(DISCLAIMER: I am by no means an experienced piercer or dermatologist, this is simply a story detailing my experience with piercing bumps.)
Keloids are the worst. They come at the most undesirable time; just a few weeks after your cute new piercing is finally almost healed and makes your confidence plummet. To put it simple, they suck and they look something like this:
https://authoritytattoo.com/nose-piercing-bump/
So what is a keloid? Commonly known as an irritation bump, keloids are defined by American Academy of Dermatology as “… a type of raised scar (which) unlike other raised scars, keloids grow much larger than the wound that caused the scar.”
Truthfully, they can come at any time when you have a piercing but for some reason, they love to rear their ugly heads more often than not when you first get that piercing you’ve been dying for. This happened to me during my nose piercing.
You see, I’ve wanted this piercing for YEARS but never had the confidence to do it until last May after my finals were over. The piercing itself went fine (other than the fact that the piercing was done with a hoop, but that’s another story)and did not hurt as much as I had anticipated. I went home happy with my new piercing and the after care kit the piercer recommended with every intention to let it heal properly.
For the next few weeks following the piercing, everything was a breeze. Not only did I stick to the strike 3-4 times a day cleaning regiment, but I kept all makeups and soaps away from the piercing site as instructed. About three and a half weeks in, a keloid slightly smaller than a dime had set up camp right around my dainty silver hoop.
So what did I do to get rid of them? I researched until I compiled a mile long list of what people did to get rid of their new “little friend”— and to be honest I was desperate enough to try practically anything. After about a week or so of internet surfing, I decided to try the most common remedy of a sea salt and tea tree oil soak. Supposedly, the sea salt is intended to clean and dry out the piercing site while the oil acts as a sort of antiseptic to relieve heat and itching. Afraid to create the concoction myself, I went online to order something premade.
The way that this solution works is by mixing 1 teaspoon of salt solution with one cup of hot water until the salt is dissolved. Then you take a cotton ball or two and soak it in the solution before applying it to your piercing site twice a day for a total of at least five minutes. Since you are only using a tad bit of the solution each time, you can store your excess cleaning solution for the next few weeks and allowing it to reheat each time you use it.
As skeptical as it may initially seem, it worked miracles in under a month for me and a minimum of two weeks as reported by other users! Hopefully, you never have to experience a keloid nightmare like mine ever, but if you do, I suggest using Piercing Care by Urban ReLeaf as your first line of defense!
HCXOXO,
Alexis