out really quick and put in diffrent ones then i would wait 2-3 days. i did my second set like that and they were fine. good luck!

You shouldnt ever peirce your own ear, but when and if you do, you can tell if its infected when its all read, might be bleeding, pussy, and hurts very badly if you touch it:) Just try to take care of it and maybe it wont get infected:)

You will know it is infected if it is red and/or oozing.

Just keep them clean and sanitary so they don't get infected. Take a warm washcloth and hold it over each of your piercings. And try rubbing alcohol if they seem to get 'itchy' or they burn. Hope I helped!

dont spazz! see a doctor if it changes color, or u feel pain after 24 hrs.