How to Identify and Treat an Infected Lip Piercing?
Lip piercings are often done by the uninformed or those with limited knowledge of their own body. If you have ever had any kind of cosmetic procedure done, then you would know how difficult it is to tell if something went wrong during the procedure. You might not even know where to start looking! However, there are some things that will help you identify an infected lip piercing and its treatment.
The first thing to do is to take off your jewelry. Then, you need to remove all the jewelry from your mouth and lips. You may want to use tweezers or dental picks. Once you have removed all the jewelry, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water before touching anything else.
You can see that my left earlobe looks different than my right one (I am wearing a ring). I think it is because my left earlobe was pierced with a different type of metal. My right earlobe looks fine so far.
If you feel pain when biting your nails, then you probably have an infected piercing. If the pain doesn’t go away after several minutes, then you should seek medical attention immediately. Pain can also occur if you bump or hit your lip too hard (e.g.
if you fall and hit your face). If this happens, then wash the area with warm water and apply an anti-bacterial ointment to the wound.
I’ve had an infected piercing before. It felt like I was chewing on something that didn’t belong in my mouth. It actually made me gag for a few days until I washed it out and went to the doctor.
Sources & references used in this article:
Dental and oral complications of lip and tongue piercings by RJG De Moor, A De Witte, KIM Delmé… – British Dental …, 2005 – nature.com
Prevalence and risk of traumatic gingival recession following elective lip piercing by JW Leichter, BD Monteith – Dental Traumatology, 2006 – Wiley Online Library
The Piercing Bible Guide to Aftercare and Troubleshooting: How to Properly Care for Healing and Infected Ear, Facial, and Body Piercings by E Angel – 2013 – books.google.com
Are we aware of all complications following body piercing procedures? by B Antoszewski, P Szychta… – International Journal of …, 2009 – Wiley Online Library
Periodontal health and lateral lower lip piercings: a split‐mouth cross‐sectional study by MA Vilchez‐Perez… – Journal of clinical …, 2009 – Wiley Online Library
Lip piercing: prevalence of associated gingival recession and contributing factors. A cross‐sectional study by I Kapferer, T Benesch, N Gregoric… – Journal of periodontal …, 2007 – Wiley Online Library
