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Old 07-05-2012, 11:55 AM   #10
Animad
 
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: UK

As said above, use salt water soaks. Don't take the piercing out as you need to keep the holes there so it can drain and they'll close up much quicker if the piercing is removed and you can only keep the ends open by cleaning it, not the bits within the skin.

DON'T use Hydrogen Peroxide; that's only use is as bleach or in science experiments and I mean that, it has NO USE in wound care. Yes, it will kill bactieria but it will kill every other cell in the vicinity including all those trying to help and therefore will destroy all the surrounding tissues, irritate it further and mean it will take much longer for it to heal as well as it having no local immune system going to it (as the area around the piercing will be destroyed) and therefore it could actually mean it will be open to more infections as it heals as well as it will only work on the surface, not deep inside. The same really goes for surgical spirit; the names in the title, 'surgical', it should not be used for wound care, it should only be used really for cleaning areas up to get them very clean (though not sterile) before there is any damage done to the skin, not after. Also, using products such as TCP and other antiseptics, you should make sue these are diluted and not used neat as they could be too harsh and again cause more damage.

really because it sounds like you've had an abscess that has burst the best thing for you to do would be to see a GP or nurse practitioner ASAP and being that I believe you're from England (though I may be wrong and you could be from another area of the UK) your best course of action really would be to go to a Walk-In Centre where the nurse practitioners there can often prescribe antibiotics for such things but this needs to be treated properly and the only things other than that you should be doing are salt soaks done carefully 2-3 times per day and putting heat over the area to encourage any infection that may be there to drain out, nothing else.

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