The healing process of ear piercings can be long and painful or short and painless, and you don’t always know what you will get when you are getting the piercing, which is why noticing clear fluid coming from the ear-piercing can be quite distressing.
But what causes the clear liquid, and should you be alarmed? Is clear liquid oozing from your ear piercing a sign of an infection?
While trying to identify the signs of an ear-piercing infection is quite difficult, especially if you just had your first piercing, you also need to keep an open mind because those symptoms that look like an infection could easily be the side effects of the piercing, and part of the body’s natural process of healing.
To avoid distress, you need to know what it means to have an infected piercing, and what an infection looks like. Basically, you can tell that you are in deep trouble based on the color of the excreted liquid. Anything discolored, say green or brown is serious and must be addressed immediately. On the other hand, a white fluid or a white crust shouldn’t be cause for alarm.
But, keep reading to learn more about piercings and the meaning of white liquid from the piercing.
Clear liquid or white stuff coming out of ear piercing – What Is It?
I know it’s scary to see stuff coming out of your body, but think about it for a moment – you’ve had a foreign object forced into your ear, and now you have this open wound with a foreign metallic object in it.
First, your body will try to launch an attack on the foreign body while trying to heal the wound at the same time.
If the metallic object is benign and your body doesn’t have a reaction to it, your body will allow for the wound to heal. During this healing phase, as would be the case with any other wound on your body, there will be the production of clear or tinted liquid plus some mucous.
These are a natural part of the healing process, and they signal a body cleansing the wound.
So, you have nothing to worry about if you see white or some clear stuff coming from the piercing.
However, you should be worried if the color of the stuff coming from the piercing is colored – red, brown, green, or yellow.
Why some clear liquid coming out of ear piercing?
Besides being part of the healing process, the liquid coming from your ear piercing might result from the healing piercing getting hit or bumped. In such cases, you’d have to clean out the gunk from the ear piercing if the piercing is cleaned properly, and the good news is that the piercing will be back on the healing track.
The liquid produced from the healing piercing is also believed to be a collection of dead cells during the healing process.
Is it bad that liquid or white stuff is coming out of my ear piercing holes?
Well, no. There is nothing wrong with having white or clear stuff coming out of your piercing holes.
It is more of the natural healing process, and your body will always produce that sticky, light yellow, and transparent liquid around the piercing.
This is completely natural, and you don’t have to worry about the collection of dead cells produced during healing.
What to do if your pierced ear has liquid or white stuff?
First, know that it is considered normal for your new ear piercing. Some of the normal things that you should expect from your newly pierced ear home include:
Itchiness, tenderness, and, most importantly, the area surrounding the piercing might look a little reddish or darker than usual.
You should also expect a pale fluid that forms a crust around the piercing.
- Use rubbing alcohol –one of the most effective ways of cleaning your ear piercing, especially if it has some of that white or light yellow sticky stuff, is by cleaning or rubbing your ear piercing using a piece of cotton ball or cotton pad dipped in rubbing alcohol. Clean the skin around your piercing at least two times each day to keep away germs and, most importantly, to prevent scabbing.
- Leave the earrings in the ear for at least six weeks or more, including at night. And make sure to always your hands before you touch your newly pierced ears. You should also watch your ear piercings with some warm water and soap, at least once each day.
- Dab, but don’t wipe off the piercing. You will need a clean towel or even tissue. Dabbing helps to prevent tissue damage as the piercing heals.
- Petroleum jelly. Consider applying some petroleum jelly around the piercing. Petroleum jelly helps to reduce scabbing, and it also protects the pierced area from bacteria.
- Keep body and hair products from the piercing area, and be careful when using soap, shampoo, gel, hairspray, or pomade, among other hair or body products.
- Finally, you should always watch out for any abnormal discharges, or even discolored discharge. In case of these color changes, you might want to see your doctor or the piercer for the piercing to be checked in case there is an infection.
Conclusion
An ear-piercing will take more than a few weeks to heal, and during that time, you can expect a number of things to happen, including allergies and infections.
The clear liquid coming out of the ear-piercing should not scare you, though, as it is part of the wound’s natural healing process.
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Stephanie is a jewelry lover when she was a teenager. Her major was fashion design when she was in college. She is a jewelry designer at SOQ Jewelry and other design companies. Now she is also a writer for our website. She writes a lot of designs&brands posts with very actionable tips.