Okay, this might be a little gross and I despair with myself for letting this go on for so long.

I've been having trouble with one of my nipple piercings for some months now. I've had the both of them for about 2.5 years, the other piercing has been no trouble. In the dodgy one, earlier this year I had a tiny little round bump appear right next to one of the holes, probably about the circumference of a small pinhead, and just general pus going on with it, as well as intermittent bleeding. I kind of just left it, the bump went down, but the pus has continued, with the occasional bit of blood, not unlike the first days of the initial healing process. It never seemed to be getting any worse over the months but it really hasn't been getting any better either, in reality, so obviously there's a problem.

Today as I showered I noticed a bump on the other side of the piercing, again right next to the hole, and it is exactly like the bump I'd had several months ago. Same deal, there's still pus and some blood, as you'd have in the first few days of healing.

As much as I try to look it up, I'm not getting anything on your standard piercing infection in nipples. I've no large lumps anywhere on the surface of my breast and can't feel any under the skin, so it seems like it's just the tunnel itself that continues to be infected (if indeed that's what it is) and it hasn't spread elsewhere. And all I'm seeing on the web (even on BME) is mastitis, which I'm not showing any signs of, and horror stories of women who had to get their breasts lopped off. And that's really not helpful to me right now.

Now I'm pretty much at my wit's end with the thing. While I obviously continue to wash it as I would in my normal shower routine, I haven't been doing anything in particular to tackle the problem, and obviously I ought to. I'm fairly tempted to take it out, but I don't know if this would be the smartest move?

I'm starting up salt soaks for the time being to see if this helps, but I really don't even know if this is going to make a difference. I have to be clear, it doesn't look serious at all, it really doesn't (if it did I'd have been seeing a doctor well before now) but it needs to be sorted. Apart from salt soaks, anything else one might suggest?

Thoughts?

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Deux hommes font une promenade amicale. L'un des deux porte un parapluie à son bras.
Il se met à pleuvoir. L'homme n'ouvre pas son parapluie et l'autre lui demande pourquoi.
- Parce que ça ne servirait à rien, lui répond son ami. Il est plein de trous.
- Alors, pourquoi l'as-tu pris?
- Parce que je ne pensais pas qu'il pleuvrait.

my nipple peircing wept for about six or seven months after i got it done, and in the end salt water soaks were the only treatments that worked, they cleared it up completely and it hasn't flared up again.

the pinhead sized bumps could be sebacceous glands. i have them on both nipples but more pronounced on the nipple that is peirced for some reason. they are totally harmless and normal. if they are painful or have pus in them however i would be more concerned. the sebaceous glands are totally pain free and look like little white or pink bumps in the areola (sp). men get them on their penis' as well.

if the problem persists after continued salt water treatments i would either go to your peircer, if he's a half decent guy. otherwise i would go to a doctor. irritation to the point of bleeding isn't awesome, and you don't want it to end up turn into mastitis or whatnot.

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I hate to be an alarmist but please go to the doctor or e.r. because I just saw a girl on the t.v. who had her breast removed because of an infection in her perced nipple. I am sure it won't happen to you, but better safe than sorry. Just keep it clean and use bacitracin until you have it looked at professionally.

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Don't you dare give me an el tomato.

Savlon spray? A friend of mine had the same trouble a while back and using the spray meant she didn't need to touch it to apply the ointment - preventing agitation or risk of spreading the infection before it cleared up.

I'd probaly call a piercing studio for advice before going to the Dr's.

Mine healed up using salt water.

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Juices like wine, like the blood in the sands.

Mine were prone to pussing even a year after i had them done. They're just a really fussy piercing in general, I think. Go for the salt soaks. It doesn't sound like mastitis....

and I agree with mystars - call the piercer before the doctor, as doctors will just tell you to get rid of the piercings.

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Do you sleep on your stomach?

Thanks everybody.

I know exactly what you mean, I have a few of these too, but not really close the the piercing site itself, just elsewhere on the areola. The wee bumps I've got next to the piercing holes are definitely not the same thing, by my reckoning. But I did a salt soak last night and the bump is already looking a bit calmer and less prominent, so I'm going to persist with that. I reckon it's just in need of a bit o' TLC, so I'll see how that works out and maybe see a piercer if it doesn't continue to get better.

Ah yeah, I'd forgotten about that stuff. It's a total godsend. I used to use the spray wash when I first got my piercings. Good shout.

I don't, and I don't even tend towards sleeping on the affected side, I think I'm pretty evenly sleeping on both sides of my body. So it just seems a bit random. Bad luck, I guess.

__________________
Deux hommes font une promenade amicale. L'un des deux porte un parapluie à son bras.
Il se met à pleuvoir. L'homme n'ouvre pas son parapluie et l'autre lui demande pourquoi.
- Parce que ça ne servirait à rien, lui répond son ami. Il est plein de trous.
- Alors, pourquoi l'as-tu pris?
- Parce que je ne pensais pas qu'il pleuvrait.